Why no physical component to Catholicism?

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I was watching a video about a non-Catholic Christian minister who went to a kung-fu monastery… anyway, he said he wondered why there was no physical component to Christianity like these monks have, and it reminded me that I have heard this question elsewhere, for instance, in reference to yoga.

Well, I sort of have a feeling that this sort of thing is unnecessary in Catholicism, and a sort of flippant idea that maybe we are too busy helping those in need, but neither of those is a good explanatory answer, so I thought I’d ask while it’s on my mind 🙂

I understand that yoga has these exercises with the goal of emptying one’s mind, which is not what we are supposed to be doing, so that’s a partial answer, but not a full answer to why we don’t do something else.
 
There is something called Cathletix. Which I guess was promoted as an alternative to yoga.

I personally find Catholicism to be very physical - incense, the Eucharist, the sign of the cross, genuflecting, water baptism, saint statues and images, kneeling, and so on all help focus the physical mind.
 
Immensus said:
There is something called Cathletix. Which I guess was promoted as an alternative to yoga.

I personally find Catholicism to be very physical - incense, the Eucharist, the sign of the cross, genuflecting, water baptism, saint statues and images, kneeling, and so on all help focus the physical mind.
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I agree!

This is my first time hearing about Cathletix.
 
St_Francis said:
I was watching a video about a non-Catholic Christian minister who went to a kung-fu monastery… anyway, he said he wondered why there was no physical component to Christianity like these monks have, and it reminded me that I have heard this question elsewhere, for instance, in reference to yoga.

Well, I sort of have a feeling that this sort of thing is unnecessary in Catholicism, and a sort of flippant idea that maybe we are too busy helping those in need, but neither of those is a good explanatory answer, so I thought I’d ask while it’s on my mind 🙂

I understand that yoga has these exercises with the goal of emptying one’s mind, which is not what we are supposed to be doing, so that’s a partial answer, but not a full answer to why we don’t do something else.
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I’m going to take a stab at this but understand that I’m sort of thinking out loud.

Catholicism is very diverse. Catholic means universal and I don’t see the church promoting a universal way to be physical. The people who invented yoga or any martial arts discipline believe that it is the path to enlightenment or being self-actualized as well as physical discipline. If you compare that to Catholic spirituality you will find many: Franciscan, Benedictine, Carmelite; Charismatic Renewal could be included here as well as Opus Dei, Cursillo, etc.

There have been many discussions on this fora about whether or not Catholics can do yoga (the physical part) and someone usually suggests that instead of yoga they should try Pilates. One is not a substitute for the other (but can be complimentary) and the focus and approach are very different. I don’t know why or how the Church would create or embrace one approach to the move the body since the body is not immortal.
 
From the CDF letter to the Bishops… Aspects of Christian Meditation, it’s possible to see the flaws in using the body to experience divine communion.

3.“To answer this question, one must first of all consider, even if only in a general way, in what does the intimate nature of Christian prayer consist. Then one can see if and how it might be enriched by meditation methods which have been developed in other religions and cultures. However, in order to achieve this, one needs to start with a certain clear premise. Christian prayer is always determined by the structure of the Christian faith, in which the very truth of God and creature shines forth. For this reason, it is defined, properly speaking, as a personal, intimate and profound dialogue between man and God. It expresses therefore the communion of redeemed creatures with the intimate life of the Persons of the Trinity. This communion, based on Baptism and the Eucharist, source and summit of the life of the Church, implies an attitude of conversion, a flight from “self” to the “You” of God. **Thus Christian prayer is at the same time always authentically personal and communitarian. It flees from impersonal techniques or from concentrating on oneself, which can create a kind of rut, imprisoning the person praying in a spiritual privatism which is incapable of a free openness to the transcendental God. **Within the Church, in the legitimate search for new methods of meditation it must always be borne in mind that the essential element of authentic Christian prayer is the meeting of two freedoms, the infinite freedom of God with the finite freedom of man.”
 
Crossing yourself? Genuflecting before the Tabernacle? Standing for the Gospel reading? Kneeling upon receiving the Blessed Sacrament? Yeah… No physical component to Catholicism at all… 😉
 
St_Francis said:
I was watching a video about a non-Catholic Christian minister who went to a kung-fu monastery… anyway, he said he wondered why there was no physical component to Christianity like these monks have, and it reminded me that I have heard this question elsewhere, for instance, in reference to yoga.

Well, I sort of have a feeling that this sort of thing is unnecessary in Catholicism, and a sort of flippant idea that maybe we are too busy helping those in need, but neither of those is a good explanatory answer, so I thought I’d ask while it’s on my mind 🙂

I understand that yoga has these exercises with the goal of emptying one’s mind, which is not what we are supposed to be doing, so that’s a partial answer, but not a full answer to why we don’t do something else.
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Coming from Evangelical Protestantism that is very intellectual and really no physical practice, I see Catholicism as very physical!

That is why we do all the postures in mass and have “smells and bells”. All to link the physical and spiritual!
 
Don’t forget the ultimate Christian physicality – “ora et labora”!! 😉
 
Had you met the nun I had in 5th grade, you would not have needed to ask this question.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
Had you met the nun I had in 5th grade, you would not have needed to ask this question.
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Hey!! I like that one! I was a Novice and a teacher in a Convent and a Catholic School. Books on the head (usually a dictionary) was the practice when I was a kid in Parochial School for the boys, and a ruler across the palm (which I had to hold out for Sister in 4th grade) for the girls. Wasn’t allowed to do that anymore in the 90’s when I was teaching and wearing a habit – had to take them to the Principal for correction. But I sure remember that ruler, really well!! When a Novice and teacher, I taught High School and had boys a foot or more taller than I. When they acted up, I just turned, looked at them and said “Joseph” or “Paul” or whoever and gave them THE LOOK. They shut up instantly and just responded “yes, Sister”. They knew if they pushed it, it was down to the Principal’s office, and no football player or basketball player in the school wanted to put up with being spanked by the Principal with a witness of each sex present (usually the Principal and whichever Sister brought them in). Imagine the embarrassment f or a guy 6’8" tall, being spanked on the bottom 4 or 5 times by a Principal who had to stretch to reach 5’4" while watched by a Sister (me) who weighed all of 120 lbs. and 5’5" tall! Great bragging rights for a big guy on campus??? Says who? By the time they reached High School, NOBODY sassed the Sisters!!!

No “physical component”?? Oh yes, there was and is! Besides, what else is the Eucharist, the bowing, genuflecting, (for those still able), etc… Those are also physical aspects of our faith. Catholic school also has a physical component, and the parents absolutely back it up. We had top students, over 92% went on to college and also graduated from college. Discipline, whether peer pressure or a spanking is very effective in teaching people right from wrong, more often than you’d think!
 
Thanks so much, everyone. I see that I had the wrong idea about the other ways–it seems that the physical movements sort of *are *the prayer rather than being an *aid *to prayeras it is for us–I don’t know if that’s exactly what I mean. But the time a martial arts monk would spend in doing MA, we would spend actually conversing with God.

Maybe the way to look at it would be as if two people got married, but all the husband ever did was watch his wife, and all she ever did was dance ballet for him, and that was their entire relationship?
 
GEddie said:
Indeed.

But should our incredible bodies not be used for more than penance, faith wise?

ICXC NIKA
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They are – during the Mass, during private prayer, during penance, even in saying grace and making the sign of the cross and bowing our heads, we ARE using our bodies! When we love a spouse and are open to life, are we not using our bodies? When we kneel in front of the Holy Eucharist, we are using our bodies. Catholicism has a strong physical component! Definitely.
 
St_Francis said:
I was watching a video about a non-Catholic Christian minister who went to a kung-fu monastery… anyway, he said he wondered why there was no physical component to Christianity like these monks have, and it reminded me that I have heard this question elsewhere, for instance, in reference to yoga.

Well, I sort of have a feeling that this sort of thing is unnecessary in Catholicism, and a sort of flippant idea that maybe we are too busy helping those in need, but neither of those is a good explanatory answer, so I thought I’d ask while it’s on my mind 🙂

I understand that yoga has these exercises with the goal of emptying one’s mind, which is not what we are supposed to be doing, so that’s a partial answer, but not a full answer to why we don’t do something else.
Click to expand...
The goal of yoga isn’t merely emptying one’s mind, yoga as an exercise is really a modern/western development. At the heart of it, the goal of yoga is to achieve a state of permanent peace, transcending the spiritual state from the physical state. Its origins vary from teaching liberation of the soul from the body through intense meditation to teaching the concept of a personal god.
Some sequence of poses on yoga are prayers, worshiping or as an homage to the various deities, for instance the “Surya Namaskar” or more popularly known as sun salutation, is in fact a worship/prayer to Surya, the Indian sun deity.

As you can see, the physical component is necessary, even more than necessary, it’s key, it is the key to achieving their goal of a state of permanent peace/transcendence. Without that physical element - there is nothing left.

For us Christians, the main focus is God. The key to God is through Jesus Christ, abiding by God’s word, doing His will as taught to us by His Church. There’s just simply no need of a “physical component” as is needed in what they call spiritual practices like yoga.
On the other hand, as others have pointed out, all of the gestures we do at mass, those are all physical components indeed!
 
I believe I have the answer but I cannot quite put it into words. Perhaps I am over-tired! So I will throw out the gut-feeling I have and see if someone else can make use of it.

I believe a fundamental principle of eastern martial arts and physical exercises is the belief that they can manipulate their body and soul’s natural energies. I do not know if such a concept of the nature of body and soul fits within a Catholic context and the ontological works of the scholastics. I believe there may be a fundamental distinction in our views on man’s very make-up.

Yours in Jesus and Mary,
OS.
 
You are correct in a sense. When I studied martial arts (yea these many, many years ago) they taught about concentrating the inner “energy” into a move. That’s why you hear them yell something like “KI” (Ki) when they make a strike. The “ki” is the inner energy or spiritual energy being focused. It’s really a part of Eastern (Asian) mysticism. Remember that martial arts actually started with Buddhist monks, who were not allowed to bear weapons at the time (long, long ago in BC times) and so trained their bodies to be weapons in order to protect their monasteries from robbers and thieves. They became quite famous for this. Actually, similar to the Monks who were also Knights in Europe, although the Europeans used weapons and were from the Nobility, not commoners. Many Buddhist monks were also from noble families originally, but accepted old, young, children, of commoners as well.
 
Bruised_Reed said:
I’m going to take a stab at this but understand that I’m sort of thinking out loud.

Catholicism is very diverse. Catholic means universal and I don’t see the church promoting a universal way to be physical.
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I like this answer. 👍
Also, the Church is really good about professing the truths that have been handed down. To add anything more than that would really be unjustified. The beauty of the Catholic faith IMHO, is that it leaves so much free room for exploration. Science, physical fitness, diet (unlike Jewish law), etc.
 
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