Christianity And Yoga !

[Guest jckduboise]

I don't know anything about yoga. My question is, can you still do the excersizes without engaging in the seperation of mind, body, and soul? Or must you actually engage in the eastern philosophy in order to perform the excersizes? To me, if you can't seperate the action from the philosophy, then it shouldn't be done.

Amen

[Copper Scroll]

I don't know anything about yoga. My question is, can you still do the excersizes without engaging in the seperation of mind, body, and soul? Or must you actually engage in the eastern philosophy in order to perform the excersizes? To me, if you can't seperate the action from the philosophy, then it shouldn't be done.

What little I know of yoga is actually the opposite of this. I think they encourage and teach an alignment between body, mind, and soul--a certain physical state facilitates a certain conscious mental state that is able to reach past the unconscious mind to the soul. All of that, at least in a superficial way, sounds great to me--I must admit. It sounds like reducing and ultimately removing the motivations of the flesh in for the sake of the spirit.

[Kabowd]

I don't know anything about yoga. My question is, can you still do the excersizes without engaging in the seperation of mind, body, and soul? Or must you actually engage in the eastern philosophy in order to perform the excersizes? To me, if you can't seperate the action from the philosophy, then it shouldn't be done.

Based on the program I watched, the "Christian yoga" simply uses the physical techniques and disposes of the Hindu philosophy. Here's an article on the thing I saw on tv:

Christian Yoga

Again, I don't necessarily agree with calling it "Christian Yoga", unless it's just to explain the techniques. But from what I can tell (at least with this particular teacher), she recognizes the Hindu philosophy involved in the chanting, so she replaces this aspect with something biblical.

What little I know of yoga is actually the opposite of this. I think they encourage and teach an alignment between body, mind, and soul--a certain physical state facilitates a certain conscious mental state that is able to reach past the unconscious mind to the soul. All of that, at least in a superficial way, sounds great to me--I must admit. It sounds like reducing and ultimately removing the motivations of the flesh in for the sake of the spirit.

Now if this is the focus, I would completely disagree with it. Our phyical body should not be equated with "flesh", and our spirit should not be elevated above it.

[apothanein kerdos]

Copperscroll really hit a good point for me...that the actions themselves are meant to bring about a certain seperation or form of dualism. Now I don't think I need to explain the importance of this to you Tess, but if the actions create an inherent seperation, then it would be wrong...if if the label "Christian" is applied to it.

[Copper Scroll]

Copperscroll really hit a good point for me...that the actions themselves are meant to bring about a certain seperation or form of dualism.

I said that?

In yoga, I agree, the actions are never just actions. My understanding of it is that the actions have psychological and spiritual impact--it must in order to be true "yoga" (not just exercise).

But I don't know about the part about "separation" and "dualism". What's your meaning?

[dakota190]

this from the Moriel website, there is a movement in america, called star in the east, it is a heretical movement. it is a mixture of christian and eastern religion. it is drawing many people away and side tracking others away form christianity, as taught by paul, in the bible. this teaching according to the article, has entered the church by way of the Emergent Church and Contemplative Prayer. WARNING!!! this is absolute heresy. i am not including the quotes of the individuals that are instituting this later day teaching. (i have retained the article, so if an administrator requests the information i will forward it. this is not to insult anybody, it is just that i am relatively new on these boards and i don't want to step off where i should not, according to the dictates of this forum.) YOGA AND CHRISTIANITY CAN'T MIX) yoga is it's philosophy and can't be separated from itself.

[Kabowd]

Copperscroll really hit a good point for me...that the actions themselves are meant to bring about a certain seperation or form of dualism. Now I don't think I need to explain the importance of this to you Tess, but if the actions create an inherent seperation, then it would be wrong...if if the label "Christian" is applied to it.

Yes sir, I do understand the danger in dualism. I guess I'm a little confused because I thought that this did not promote a seperation. What Copper Scroll stated sounded dualistic to me, but not the article. Did you read the article? What does it sound like to you? Does it sound like it's teaching a philosophy?

[Copper Scroll]

from the article:

"Yoga is mind body spirit," [Professor Subhas Tiwari, a professor of Yoga philosophy at Hindu University] said. "You want to make those separations then you live in a schizophrenic world."

Where is the promotion of "dualism" or "separation"?

[Bread_of_Life]

My thoughts:

Meditation and Yoga are scientifically proven relaxation techniques that help to relax the mind, cause better sleep, and improve concentration and productivity in the workplace, as well as inter-personal relationships. So long as you don't go believing in any of the philosophy of it - even if you practice as if you did - it's all good. I'm personally very interested in participating in a meditation course, my ex-gf says they're very good.

N

[Smalcald]

I run.

Part of running is having a good flexibility regime, I think some of the stretches that I do look close to some Yoga poses I have seen, but would not be considered yoga. I guess I don't see the need for "Christian" yoga, there are tons and tons of flexibility exercises we can do without labeling it Yoga or having anything to do with yoga. I think for yoga to be effective it must have a spiritual or meditative connection at least that is what the Hindu's would say, but am not sure about that. In some ways I know this is ironic, but it seems like a cheap rip-off of another faith to only accept part of it and commercialize it into another form. In some ways it is disrespectful of Hinduism. For example we know that a deep life of prayer to Christ leads to some health benefits, how would we feel if secularists starting going through the motions of payer in an attempt to get those benefits? It reminds me of those non-Native losers who try and rip off Native American spirituality by sitting in sweat lodges etc.

The whole thing seems kind of cheap and creepy to me.

Why not just exercise for the sake of exercise? The same would go with meditation, we already have meditation, and it is called prayer. Our every breath can be a meditation for Christ, or we can set a specific time of prayer and reflection, Christians have been doing that since Christ was alone in the desert or was alone praying all night before His crucifixion, we don