Is alright for a Catholic to do yoga?

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The exercises themselves are highly recommended for various conditions and pregnancy.

They really helped my back and my friends who had babies say they’re really useful.
However, none of us do the meditation part. The closest we get to it is focusing on your breathing, counting out slowly, and relaxing certain muscles, which is also very useful during childbirth and pain management.

We call it “yoga” because we it’s the shortest way to explain it and I just can’t keep up with all the names for different kinds of exercising.
 
johnnyc176 said:
I understand, neither do I. I was referring to when you said ‘yoga exercises’ . To me if you take away the spiritual deception then it’s just exercise which is fine imo. As someone mentioned earlier they are basically stretching exercises and useful for people that can not handle more exertion. I walk 4 miles five times a week and do stretching exercises before hand. Some of the stretches are similar to yoga stretching but I ain’t doing yoga and sure ain’t paying to go to some class so someone can tell me that stretching I have been doing most of my life is yoga. But if someone wants to take the class and call stretching yoga…knock yourself out. Now if it’s also true that if one’s Faith is weak and there is a danger that they can get caught up in false practices then one would be advised to also speak with their priest as well as a doctor.
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Okay, I get what you are saying and it makes sense. 🙂

My concern is for those who, for instance, would want to attend the yoga exercise place in the area where I live that has a sign out front that says “Yoga and Beyond”.
 
truetofaith said:
I’ll bet you couldn’t even push a 300 lb. box an inch! 😛

We used to bag scrap cable at AT&T. The requirement was that each bag couldn’t be more than 50 lbs. A wise guy would fill a couple to about 90 lbs. & they were almost impossible to lift.

One guy lifted weights for yrs. & maybe could lift 200 lbs. but not across a room! :eek:
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Depending on the size of the room, I’ll take the bet. 😃
 
Some years ago, I read three interesting books:

The Way of Chuang Tzu
Mystics and Zen Masters
Zen and the Birds of Appetite

These books were written by Thomas Merton, a Trappist Monk and Catholic priest. Yes, it is alright for for a Catholic to do yoga. Or it is for one firmly rooted in their own faith.
 
TimothyH said:
How do you guys feel about Tai Chi and taiji?

-Tim-
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I prefer a little cream in my Tai. But for a mai tai, rum, lime juice, orange curacao, a bit of candy syrup and a bit more orgeat syrup. Yo, Trader Vic’s, where I went for my first legal drink.

Thomas Merton’s books have been critiqued to no end; and at least a couple of them are for sale at my local Trappist abbey.

Which does not mean they are necessarily highly recommended.

Altogether an interesting thread. It brings to mind one of my favorite aphorisms, attributed to Voltaire: the problem with common sense is that it is not all that common.

Obviously, getting involved in the Hindu end of yoga is verboten; and just as obviously, there are numerous exercises which are not yoga that one could do. However, if one is simply doing the physical aspect of yoga without getting into the spiritual side, it is simply exercise. Believing that even doing only the exercises is opening oneself up to eastern religion is a boogeyman approach to the matter and is not what the Church teaches.

But if that is what floats your boat, well, just make sure you are not heading for some serious rapids.
 
Thomas_White said:
Some years ago, I read three interesting books:

The Way of Chuang Tzu
Mystics and Zen Masters
Zen and the Birds of Appetite

These books were written by Thomas Merton, a Trappist Monk and Catholic priest. Yes, it is alright for for a Catholic to do yoga. Or it is for one firmly rooted in their own faith.
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Thomas Merton’s earlier books are great! I got a lot of spiritual inspiration from them, especially the one about the Eucharist, and another about St. John of the Cross writings.

His later books have veered into eastern spirituality, and do not reflect Catholic thought. It’s not just me saying this.
 
Dorothy said:
Thomas Merton’s earlier books are great! I got a lot of spiritual inspiration from them, especially the one about the Eucharist, and another about St. John of the Cross writings.

His later books have veered into eastern spirituality, and do not reflect Catholic thought. It’s not just me saying this.
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Pope Benedict XVI has expressed serious concerns regarding the appropriateness of approaches such as Merton’s. In fact he predicted that Buddhism, with its “autoerotic” type of spirituality, would replace Marxism as the principle antagonist of the Catholic faith, for the very non-dualist ideas it espouses deny the Christian belief in a Creator who is separate from His creation. The transcendence that Zen Buddhism offers is one of non-distinction, a state free from, as Benedict notes, the imposition of religious obligations. In the end, to turn to the ideas of Zen is to turn away from any need for a personal savior. We save ourselves in Buddhism, but only Christ saves in Christianity.
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catholic.com/magazine/articles/can-you-trust-thomas-merton
 
I literally do not understand why yoga, of all things, is a sin.

If there is ANY relation to a spirit that you do not believe in, substitute that spirit in your mind for God.

If it helps ease your mind, what could possibly be so wrong with yoga?

This is the first time I have ever heard something related to yoga being a sin. I shall keep an eye out for this is an unexpected topic for me.
 
Posts 65 through 68 are sublime. OTJM’s post is the last word.

-Tim-
 
religioussoup said:
I literally do not understand why yoga, of all things, is a sin.

If there is ANY relation to a spirit that you do not believe in, substitute that spirit in your mind for God.

If it helps ease your mind, what could possibly be so wrong with yoga?

This is the first time I have ever heard something related to yoga being a sin. I shall keep an eye out for this is an unexpected topic for me.
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Did anyone actually say doing yoga is a sin? I thought if it is truly spiritual yoga…it could take a Catholic away from his faith in Jesus & then become sinful.
 
truetofaith said:
Did anyone actually say doing yoga is a sin? I thought if it is truly spiritual yoga…it could take a Catholic away from his faith in Jesus & then become sinful.
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I sincerely believe that if yoga can take away a Catholic’s faith, then the problem is not yoga. There’s a lot more going on in his/her mind that is far more serious than yoga.
 
Lost_Wanderer said:
The incapacity to separate yoga from its spiritual aspects is actually one of the symptoms of a less than rooted mind.
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Okay but is it yoga when that traditional yoga spiritual component is removed. If I pray the Rosary while doing stretching exercises that simulate yoga movements…that’s not yoga right?
 
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