Is it okay for a Catholic to practice Yoga?

[thewanderer]

My discussion with Betty concerns yoga being a Hindu practice. It is . And the liturgical language of Hindu is Sanskrit. There is nothing wrong with Sanskrit. I don’t think there is anything wrong with yoga as long as you use it for exercise. I did not and would not use it to get closer to any diety. Only god I’m interested in is God.

So that being said, I’m out of here. Peace and good-bye! :takeoff:

I apologize for the misunderstanding. If all your saying is that Hindus practice yoga, then yes, of course you’re right.

 

[LightBound]

Like what? Rugby?

You forgot football, wrestling (not sure about the WWF kind ) and of course, auto racing!

In all seriousness, though…

Here’s a little bit of Olympic history for you, complete with references about how it was required to have a “priestess” of the “goddess” Demeter present at the games and how the actual games were a religious event (pagan, of course) for the Ancient Greeks:

ancienthistory.about.com/od/olympics/p/olympicgames.htm

ancientgreece.com/s/Olympics/

 

[ebonykawai]

I just googled it. Yoga is part of Hindu religion.

Oh yeah, Google is a great resource, LOL.

The science of Yoga, which was ancient when Patanjali compiled and wrote the Yoga Sutras, pre-dates Hinuism and it not in itself a religion. Hinduism is a religion. Yoga is actually a philosophy and, if you had “googled” a little more, you would have discovered that Yoga is one of the six schools of Indian philosophy.

The problem in the west is that most people don’t know what yoga actually is. Hence, this thread. Yet again, LOL.

 

[ebonykawai]

There is plenty of bad stuff about Hinduism.

Oh, my goodness. Do you actually KNOW anything about Hinduism???

The amount of ignorancce in this thread is becoming painful. :banghead:

 

[ebonykawai]

What makes these people have multiple gods and worship statues?

Probably the same thing that makes Catholics have multiple gods and worship statues. Or at least that’s what the Protestants think, right? Is ignorance and condemnation to any religion ever OK?

 

[Emerite]

I believe it’s OK for a Catholic to practice Yoga, as a mind/body exercise, if one can keep the spiritual aspect “God centered” in one’s mind. I find that Yoga is beneficial in keeping the body supple and reducing stress, which greatly benefits my borderline/white-coat-syndrome hypertension. At the end when my Yoga class does the pose, with the group reciting “om,” I separate spiritually and mentally by quietly thinking/reciting “Mary” – my special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This practice can only parallel our common insights into the Deity (God).

 

[aicirt]

Oh yeah, Google is a great resource, LOL.

The science of Yoga, which was ancient when Patanjali compiled and wrote the Yoga Sutras, pre-dates Hinuism and it not in itself a religion. Hinduism is a religion. Yoga is actually a philosophy and, if you had “googled” a little more, you would have discovered that Yoga is one of the six schools of Indian philosophy.

The problem in the west is that most people don’t know what yoga actually is. Hence, this thread. Yet again, LOL.

Oh, now there’s Google snobs. Who knew? When I get the time I’ll fly to India and take a course on Patanjali etc.

In the meantime, I googled Patanjali.

Since people in the west don’t know what yoga acutally is, I guess Catholics in particular ,should stay away from it because, for one reason, discussion of it sure doesn’t bring peace and harmony.

 

[Baelor]

Are you sure that there are no demons in Hinduism leading millions astray? What makes these people have multiple gods and worship statues?

I think the burden of proof is on you if you are asserting that bending your back invites demonic spirits into your body.

 

[saveusfromhell]

Oh, my goodness. Do you actually KNOW anything about Hinduism???

The amount of ignorancce in this thread is becoming painful. :banghead:

seems you don’t know much about catholism, yoga is from the evil one. meditate on that.

 

[saveusfromhell]

I think the burden of proof is on you if you are asserting that bending your back invites demonic spirits into your body.

google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=vatican%20document%2C%20’jesus%20christ%2C%20bearer%20of%20the%20water%20of%20life&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFUQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vatican.va%2Froman_curia%2Fpontifical_councils%2Finterelg%2Fdocuments%2Frc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html&ei=FRrnT9DzDc6YhQeM_oXiCQ&usg=AFQjCNHIm8oVnBIzWxncLINyFAUbtyKGvQ
Back some years ago the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture and Interreligious Dialogue came out with a document about the New Age.

It was called “Jesus Christ, the Bearers of the Water of Life: a Christian reflection on the 'New Age,” and in it was a passage saying that “advertising connected with New Age covers a wide range of practices as acupuncture, biofeedback, chiropractic, kinesiology, homeopathy, iridology, massage and various kinds of ‘bodywork,’ (such as orgonomy, Feldenkrais, reflexology, Rolfing, polarity massage, therapeutic touch, etcetera), meditation and visualization, nutritional therapies, psychic healing, various kinds of herbal medicine, healing by crystals, metals, music, or colors, reincarnation therapies, and, finally, twelve-step programs and self-help groups.”

 

[Baelor]

google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=vatican%20document%2C%20’jesus%20christ%2C%20bearer%20of%20the%20water%20of%20life&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFUQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vatican.va%2Froman_curia%2Fpontifical_councils%2Finterelg%2Fdocuments%2Frc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html&ei=FRrnT9DzDc6YhQeM_oXiCQ&usg=AFQjCNHIm8oVnBIzWxncLINyFAUbtyKGvQ

So, you have none? That is what I thought.

The encyclical references exclusively forms of yoga that involve spirituality; it does not address yoga as an exercise with no spiritual overtones whatsoever. This makes sense: the Church, being rational, does not condemn exercise.

The onus remains on you to demonstrate that bending one’s back invites the satanic into your well-conditioned yet soon-possessed body.

 

[JSSebastianoP]

If it’s merely exercise or stretching, it seems okay.

anything new-agey you should stay far away from. So, if you can have yoga without “spiritualism” - if you could somehow secularize or “baptize” it, then I guess it would be okay, but other than that no…

 

[saveusfromhell]

So, you have none? That is what I thought.

The encyclical references exclusively forms of yoga that involve spirituality; it does not address yoga as an exercise with no spiritual overtones whatsoever. This makes sense: the Church, being rational, does not condemn exercise.

The onus remains on you to demonstrate that bending one’s back invites the satanic into your well-conditioned yet soon-possessed body.

yoga without spirtuality/ meditating is simply called stretching also could you point out where the document says that specically.

i have yet to see yoga meditating on Jesus advertised anywhere which would be okay.

 

[Baelor]

yoga without spirtuality is simply called stretching

You do not have the authority to determine definitions. Many people use the term 'Yoga" to refer both to the spiritual and physical practices; Wikipedia even has an article on yoga as exercise that focuses on its physical effects. ‘Stretching’ could be anything; ‘yoga’ refers to a particular subset of stretching that includes very specific stretches.

also could you point out where the document says that specically

Please clarify; I am unable to answer since I do not know what you are asking.

 

[Porknpie]

The quote below is from Mitch Pacwa and talks about his using yoga then finding out more about, then rejecting it as it empty’s the mind, which we as Christians are not to do. He was interviewed on July 16th 2010 an Australian reporter. I’ve heard him discuss yoga on his radio show and he basically says that there are other ways to stretch without having to get into a eastern religious practice.

I was practicing Yoga, ‘cause I got into the New Age movement myself, and when I would practice Yoga, I would take the different exercises, the different positions, and Christianise them. For instance, there’s one that’s called “The Tree”, and I would reinterpret that as Christ is the Vine and we are the branches. I would do that with a variety of different things, but the danger that I saw was that I still was trying to attain a state of consciousness within myself rather than relate to the person of Christ. And that’s the difficulty. Yoga is orientated toward emptying your mind, so that you become nothingness. The goal of Yogic religion is that you dissolve as a personality into nothingness, and that’s not a Christian goal. The goal of Christianity is union with the person of Christ. So that’s going to be a standard problem. I could not practice Yoga and try to seek union with Christ. I had to give that up and seek that union rather than the state of consciousness that I was doing with Yoga.

 

[Farsight001]

The quote below is from Mitch Pacwa and talks about his using yoga then finding out more about, then rejecting it as it empty’s the mind, which we as Christians are not to do. He was interviewed on July 16th 2010 an Australian reporter. I’ve heard him discuss yoga on his radio show and he basically says that there are other ways to stretch without having to get into a eastern religious practice.

I was practicing Yoga, ‘cause I got into the New Age movement myself, and when I would practice Yoga, I would take the different exercises, the different positions, and Christianise them. For instance, there’s one that’s called “The Tree”, and I would reinterpret that as Christ is the Vine and we are the branches. I would do that with a variety of different things, but the danger that I saw was that I still was trying to attain a state of consciousness within myself rather than relate to the person of Christ. And that’s the difficulty. Yoga is orientated toward emptying your mind, so that you become nothingness. The goal of Yogic religion is that you dissolve as a personality into nothingness, and that’s not a Christian goal. The goal of Christianity is union with the person of Christ. So that’s going to be a standard problem. I could not practice Yoga and try to seek union with Christ. I had to give that up and seek that union rather than the state of consciousness that I was doing with Yoga.

Where in the world does Church teachings say that we are not to empty our minds? I clear my thoughts all the time. It helps me reset and straighten things out in my head because my mind races a lot. What in the universe would be wrong with that?

 

[saveusfromhell]

You do not have the authority to determine definitions. Many people use the term 'Yoga" to refer both to the spiritual and physical practices; Wikipedia even has an article on yoga as exercise that focuses on its physical effects. ‘Stretching’ could be anything; ‘yoga’ refers to a particular subset of stretching that includes very specific stretches.
.

i think you should read the link you posted,

‘yoga’ refers to a particular subset of stretching that includes very specific stretches.

if your not meditating it’s not Yoga, going by the link you provided,
surely if your meditating on Jesus, yeah no problem, as someone else posted they do.
otherwise i think you should read the link i provided as the church is against yoga, but of course not stretching

 

[saveusfromhell]

Where in the world does Church teachings say that we are not to empty our minds? I clear my thoughts all the time. It helps me reset and straighten things out in my head because my mind races a lot. What in the universe would be wrong with that?

with a number of posters here you need to read the posts not 1 or 2 words from them

 

[Porknpie]

Where in the world does Church teachings say that we are not to empty our minds? I clear my thoughts all the time. It helps me reset and straighten things out in my head because my mind races a lot. What in the universe would be wrong with that?

I’m not a theologan but I assume emptying your mind is an issue with the first commandment. When we empty our mind we are not loving the Lord with all our mind because it is empty. When you clear your mind as you describe above, that is not the same spiritual end that yoga is trying to achieve.

"YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND

 

[Viviphilia]

Since people in the west don’t know what yoga acutally is, I guess Catholics in particular ,should stay away from it because, for one reason, discussion of it sure doesn’t bring peace and harmony.

This discussion of yoga has brought me peace and harmony.