Yoga

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Hibblyn

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I am recovering from cancer. I have been an avid fan of exercise for many years. For the past 6 months I have been taking yoga. It has been so amazing! I can see and feel the effects on my body and emotions. I do feel however, that I have a “block” and we are encouraged to remove all blocks. I think my “block” may be that I have been taught that yoga is a religion in itself…etc.
At the close of each class we say “Namaste” (" I recognize the divine in you") And we chant “OM”. I don’t feel comfortable, but I don’t really feel educated as to why I feel uncomfortable.
the following is an article explaining, for example, the “OM”.

HRIDAYA is the eighth lotos between the matter and the spirit. This is its exact location (in case You want to illustrate it to somebody). Secret Laya Yoga taught to me by my Venerable Guru Ananda Shiv (Swami Baba Shivananda G.P.) begins in this very place which can only be sensed and perceived as as a door between that which is palpable for the senses and that which is not accessible for the senses. In this Secret Chamber resides our True Self. It is DRASHTA: the truthful and fair witness. His other name is I AM. The Biblical Name of GOD: I AM THE ONE THAT IS, or, in its original version: EHIEH ASHER EHIEH is this level of consciousness which we aspire to attain.

Every person well familiar with the four-stage system of Laya Yoga within the Patanjali system, contained in Yogasutras, will easily notice that the topic of DRASHTA refers to the second class of yoga. In the first class for yoga disciples we aspire to attain the I AM consciousness through chanting the OM syllable. The very resonant Omm (AUM) syllable is referred to in the first class yoga as ANAHATNADAM, which means the vibration sound or the resonance of a sound. This is an internal sound, cosmic music of silence. When You gently chant OM in such a way that Your whole body trembles and vibrates lightly in tune with Your voice, then it means that You are setting off on a geunuine journey into Your I AM, to Your True SELF.

I love yoga, it fits so beautifully into my personality, I have a day spa,candles, incense, music, massage, I live in that world every day, which I respond easily to and the yoga concept. can someone explain the church’s teaching on this subject?

Hibblyn
 
Hibblyn said:
I am recovering from cancer. I have been an avid fan of exercise for many years…can someone explain the church’s teaching on this subject?

Hibblyn
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Why can’t you do the yoga, but replace the Hindu mantras with Christian prayer?
 
Yoga – Health or Stealth?
catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?id=2927&repos=1&subrepos=&searchid=99231
Unfortunately, many Christians have experienced some of the beneficial effects of yogic postures, breathing and meditation including extraordinary healing, spiritual renewal and various bliss states. Many have become involved in one of the larger yoga societies and ashrams. Adding to the general confusion about the legitimacy of yoga, is the guidance Christians receive from the now significant body of Catholic clergy, teachers and spiritual counselors who practice, write about and advocate eastern practices, especially yoga, often mixing them with Catholic mysticism. One Catholic rehabilitation center for religious I know of teaches yoga to those having already had nervous breakdowns.
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You are going to get many opinions, but if your Catholic, IMHO, don’t do it. If your not Catholic don’t do it.

If you noticed in your last sentence you refered to yourself 5 times and God zero times.🤷 Yoga is all about self-centerness, IMHO.
 
Bennie_P said:
If you noticed in your last sentence you refered to yourself 5 times and God zero times.🤷 Yoga is all about self-centerness, IMHO.
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Good observation and self-center is where many problem starts.
 
InLight247 said:
For those who want to know more about Catholic teachings on Yoga, please take time to read through the following:

catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=2927

catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0275.html
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Thank you for these links. I read them.
Isn’t there some way to practice yoga’s physical poses while thinking about something honorable? I often say to myself in the still moments:
“I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me.”
In “child’s pose” I often pray either Our Father, or Hail Mary.
It is very sad to think of throwing yoga away completely.

Hibblyn
 
Hibblyn said:
Thank you for these links. I read them.
Isn’t there some way to practice yoga’s physical poses while thinking about something honorable? I often say to myself in the still moments:
“I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me.”
In “child’s pose” I often pray either Our Father, or Hail Mary.
It is very sad to think of throwing yoga away completely.

Hibblyn
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Of course! Do the exercises, make all the mantras/meditation Christian.
 
Hibblyn said:
Thank you for these links. I read them.
Isn’t there some way to practice yoga’s physical poses while thinking about something honorable? I often say to myself in the still moments:
“I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me.”
In “child’s pose” I often pray either Our Father, or Hail Mary.
It is very sad to think of throwing yoga away completely.

Hibblyn
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Life is a series of choice.
To do or not to do is a choice.
If we know the teaching but want to modify and justify the teaching, it is our choice.
If there is anything questionable or unsure, I’ll choose not to do it.

We all know we can not do fortune telling.
Can we do it by praying the Holy Spirit speak through the fortune teller?
This analogy may not be appropriate, but it just came to mind.

As far as I know, the movements of Yoga are rooted in the gestures of worshiping Hindu gods.

Praying Christian prayers or not, the gesture, the body language, expresses significance to the Hindu gods. Our Lord will not be pleased with that. I won’t consciously do anything displeases my Lord.

There may be negative effects attached to those gestures. Spiritual realm is very real.
There are too many unknown things in that realm. We have to be careful.
 
InLight247 said:
As far as I know, the movements of Yoga are rooted in the gestures of worshiping Hindu gods.
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Wrong. The very names of the poses show that you’re wrong. The physical exercises are simply imitations - imitating nature (mountain pose, tree pose), people, inanimate objects even …

Cat pose - named cat pose because you look like a cat while doing it. Triangle pose - named because your body forms the shape of a triangle while doing it. ‘Warrior’ pose - looks like the gesture a soldier armed with a javelin would make. ‘Plow’ pose - the shape of a plow (you know, the one farmers used to use in the fields before machines took over).

There is no ‘cat god’, nor any other Hindu deity, that you’re worshipping merely by adopting a pose that resembles a cat’s actions. And most certainly no ‘triangle god’ or ‘plow god’! Who in their right minds would think forming your body into the shape of a triangle, a plow or any other blessed shape is worship in and of itself - children do it instinctively in play!

As for body language - it most certainly doesn’t define worship. Not half. INTENT of the mind defines worship.

If body language mattered in the slightest then it’d mean every person in the Bible who bowed to another person (Jacob bowed not once but seven times on one occasion before Esau his brother) was worshipping them. :eek:

And if yoga is a problem then so is incense - Hindus burn that before their deities! So is baptism - since Hindus immerse themselves in the waters of the Ganges River. So is Ash Wednesday - Hindus have their own blessed ash, called vibhuti.
 
Please see Vatican’s position about Yoga.
skepticfiles.org/rumor/vaticanz.htm - you can search for that 23 pages document approved by JPII.

``Some physical exercises automatically produce a feeling of quiet and
relaxation, pleasing sensations, perhaps even phenomena of light and of
warmth, which resemble spiritual well-being. To take such feelings for the
authentic consolations of the Holy Spirit would be a totally erroneous way of
conceiving the spiritual life.

This is true assuming that one is using yoga for spiritual growth. If however, it is used as a [physical] exercise and this same person depends on his spiritual growth through mass, bible study, and prayer I see no problem.
The problem is trying to combine the two.
You also cannot deny the huge physical health benefits received from yoga.
The danger that I see is those vulnerable souls who are going into yoga without guidance.
The Holy Spirit within me causes me to reject the spiritual tones of the classes.
Massage is another great form of relaxation.
Yes, yoga does give you a relaxed, peaceful feeling which reminds me of a good massage. Yet my physical body is stronger.
 
From
LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON
SOME ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN MEDITATION
  1. The majority of the “great religions” which have sought union with God in prayer have also pointed out ways to achieve it.** Just as "the Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions,"18 **neither should these ways be rejected out of hand simply because they are not Christian. ****On the contrary, one can take from them what is useful so long as the Christian conception of prayer, its logic and requirements are never obscured. It is within the context of all of this that these bits and pieces should be taken up and expressed anew. Among these one might mention first of all that of the humble acceptance of a master who is an expert in the life of prayer, and of the counsels he gives. Christian experience has known of this practice from earliest times, from the epoch of the desert Fathers. Such a master, being an expert in “sentire cum ecclesia,” must not only direct and warn of certain dangers; as a “spiritual father,” he has to also lead his pupil in a dynamic way, heart to heart, into the life of prayer, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
    ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFMED.HTM
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Emphasis is in bold is mine.

Jim
 
I read with great interest the letters on Yoga, and was pleased to see the warnings and guidance given.
Let me share my experience with Yoga practice:
Many years ago, in Indonesia, I seriously practiced a form of Yoga to help me with getting more energy to get my work done on the meager sleep and food I had to make do with. I reached a level where I could - when I came to Kentucky in mid-January - exercise outside in the ice & snow in just a T-shirt and Shorts (short socks & shoes, no boots).
Fortunately, the Newman Center Chaplain, the late Fr. Elmer Moore, kept an eye on me. One day he asked me:“Do you know that you are not a Catholic?”
I was shocked, because I had been attending most of the Masses, and he was tutoring me in Scripture (He was trained by the Dominicans; some of his Professors used to work in the Jerusalem Biblical Institute.). So I asked: “Can you explain, please?” His reply was: “I think you are not even human! You don’t have any emotions!”
That shook me up. So that evening I spent praying and reviewing what could be the reason for his observations, because I knew him to be an astute observer and a very gifted Priest.
I came to the conclusion that my Yoga practice was the cause. To progress quickly through Yoga - which was developed for Indian hermits based on the Hindu Religion - I learned to suppress my emotions - allowing me to advance faster than my co-practitioners at the cost of becoming a “Rational Robot” without recognizing it.
It took quite a while (years) to re-acquire the ability to empathize with others, and share others’ joys and sorrows. Sometimes, when I am overloaded with problems, I think about that period of ‘Freedom of Entanglements’, but I push it off because it also meant loss of my humanity! (“No man is an Island!”)
 
Thank you, Jose, for sharing your first hand experience about Yoga.

Sometimes it saddens me to see people who are so attached to what they are used to.
They rule out open-mindedness of heeding any well meaning warnings, or at least give a second thought.
As long as the warning is against their own practice they become offensive and defensive.
It doesn’t matter the warning is from Church teaching or from someone’ true experience.

You are very blessed to have a mind of discernment and courage of detachment.
All the Saints’ and Church Doctors emphasize detachment. Detachment means to let go things, not cling to anything, whether it is good or bad.

God bless you!
 
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