Does Yoga Conflict With Christianity

http://www.irr.org/yoga&christianity.html ^ | 2001 | Robert M.Bowman

[pro610]

Does Yoga Conflict with Christianity?

In the cover article for the March/April 2001 Yoga Journal, contributing editor Alan Reder argues that yoga can be practiced by Buddhists, Christians, Jews, and Muslims - and by implication, just about anyone else - without any conflict with their religion. Yet the two major articles that precede Reder's piece illustrate in unmistakable terms that yoga, in the usual sense employed in the magazine itself, is incorrigibly religious.

Thurman: Yoga is for Reality, Man In his article "Reality Check," Robert Thurman explains rather clearly the Eastern religious roots of yoga. Oddly, he claims that he went East in search of truth because Western civilization's "authorities all said you could not know reality" (67). He soon narrows the field of Western "authorities" to the modern materialistic philosophy that views the mind as a mere function of the brain, a notion that implies that we really cannot know ourselves. But of course - the same point has been made from the Christian side by C. S. Lewis and others. Materialism implies that all of our thoughts are the manifestation of material processes; there is no "I" to know or be known. Unfortunately, this observation undermines the Eastern monistic philosophy that Thurman favors as well, since in that tradition the concrete existence of the individual "I" is also denied. The only philosophy that can deliver true knowledge of the self is a biblically based philosophy: human beings are concrete individuals with inherent meaning and value because God created them, and we can know ourselves because God created us with that capacity in order to make it possible for us to know and love him. As John Calvin pointed out in the opening paragraph of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, we cannot truly know ourselves without knowing God.

[pro610]

Yoga does conflict with Christianity and should be avoided by Christians

[Cagey]

And, make sure to avoid Pilates at all cost because they were named after Pontious Pilate.

[badabing98]

I dont see how it does. its more for exercise than anything.

[MikefromOhio]

Funny, I only thought those who believed in Yoga as a type of religion where the hippies on the West Coast....

Most everyone else uses it as exercise.....

[Lazamataz]

Didn't Yoga Berra once say that "Christianity was fine until Jesus showed up"?

[gdani]

Aaaannndddd........sometimes it's just breathing & stretching....

[old and tired]

Yoga does conflict with Christianity and should be avoided by Christians

It does. However, the exercises that some yogis teach can be beneficial to anyone, including Christians. I did some yoga exercises given to me by my doctor and I believe I was able to avoid back surgery. Was I chanting, meditating, etc.? Of course not. But I was breathing and stretching and avoiding back surgery and it worked.

[Mr. Jeeves]

And, make sure to avoid Pilates at all cost because they were named after Pontious Pilate.

LOL! Good one.

Yoga does conflict with many popular religions...because if people learn they can feel better through exercise and meditation, they might be less inclined to keep up the regular payments that the mystics demand in return for salvation.

[svcw]

Just do the relaxation techniques and forget about their 'meditation' garbage. Or perhaps pray while you are doing the stretching.

[kstewskis]

Any reason one can not do (yoga) stretches and meditate on God's graces, pray to Jesus, say The Rosary, ect...?

[kjvail]

There are many types of yoga. Hinduism views many things as "yogas". What we call yoga in the West is just one form. It is inseperable from the monistic philosophy that created it. This philosophy is fundamentally incompatible with Christianity.

The positions and manipulations are designed to tap into "energy vortices" in the person, their "chakras" and create an altered state of consciousness. In this altered state a person is very open to spiritual influences.

This is a gateway to possession and demonic influence. Not to mention the error it engenders in people when they read tracts on yoga or Eastern philosophy.

The reponses to this just affirm that Westerners don't understand or appreciate spiritual realities anymore.

Theres a good book out there that exposes this garbage for what it is

[Antioch]

I believe yoga is incompatible with Christianity, because yaga is never just about exercise, not in these spiritually barren times.

Exhibit A: I took this photo of a beautiful but dying Anglican church in my city during a weekend Kundalini ritual. This particular group is an extensive well-financed cult in Toronto who basically took over the church for a marathon 24-hour group meditation. They piled the pews up in the transepts and layed their matts down, moaning and rocking away in spontaneous trance states. It was a scary thing to witness. Sadly, the Anglicans, having downgraded the Christian salvation to platitudes for effective living, now find they need to rent their beautiful old churches out to such questionable groups just to cover their operating expenses.

[OpusatFR]

It does?

I do yoga for exercise. Hasn't impeded my walk in any way.

[D-fendr]

In this altered state a person is very open to spiritual influences.

And being open to spiritual forces is a GOOD thing.

Integrating mind body and spirit is part of healthy religion. Breathing and stretching, relaxing, concentration, contemplation.. all can be part of Christian religious practice.

They can also be part of buddhist practice, or jewish practice...

Forget the chakras and energy vorices, etc., you can do the positions, learn to breath properly, take care of your body and mind and keep your heart with Jesus.

Yoga is what you make of it.

[D-fendr]

As your post amply points out, this church's problem is not yoga.

[derllak]

That's how I feel. I've heard the same said about meditation and the martial arts, but I don't see them as anything but stress busters. How can they be "evil"?
Of course in some religions, dancing is evil too.
I don't see a conflict of interest if it benefits your physical or emotional well being.
I don't recall a commandment that says "thou shalt not dance, do yoga or practice martial arts".

[pro610]

The biggest problem with yoga and other forms of mysticism is that most forms teach the emptying of the mind to reduce stress "a total state of relaxation"

If a Christian empties the mind they also take off their "armor of God" to fight off evil.

Its really that simple
In Ephesians 4:17 Paul writes, “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.” These people live in the EMPTINESS of their mind; it is a waste. They live aimless, purposeless unfulfilled lives.

Ephesians 6:11-13
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[a] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

[old and tired]

And being open to spiritual forces is a GOOD thing

Depends. There are many minions of Satan who prowl the earth seeking the ruin of souls.

[old and tired]

I've heard the same said about meditation and the martial arts,

Me too. And I suppose there can be things incompatible with Christianity there too. But for the most part, if you stick to the exercises, there's no problem. Our local Tae Kwon Do karate studio is run by a conservative Catholic family, black belts all. There's nothing new age or Eastern religious about them. They openly support the troops, have Christmas parties and Easter egg hunts. The vast majority of their students are from the local Catholic schools as discipline and self control are emphasized, and the Catholic school parents seem to like that.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Yoga philosophy conflicts with Christianity. Yoga meditation conflicts much of the time. Yoga stretching postures, on the other hand, stripped of their underpinnings, shouldn't be a problem.