Is it a sin for Catholics to do Yoga?

[englands123]

God is very clear on such matters.

Only he and he alone, is entitled to be one with the universe. As he is ( I am ).

Put it this way…

How can you be one with God and one with the universe?

Next they will believe in karma.

An insult to God.

 

[Shakuhachi]

But the only purpose for a Ouija board is to connect with occult powers.

I think that also is superstition.

"Scientists know exactly how the Ouija board works: it is call the ideomotor effect. "

Ouija Board: Demystifying the 'Mystifying Oracle'

Ouija boards are supposedly used to communicate with the dead. But do they really work?

www.livescience.com

 

[Gab123]

If you commit mortal sin, you are opening yourself up to demonic things. For the final time, how can one accidentally commit mortal sin?

I’m not sure what point you are trying to make.
As for mortal sin, three components must be present: grave matter, full knowledge and full consent.

As for yoga poses, the many different unnatural positions the body is forcibly contorted into during a yoga session were developed to invoke the many different Hindu gods. The practice involves mind, body and spirt. Yoga classes always advertise the benefits and goals of practicing yoga, namely to achieve a healthier body, mind and spirit via postures, breathing exercises and meditation, in order to achieve inner peace.

Most if not all people who go to yoga classes at the gym don’t realize they are contorting their bodies into shapes used to invoke Hindu gods, or that they are meditating and chanting mantras for spirit entities to make their way through the various chakras within the body to release inner energies. Obviously, once a person is told and realizes it, then it takes on a different understanding in the conscience of a person, specifically and especially for a Christian.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Anyone who does yoga, will recognize a young toddler doing the same postures. Are they honoring Hindu gods ? A misunderstanding of Hinduism will draw such conclusions by some.

Toddlers can move into these postures because they’re flexible and can move into the postures done in yoga, without effort. However, as they grow, like 99% of humans, they will develop tension and stiffness in their muscles and joints which will make such postures difficult if not impossible to get into.

The majority of Americans do what I call, “Gym Yoga,” and the intention they have in doing them is what makes doing Yoga harmful or not. I’m a Christian and I’ve been doing Gym Yoga for decades.

Just like meditation, the intention for doing it, is what makes the difference. Christ Centered meditation is what Christians do. Christ Centered Yoga Exercise, is what Christians do.

God is not offended by Christians doing Gym Yoga Exercise.

Jim

 

[Shakuhachi]

to invoke Hindu gods, or that they are meditating and chanting mantras for spirit entities to make their way through the various chakras within the body to release inner energies.

Superstition.

 

[Shorter_name]

breathing techniques, concentration, etc.

Isn’t that meditation? I hope that isnt a sin now

 

[Gab123]

Christ Centered Yoga Exercise, is what Christians do.

Everyone defending yoga in this thread was claiming that yoga classes were simply about stretching exercises; now you’re saying that Christians practice Christ-centered yoga, admittedly you are saying that yoga is about mind body and spirit. So for you, yoga is a path to the same inner peace reached by Hindus through yoga?

God is not offended by Christians doing Gym Yoga Exercise.

Tell that to the exorcists who warn against practicing yoga, as they warn about the spiritual consequences as well as the ushering of one’s intellect and faith into syncretism and the New Age movement.

As if the Catholic faith is not rich in spiritual treasures, devotions and levels of meditative and contemplative prayer that a Catholic has to resort to adopting Hindu-god-invoking contortions to find inner peace.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Tell that to the exorcists who warn against practicing yoga, as they warn about the spiritual consequences as well as the ushering of one’s intellect and faith into syncretism and the New Age movement

Which exorcist and what was the context he was speaking about ?

Jim

 

[Gab123]

The president of the international association of exorcists at the Vatican Fr, Gabriel Amorth and his successors, speaking about how it is a portal for spirits. Thus Pope John Paul II issued a letter to the bishops about it in 1989. Demons are spirits thus they operate in the realm of man’S intellect, and they are spirits of gradual deception.

 

[LilyM]

TheLittleLady:

If you commit mortal sin, you are opening yourself up to demonic things. For the final time, how can one accidentally commit mortal sin?

I’m not sure what point you are trying to make.
As for mortal sin, three components must be present: grave matter, full knowledge and full consent.

As for yoga poses, the many different unnatural positions the body is forcibly contorted into during a yoga session were developed to invoke the many different Hindu gods. The practice involves mind, body and spirt. Yoga classes always advertise the benefits and goals of practicing yoga, namely to achieve a healthier body, mind and spirit via postures, breathing exercises and meditation, in order to achieve inner peace.

Most if not all people who go to yoga classes at the gym don’t realize they are contorting their bodies into shapes used to invoke Hindu gods, or that they are meditating and chanting mantras for spirit entities to make their way through the various chakras within the body to release inner energies. Obviously, once a person is told and realizes it, then it takes on a different understanding in the conscience of a person, specifically and especially for a Christian.

Stretches are not evil. Breathing exercises are not evil. Meditation (provided such meditation involves a proper subject and object) is not evil. Athletes, musicians and performers of all sorts use all of the above and always have done. So have good, devout and sincere Christians.

An actor portraying a Catholic priest in a movie doesn’t automatically, unknowingly or unwillingly open a channel to any supernatural power by imitating the words and gestures used by a priest in confecting the Eucharist or absolving sins.

Yet you’re suggesting that demons can possess people not just unknowingly but actually AGAINST every fibre of their will? Merely through actions absent intent, or even with intent that is the opposite of demonic possession?

What happened to free will, which is surely a requirement as much for evil or supernatural possession to occur as good or miracles?

 

[Shakuhachi]

From the 1989 letter to the bishops:

And #28
That does not mean that genuine practices of meditation which come from the Christian East and from the great non-Christian religions , which prove attractive to the man of today who is divided and disoriented, cannot constitute a suitable means of helping the person who prays to come before God with an interior peace, even in the midst of external pressures.

 

[Prodigal1984]

So for you, yoga is a path to the same inner peace reached by Hindus through yoga?

I believe it is called tantra.

 

[Gab123]

Yet you’re suggesting that demons can possess people not just unknowingly but actually AGAINST every fibre of their will?

Exorcist warn Catholics to not practice yoga, as it opens the soul to demonic influence. There are many types of demonic influences, and one is to usher the intellect into false paths; earlier I mentioned Syncretism, New Ageism, etc. Other influences are diabolical harassment and a gateway into the occult. As for possession, usually nobody who becomes possessed intended to become possessed; it is one’s actions that can become an invitation to demonic spirits. exorcists have explained that some people in the world with mental problems are actually suffering from spiritual problems.

Go ahead and join a yoga class and contort your body into the postures that were formulated to invoke spirits and try to achieve inner peace. I’m just telling you what the exorcist warn Catholics not to do. You may think you know more than the exorcists, and I can respect that. I simply don’t believe you.

 

[matjam]

When you trace back the history of yoga, many yoga asanas are positions of worship to Hindu gods. So the different postures you adopt during yoga had something in the past to do with worship of pagan gods. This can be a channel for demonic possessions.

I am from India and there are other traditions from Hinduism if practiced by Catholics can be dangerous. One of them is a dance form called ‘Bharatanatyam’. It was a dance form from ancient hinduism to worship hindu gods. There are Catholics who practice bharatanatyam just as a dance form. But again these can lead to demonic possessions.
Still, if you are in doubt, I suggest you share your doubts with an exorcist. Every Catholic diocese has an official exorcist.

 

[englands123]

People will always try to justify their own sin.

Even St Peter unknowingly was rebuked by Jesus for his Earthly outlook.

Jesus was very clear also when he prayed that Peter would not fall in to temptation. The Devil is very clever and will use all his tricks.

Why did he tell Peter this ?

May be because Peter had become confident in his own belief that he wouldn’t fall to the Devils tricks.

Prayer and meditation Jesus often taught. But he never taught being at peace with the universe which Yoga basically is in my opinion.

The word yoga means “union,” and the goal is to unite one’s transitory (temporary) self with the infinite Brahman, the Hindu concept of “God.” This god is not a literal being, but is an impersonal spiritual substance that is one with nature and the cosmos. This view is called “pantheism,” the belief that everything is God and that reality consists only of the universe and nature. Because everything is God, the yoga philosophy makes no distinction between man and God.

It’s directly against Gods law and anyone who thinks they can separate themselves Spiritually from their body during Yoga is not listening to Gods word.

Sorry to be harsh the practice of yoga is based on the belief that man and God are one. It is little more than self-worship disguised as high-level spirituality.

 

[LilyM]

People will always try to justify their own sin.

Even St Peter unknowingly was rebuked by Jesus for his Earthly outlook.

Jesus was very clear also when he prayed that Peter would not fall in to temptation. The Devil is very clever and will use all his tricks.

Why did he tell Peter this ?

May be because Peter had become confident in his own belief that he wouldn’t fall to the Devils tricks.

Prayer and meditation Jesus often taught. But he never taught being at peace with the universe which Yoga basically is in my opinion.

The word yoga means “union,” and the goal is to unite one’s transitory (temporary) self with the infinite Brahman, the Hindu concept of “God.” This god is not a literal being, but is an impersonal spiritual substance that is one with nature and the cosmos. This view is called “pantheism,” the belief that everything is God and that reality consists only of the universe and nature. Because everything is God, the yoga philosophy makes no distinction between man and God.

It’s directly against Gods law and anyone who thinks they can separate themselves Spiritually from their body during Yoga is not listening to Gods word.

Sorry to be harsh the practice of yoga is based on the belief that man and God are one. It is little more than self-worship disguised as high-level spirituality.

Let us start with this - the goal of the Sign of the Cross is to invoke and worship the Christian Trinitarian God. Agreed?

If an infant who has not yet attained the use of reason, unthinkingly imitates someone who he or she sees and hears doing the Sign of the Cross, it means nothing and invokes nothing. Agreed?

If an actor who is a died-in-the-wool atheist does the Sign of the Cross because she is playing the part of Mother Superior in The Sound of Music, then EVEN IF she is FULLY aware of the significance of the Sign of the Cross for Catholics, it STILL invokes nothing on a spiritual level for her. It is an empty gesture - a sounding gong or clanging cymbal as St Paul might say. Because the heart and the intent is absent and she is not open to receive whatever spiritual power the Sign of the Cross might otherwise convey. And heart and intent are required. Agreed?

Any more talk of Hindu gods/demons being able to possess people against their will because mere gestures supposedly in their honour are so powerful, and I may have to start giving serious thought to converting to Hinduism. You are only succeeding in making the beings allegedly invoked through yoga poses, whatever they may be, sound at least as much like truly omnipotent deities as the Christian God!

As for me - “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, yet will I fear no evil”. If Christianity does not bring the peace which passes all understanding then it is not what Christ preached.

 

[Ana_v]

As I am writing this, I am in Bolivia, in a remote location in the northern part of the country.

I am doing volunteer work on an eco-farm, in the areas of permaculture and bioconstruction.

The farm is run by a married couple who are devout, Hare Krishna Hindus. The husband is British and the wife is Bolivian. I didn’t know it in advance. I discovered it when I came and learned about their lifestyle and noticed the temple they have on their property (located within their hut-house)

I mention this for context. They homeschool their children and the room that they use is also the space they use for yoga when they have clients.

What would you (any of you) like me to ask them?

Quote:

Krishna devotees—specifically those who consider themselves part of ISKCON the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, follow Krishna’s teachings in the [Bhagavad-gita]. The word “Hindu” isn’t found there, or anywhere in Vedic literature. When we speak of Krishna, we’re referring to the Supreme Person, the Absolute Truth, the ultimate source of all energies.

“Hindu” is a relative term referring to customs and beliefs of a portion of the population of Southeast Asia. It came into use in relatively recent history. The Supreme Person, God, isn’t bound by time or space, so He can’t be referred to as “Hindu,” “Christian,” or “Muslim,” and nor can His devotees.

Some believe the Absolute Truth to be ultimately impersonal, and that Krishna is merely a historical personality appearing in India to teach “Hinduism.” In answer to this, Krishna Himself says in the Bhagavad-gita,

“Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, was impersonal before and have now assumed this personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme.” [7.24]

“They say Krishna is Indian or Krishna is worshiped by the Hindus and therefore He is one of the Hindu Gods; and they think that Krishna is saying, “Yes, I am the Hindu God. Yes, I am Indian.” But He is like the sun. Why American sun or Indian? Nothing is American or Indian; that is all artificial.”

Source: Are Hare Krishnas Hindus? | Krishna.com

*As a side note. An interesting thing happened yesterday. A man from Uruguay who is in charge of the volunteers (he is a convert to Hinduism)
when the owner is away had a falling out with one of the volunteers.

The girl was playing music in the kitchen (sounded like Reggae) while she was doing cleaning duty and the man found the lyrics to be morally objectionable on account of it “glorifying drugs” and “degrading women” and told the volunteer that this kind of music is not appropriate for the kitchen because “the kitchen is considered part of the temple”.

 

[englands123]

Are you saying Spiritual portals do not exist ? Only if the person is open to such suggestions.

 

[LilyM]

Are you saying Spiritual portals do not exist ? Only if the person is open to such suggestions.

That is a big if. Of course a person must be open to such suggestions for there to be any spiritual effect.

Hence in my examples the infant and the atheist, who are NOT open to such suggestions, remain unaffected. And the mature Christian, secure in their faith, can most likely trust themselves to God’s protection and do the physical poses associated with yoga (note I am not talking about repeating mantras or the like) without spiritual mishap.

Now - about the term “yoga” itself. I think, at least in the context in which most Westerners use it, it is a very loose term, almost a brand name, used to signify poses that were developed in association with the spiritual practice.

And many do genuinely use it purely as a physical form of exercise and for physical relaxation. So much so that one might as well say, although much more clumsily, “yoga-style poses and breathing”. In the same way one might say “orange-flavoured drink” for a beverage and be under no illusion that it contains any actual orange.

 

[anon91549587]

God created our bodies to push , pull , go into flexion and extension , at times , loading our shoulders by weight overhead. To not exercise the bandwith would be just as bad as taking recreational drugs.

We live in such times when the new age has taken hold in almost everything that is good and made it bad.

Of course , i wouldnt go for yoga classes but i would learn the theory behind the stretches and do them myself. If you were to go to a physio , he might just prescribe you a stretch that looks like a yoga stretch but isnt , simply because its only what the body is capable of doing.