Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Posted on 05/21/2007 8:41:32 AM PDT by NYer
Catherine Marie Rhodes is the pseudonym of a member of the Catholic Media Coalition and a contributor to Spero News.
Thanks for this article. I was actually thinking of taking a yoga class. :(
Reminds me of that article you posted last year, in which a group tried stopping a Hindu-themed mass.
Plenty of yoga classes in the U.S. have no spiritual component whatsoever, it's simply exercise. I've taken such classes.
That said, the yoga classes offered at our church (in the parish hall, NOT in the sanctuary) were too New Agey for me, so I quit. The instructor is a parishioner, but she's clearly a New Age nut . . . has a website all about being a "Peace Warrior" etc.
I haven't been in the parish that long, so I'm not raising a stink to the rector. The class has maybe 8 people in it, both women and men.
Oh brother. I have little tolerance for those whose faith is challenged by yoga of all things.
Don’t despair. Visit and see whether they’re goofy or not. Some yoga classes are simply exercise.
**************
That's what I'm looking for.
Look in the right place and you will find the right class for you. Yoga is a really great regimen for increasing core strength and improving flexibility. Having done it on and off for about 5 years now I can tell you that it offers great benefits.
You can find yoga taught at health clubs, the Y or studios.
No kidding.....
This is the first time I’ve heard Yoga referred to as being “occult”.
Good story.
By those who believe what they believe and that those who don’t are sinners....
Yeah, the Catholics should becomore more modern and accepting of everything to show how tolerant they are...kinda like the Unitarians.
Anything that might potentially erode Big Religion's profit margins routinely gets labeled "occult". ;)
I've heard dabbling in Pilates means an automatic sentence to Purgatory upon death.
You can never be too careful.
Yoga does usually have a spiritual component. It may be harmless surface stuff (in fact, I think it usually is in the U.S. because most yoga instructors don't have the background to get heavily into the psychic end. Even those who try are usually pretty ignorant.)
But yoga theory does involve religious practices which are incompatible with Christianity. So you could have a very heavily religious yoga class (probably one taught at a Hindu temple - there's one around the corner from us.) I would not take a yoga class there, because that would be clearly incompatible with my beliefs.
However, your average YMCA yoga class probably is taught by somebody who has only a superficial acquaintance with the spiritual aspects of yoga. And worrying about occult influence in that sort of class is right out there with worrying about Harry Potter. There are far more important occult influences to worry about.
Or, more appropriately and in the context of the article; Anything that focuses on Om Brahman and not Jesus Christ in a Catholic Church can be labled "occult" (but perhaps the best definition would be "incongruous")
And worrying about occult influence in that sort of class is right out there with worrying about Harry Potter.Uh, oh, now you've done it ...
Somehow I doubt you have...but don't let that get in the way of a discussion around what is or isn't appropriate in a Catholic Church.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.