Yoga

[Joshua-777]

So, I was just wondering on everyone's opinion of Christian yoga. I know that's a growing thing, but it kind of concerns me for multiple reasons.

 I remember praying with a lady who had horrible back pain. As we prayed, the pain started moving around to other parts of her body and getting more intense. An hour of praying over her, I heard the word "Yoga." I asked if she practiced yoga and she did and said, "thinking about it, that's when I first got this pain." She renounced yoga and the pain left instantly. I've seen a few healings similar now.
 

When I was in bible college, I took a class on spiritual warfare and the professor was from India. He brought up this subject and said that there is a saying "You cannot have Hinduism without yoga, and you can't have yoga without Hinduism." To someone who grew up in a Hindu culture, Christian Yoga is not possible.

Yoga is the communion of Hinduism. It's how they have communion with their gods, they open themselves through yoga to spiritual encounters with demonic spirits.

What are your thoughts?

[ayin jade]

I think a Christian should not do yoga, even if its dressed up as Christian yoga. At the very least it is a poor witness. 

[Ezra]

You cannot separate Yoga from Hinduism, and you cannot separate Hinduism from idolatry and demonic forces and mantras (which connect humans to the spirit world).  Christians should avoid Yoga completely.  There are plenty of other ways to exercise. 

[Dawn33]

I disagree. I take a yoga class in the basement of a Baptist church and there is nothing spiritual about it. It is just stretching and breathing.It is called Yoga because we do Yoga poses. They have names for the poses but they are not named after Hindu gods or anything like that.It is harmless and I believe it is an excellent way to stay in shape. I am a long distance runner and the yoga helps me with my marathons. I am not young....I am 50 and this helps me to still be able to run. I am also strong in my faith and not easily lead by what others say...... so I do not think I am being naive in anyway to think that Yoga is harmful or makes me a bad witness to Christianity. Sorry I am not meaning to be disrespectful but I just think it is silly to be thinking there cannot be a non Hindu way to do Yoga...there is and I do it.

[pomegran]

This is a topic I've been thinking about lately. My (professing nonbeliever) sister is a certified yoga instructor though it is not her main profession. I have read/heard in numerous places that yoga is a form of practicing eastern religion and Christians should not participate. My sister described to me an experience she had doing Kundalini yoga in which she was contorting her body into unbelievable positions and making really strange guttural mantra noises with the other instructor. That experience sounded like it had demonic elements to me.

 

I personally have done a few yoga classes before I had any knowledge of it being related to Hinduism. People say that you end the session feeling relaxed and refreshed, but I'd usually feel bad and I'd have anxiety the entire session. The poses were fairly easy for me due to my past years experience with dance, but for some reason just felt uncomfortable. Because of this I didn't stick with it. Now I know that it's interconnected with Hinduism. The very fact that it's roots are from Hinduism lead me to not practice it. If it was a class called "Stretching and Balance" without predefined poses from Hindus, I'd have no qualms. But it's not, so I stay away.

[missmuffet]

Yoga originated with anti-Christian philosophy,and that philosophy has not changed.

[Dawn33]

I don't understand this all or nothing attitude everyone has about yoga. The ancient Greeks invented the Olympics and many sports like boxing, discus and wrestling. They were not Christians and believed in many false gods...so should we not take up boxing or watch the Olympics?

I just don't see how it is wrong to practice the posing and breathing in yoga if it is not tied into the Hindu aspect of it. What exactly do you all think will happen to you if you do a yoga pose? so what if Hindus invented it..... We probably use things everyday that were not invented by Christians.

[pomegran]

Yoga was specifically created to unite a person with what Hindus believe to be the infinite "Brahman". This is their concept of God which is described as spirit in everything and thus pantheism. The exercises are a preparation of your body to achieve greater spiritual "oneness". We Christians believe in the true transcendent God. We worship Him rather than the creation, which is what pantheism entails. The very essence of what yoga exercises symbolize and their reason for coming into being contradicts Christian beliefs.

 

Dawn33, you mention the Greeks and the Olympics as well as us using things that weren't invented by Christians. Sports and our use of the myriad things in our lives is different than participating in something that was created specifically for spiritual activity in another religion. I can't tell you exactly what can happen spiritually when people practice yoga and breathing/meditation/emptying the mind etc., but I have read that this can open people up to demonic influence. As Christians, it's important for us to have our intellect fully alert and to separate from things that have any appearance of evil.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22

²¹ Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

²² Abstain from all appearance of evil.

[Guest]

 

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 17 (KJV)

 

the highest condition of Yoga as a state where the senses together with the mind and intellect are fettered into immobility https://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120420144212AALhKlQ

 

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. John 8:34-36 (NLT

[Em&M]

I don't know much about yoga. From what I've read, the poses were intended as a kind of worship/offering to false god(s). Deuteronomy 12:30-31 says this:

 "take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods."

I believe this principle still applies today; we shouldn't seek to worship God in the same way others worship their false gods. As yoga was created and intended for religious purposes, I don't believe in trying to "Christianize" it. Just because we put a Christian label on something does not redeem it for God or necessarily bring Him glory.