Yoga's spirituality is no threat to Christianity

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QuietTimes said:
Well you probably read that and believed it. Yoga is a form of worship. Whether it is to a ‘angel’ or to a ‘god’. It is not mearly for exercise as some like to believe.
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There are many different sorts of “yogas” out there. Some are “worship”, others are not. If you are referring to Hatha Yoga, then you would still have to be rather specific, since there are many Hatha Yoga poses out there. For instance, if you sit in Savasana (the “corpse pose”), does that mean you are worshipping deities or angels? People have been sitting “Savasana” all over the world, for thousands of years – as a pose, it’s not unique to Hatha Yoga. There are other poses that are physically indistinguishable from poses that Americans take everyday, Americans who never took a Hatha Yoga class. Should Christians stop lying on the floor, just because Hindus have made lying on the floor a sacred practice?😃
 
Ahimsa said:
Should Christians stop lying on the floor, just because Hindus have made lying on the floor a sacred practice?😃
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I didnt imply that or assume it.:confused:

Romans12;1-2

I am sorry if I dont agree with it. Our bodies are to worship God and God alone and to me this form of ‘exercise’ can skew that. When I exercise sometimes I have to get on the floor but I am not contorting my body in a yoga pose.
I dont think you can separte the two types of yoga. Period.
 
QuietTimes said:
I didnt imply that or assume it.:confused:

Romans12;1-2

I am sorry if I dont agree with it. Our bodies are to worship God and God alone and to me this form of ‘exercise’ can skew that. When I exercise sometimes I have to get on the floor but I am not contorting my body in a yoga pose.
I dont think you can separte the two types of yoga. Period.
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Hatha Yoga is not simply about contorting your body. Just sitting on the floor, cross-legged, is a Hatha Yoga pose.

But I think I see your concern: the worship of anything other than God. Well, what if I told you that Hindus also worship God, and that this “330 million god” statement is an inaccuracy?
 
Yes I know they worship a god, many divinities. You must find Brahman (the Atman) within yourself, your inner divinity and yoga can help you achieve this.

hatha is the school of yoga for physical exercises (asana) it helps to attain enlightenment. This is the most popular form of yoga in the west.

Yoga which means “yoke”, joins one to divinity.

Brahman became male and female divinities, 330 million of them.

I know that Hinduism is diverse in their beliefs but I just dont agree with yoga.:o
 
I would think yoga could be a threat to the faith of some. If they do yoga and find a lot of benefits from it, they might seek out further information and practices in that tradition, and, if finding benefit from these too…be led to a different faith.
 
Contarini said:
That is simply not true. In yogic philosophy divine grace is necessary. Unfortunately the author of this article is engaging with a generalized stereotype of Eastern religion (this particular statement applies to Theravada Buddhism but not to most forms of Hinduism or even all forms of Buddhism) rather than looking at specifics.

I’d like to suggest everyone read the entire article and every thing from the web site I quoted above(www.thecrossandtheveil.com). There are absolute HORROR storys about people becomeing insane, etc. from practiceing yoga. I would love it if yoga was truely a non threat, but greater minds then mine have proven otherwise, if people would only LISTEN to them. Fools go where Angels fear to tread!!!
If your Catholic or some other denomination of Christian, listen to what your church teachs. They are not just a bunch of old men out to kill your fun, they are teachers,lose your foolish pride in your own judgement and learn from them. You have a great treasure in Jesus, listen to his Church!
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Carrie_Andrews said:
Contarini;1820875:
That is simply not true. In yogic philosophy divine grace is necessary. Unfortunately the author of this article is engaging with a generalized stereotype of Eastern religion (this particular statement applies to Theravada Buddhism but not to most forms of Hinduism or even all forms of Buddhism) rather than looking at specifics.

I’d like to suggest everyone read the entire article and every thing from the web site I quoted above(www.thecrossandtheveil.com
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). There are absolute HORROR storys about people becomeing insane, etc. from practiceing yoga. I would love it if yoga was truely a non threat, but greater minds then mine have proven otherwise, if people would only LISTEN to them. Fools go where Angels fear to tread!!!
If your Catholic or some other denomination of Christian, listen to what your church teachs. They are not just a bunch of old men out to kill your fun, they are teachers,lose your foolish pride in your own judgement and learn from them. You have a great treasure in Jesus, listen to his Church!

Thanks Carrie I read this a while ago also along with other things. I think some people dont like to give up what they think feels good. When looking at this with a more educated sense you just cant help but realize the danger this is to our faith.
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Going off topic for a bit here I wish we had Women of Grace at our parish.
 
Yes, I keep hearing of them in my area and want to go to one of thier workshops.
 
I took a class last summer on relaxation techniques for counselors which included yoga. I wouldn’t have thought to question it, had I not read over the objections raised here. I was always under the impression that yoga was compatible with any religion or none. A lot depends on the instructor - some will be into the eastern philosophy, while others will just stick to exercise. I like christianyoga.us/
  • all the spirituality is firmly based in Christian faith. I also tried Father Ryan’s yoga DVD, but it was way too advanced for me.
 
Mark_Marilyn said:
Yoga’s spirituality is no threat to Christianity
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Yoga is a set of ‘spiritual excerises’ developed by non-Christians for non-Christian religion.

It’s not just the western idea of ‘relaxing’.

It’s to do with bringing one’s mind into a state for contac with non-Christian forces.

As such it is in direct contrast to Christian faith.

Christians have already developed Christian ways of meditation. Stick with the brand you can trust.
 
Montalban said:
Yoga is a set of ‘spiritual excerises’ developed by non-Christians for non-Christian religion.

It’s not just the western idea of ‘relaxing’.

It’s to do with bringing one’s mind into a state for contac with non-Christian forces.

As such it is in direct contrast to Christian faith.

Christians have already developed Christian ways of meditation. Stick with the brand you can trust.
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I do no meditation, Christian or otherwise, and attach no form of philosophy, Christian or otherwise, to my yoga when I do it. It is purely and simply a great exercise for the body. Nothing spiritual about it for me, and I suspect for plenty of people, and therein lies the confusion.

I haven’t found another type of exercise which works better for me. Not because I haven’t tried 'em - I certainly have. If I did find something I’d give up yoga in a heartbeat.

Please please, do not tar me or everyone who does yoga with the same brush as those people who do get into the meditation, into the Eastern philosophy and so on.
 
Well … during my first yoga class, the guy leading the class put a photo of a yoga leader woman up so everyone could see it. he asked us to feel the energy that this woman gives off … even through her photo … and actually expected me to physically feel a breeze eminanting from her … oh … and also asked us to hold our hand over our heads and feel the energy (physical breeze) coming from our crests.

treating the photo like a source of energy … hmmm … no thank you.

the physical aspects of yoga seem fine.
for medidation … i would rather meditate on christian things … not this woman or the energy that she or her photo produced

well that was my first class …

haven’t gone back.

cheers!

michel
 
LilyM said:
I do no meditation, Christian or otherwise, and attach no form of philosophy, Christian or otherwise, to my yoga when I do it. It is purely and simply a great exercise for the body. Nothing spiritual about it for me, and I suspect for plenty of people, and therein lies the confusion.

I haven’t found another type of exercise which works better for me. Not because I haven’t tried 'em - I certainly have. If I did find something I’d give up yoga in a heartbeat.

Please please, do not tar me or everyone who does yoga with the same brush as those people who do get into the meditation, into the Eastern philosophy and so on.
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I was speaking to a friend about this thread and she told me that yoga in the U.S.A. is very different from the original concept of yoga in the east. She said yoga was originally a form of exercise with slight, if any, spiritualy aspects in it. It’s a very bastarized type of yoga that has the warped spiritual aspects in it in the U.S., so maybe on your side of the world it hasn’t been corrupted by the evil that we find here?
 
We’ve had a lot of threads about yoga in the couple years I’ve been reading here. I’ve taken a lot of yoga classes through the community college, the adult education program in our school district and at the YMCA. NONE of them were about anything except exercise. The only power they called on was the power of yourself doing things you didn’t think you could do. Go to a yoga center and you might get philosophy or spirituality but at the Y, all you’re going to do is stretch.
 
daeve said:
We’ve had a lot of threads about yoga in the couple years I’ve been reading here. I’ve taken a lot of yoga classes through the community college, the adult education program in our school district and at the YMCA. NONE of them were about anything except exercise. The only power they called on was the power of yourself doing things you didn’t think you could do. Go to a yoga center and you might get philosophy or spirituality but at the Y, all you’re going to do is stretch.
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Maybe your YMCA, but my sister took a class about 15 years ago at our local YMCA and she said the teacher made her very uncomfortable talking about third eye, etc. At the time we all thought it would just be streaching exercises.
 
Gee, you’d think you’d be safe at the Young Men’s CHRISTIAN Association, wouldn’t you? I’m more a Tai Chi person now. The teacher doesn’t speak enough English to do anything but demonstrate.
 
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