Posted on 05/21/2007 8:41:32 AM PDT by NYer
Part I – An Inspirational Story
As a Catholic contributor, I never write for human respect. If that were my purpose, I would have already curtailed writing. Because my intent is to speak the truth, I never expect a pat on the back. But I maintain it pleases me to learn that my work does not always fall on deaf ears. Like most Christian writers I have encountered admirers and detractors. The positive feedback has been rewarding, but one specific incident is prominent amid the others.
One morning while checking my message machine, I heard a female voice announce, “I’m searching for the woman who writes for Catholic websites.” From her amiable tone, I sensed she was not a detractor and I returned her call.
When I phoned her, she introduced herself and will be referred to herein as “Mary.” She indicated she had read some of my articles and wanted to ask a question about the “New Age” dilemmas prevalent in her hometown. Though Mary and I had just met, it was soon apparent our passions were considerably alike!
Next, Mary shared a very inspirational story with me. She had discovered that a nearby Catholic parish in Fort Myers, Florida, was offering Yoga classes in the Chapel that surrounded the main altar. Mary and a few friends including a relations manager from Relevant Radio, arrived at Pope John XXIII parish on the morning of February 5, 2007.
After arriving, Mary proceeded into the church and lightly sprinkled holy water and blessed salt in the church before the Yoga classes commenced. Then she entered the parking lot to distribute leaflets about Yoga, to approximately 25 women as they arrived for the classes. Mary reasoned the women probably did not understand the dangers inherent in Yoga and she wanted to offer guidance. While distributing the literature Mary was confronted by the Yoga teacher (the Deacon’s wife). The Yoga teacher told Mary, “I wish that you would leave Church property.” Mary in turn professed the same wish to the instructor.
A few minutes after the guru re-entered the church, Mary recited the Blessed St. Michael’s prayer and re-entered the church as well. She slowly opened the door to the Chapel and was horrified by what she witnessed. The Chapel was dark with the exception of a few dimly lit recessed lights. Mary thought, “I’ve never seen an aerobics class like this before near a consecrated altar.”
Mary noticed the women were dressed in leotards and slouched on their Yoga mats in a half circle, or crescent moon position. The teacher/guru was advising the participants to visualize “love and light.” Writers Note: The meditative phase of Yoga begins with fixing the mind on one object which may be anything whatsoever. Mary viewed signs that advertised Yoga products and Yoga classes and noticed a table adorned with a basket for donations.
Mary also observed that much of the Yoga material was embellished with the Om Brahman symbols. As Mary began taking photos, the women seemed to snap out of their trances and became irate. After a few minutes of insults hurled at Mary, she closed the chapel door and left.
As Mary headed to the church parking lot to depart, she learned that the guru and her followers had summoned the police. After Mary and her friends spoke to the substitute priest (the Pastor was not available), he communicated to the police that there was not a problem, and the police retreated.
According to a short article by the Yoga instructor, the regular Pastor/Administrator is a Yoga practitioner himself. Upon his return, he continued to support the Yoga classes and had blinds installed for those who found the classes offensive. Hopefully, most of us understand that window blinds would not have prevented our Lord from seeing the sinfulness that transpired near His altar.
Though horribly distressing that these women had desecrated our Lord’s house with their occult practices, the story does have a wonderful conclusion.
Shortly after the incident, Mary gave Bishop Frank Dewane various articles and photos regarding the offensive Yoga classes. Though he has not explained his decision, he ordered the classes discontinued. The bishop and Mary deserve credit and praise for their courageous actions.
Mary’s account might remind you of a similar one. I think most of us can recall how our Lord angrily threw the moneychangers out of His Father’s house. When necessary, our Lord acted with righteousness and did not hesitate to call unrepentant sinners –“hypocrites,” “sons of hell” and “broods of vipers.”
New Age practices and beliefs have become rife and deeply embedded in Catholicism. The New Age Movement is really not new at all. Its evil is recorded in Genesis. The challenge for Catholics is to discern authentic spirituality and be willing to confront the New Age serpent-speak when we witness it. After all, speaking out really can make a difference!
Part II: Why Yoga is Incompatible with Christianity
What is Yoga? The word Yoga means union. The goal of Yoga is to unite one’s temporary self with the infinite Brahman. Brahman is not a personal God but a spiritual substance which is one with the cosmos and nature.
Fr. James Manjackal, a Catholic priest who was raised in a traditional Catholic family in India, states: “Yoga is not an elaborate system of physical exercises, it is a spiritual discipline purporting to lead the soul to Samadhi, the state in which the natural and divine become one. It is interesting to note that postures and breathing exercises often considered to be the whole of Yoga in the West are steps three and four towards union with Brahman.”
In a recent phone conversation with Fr. Paul E. Demarais, he stated that “there is no safe level of Yoga practice.” Fr. Demarais is Diocesan Director of the Cult and Occult Awareness Network in Providence, Rhode Island.
The late Fr. John Hardon SJ also affirmed that Yoga is not compatible with Catholicism. “Inner Hinduism or Yoga professes pantheism which denies that there is only one Infinite Being who created the world out of nothing. This pantheistic Hinduism says that followers will have brief tastes of heaven between successive rebirths on Earth.”
Dr. John Ankerberg states in his article Innocent Yoga? “Regardless of the school or spiritual tradition, Yoga practice tends to alter a person’s consciousness in an occult direction. Even when Yoga is practiced innocently, it can eventually produce occult transformation.”
There are those who claim there is nothing wrong with practicing Yoga for exercise purposes only, but even the teachers of Hindu have stated that the philosophy and the practice of Yoga are inseparable. From Johanna Michaelsen’s book “Like Lambs to the Slaughter” (pp 93-95) she states, “You cannot separate the exercises from the philosophy… The movements themselves become a form of meditation.”
Denial about the New Age is a common obstacle. (2 Tim. 4:3) “For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but will follow their own desires and insatiable curiosity.”
As Christians, we cannot straddle the fence. Sadly, many ask themselves, “How close can I get to the fire without getting burned?” The answer: There is no such thing as Christian Yoga.
To see article on a bishop’s ban of the practice of yoga in the church,
click here: The News-Press
There is no such things as a yoga class with “no spiritual component whatsoever”. Spiritual content is in the DNA of yoga.
This is not merely a Roman Catholic perspective:
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/yoga.htm
Yoga is dangerous to anyone’s spiritual (i.e.: actual) well being.
Before we start worrying about some of this far-end stuff, it's better to worry about (1) catechizing our children; (2) religious education for adults; (3) atheism in the public schools; etc. etc. etc.
I have to get WAY down my list of "things to do" before I encounter either yoga or Harry Potter.
With that said, it does sound like this particular yoga class was way over the top from a religious point of view, that it should not have been taking place in the sanctuary, and moreover that the instructor was at least feeling a bit guilty about it due to her overreaction . . . .
. . . . just sayin'.
Although I think yoga is generally quite silly, it can be approached purely as a set of physical stretching exercises without any spiritual/religious component.
I would compare it to kung fu, which theoretically should have a large Buddhist component, since the creators of the activity were Buddhist monks and the activity was designed purely for religious reasons: monks were not permitted by the rules of their communities to carry weapons.
I am reminded of a "team development" weekend that a firm I used to work for sent me on.
We were all required to take part in a meditation session. The hippy guru guy, by way of introduction, gave us a set of recommendations on physical positions to take during meditation and on themes and ideas to focus on in meditation.
As soon as he shut his yap, I kneeled and said my rosary.
Lesson: as long as you are aware of any New Age/pagan agenda, you can safely ignore it.
That's the essential thing.
You don't exercise in front of the Blessed Sacrament, you worship in the presence.
Perhaps where we could find common ground here is that there are classes that are called "yoga" that aren't -- they are purely physical exercise. I've attended some of them.
Religions, by the way, don't have DNA. . . . they are taught. And whether yoga is harmful or not depends entirely on what is taught.
I plan to adopt your method if I ever encounter this sort of silliness. Unlikely, because my boss is a straight-ahead normal Methodist sorta guy . . . but I'll be ready if it ever happens!
When I read this article last week, I thought there was probably some info missing - it didn’t seem to make any sense. But now that I have read the more detailed account above, it looks like “war of the flakes” to me.
What’s with this laywoman creeping around the church sprinkling holy water and “blessed salt,” whatever that may be? And what’s with the pastor letting anybody conduct any exercise class of any kind in a chapel next to the altar? Maybe he’s going to put in a swimming pool next? Or let them have acqua aerobics in the baptismal pool, if he already has one?
I think both he and the concerned parishioner are wrong. The class shouldn’t be there because any kind of exercise class is inappropriate in that space. And as for yoga, while it can be a form of Hindu meditation, in Florida it is a form of low-impact exercise and stretching for older ladies. Believe me, there’s nothing demonic about it.
I can’t stand it, personally, but it does appear to have good physical results for people who go regularly.
Good point about the holy water and blessed salt (there is such a thing, btw, I’ve read about it before, and I think our priest blesses salt that goes into the holy water.)
For the same reason, it was common for priests to bless salt for the faithful to sprinkle in their homes as a blessing.
And, of course, holy water itself is made with blessed salt.
My kids, baptized in the old rite, received blessed salt.
Thank you for posting that link. Oftentimes what begins as an innocuous exercise can, over the course of time, draw the unsuspecting individual into something much deeper.
I’m beginning to think it isn’t possible to separate yoga from its spirituality.
I watched a good friend of mine as she first experimented with yoga. Then she began to attend retreats. Then she decided she wanted to become an instructor and went on certification retreats.
This is going on 8 years now since she started and in the past 2 years she has slowly lost her grip on reality.
I’m not saying yoga does this to everyone - my point is that from the very beginning it was a slow introduction into a specifice brand of spirituality and thought process.
People are capable of stretching, balancing, strenthening, etc....without having to bring spirituality into it, and many people take yoga without buying into its basic principles.
But that doesn’t mean yoga in itself is not a faith system all its own.
In the end it is classic pantheism.
I know that the salt is (or was, I guess) used in baptism, but I wasn’t aware that laypeople were going around sprinkling it.
I don't think exercises of any type should be occurring inside the church. I guess I could understand it if the actual Church were under construction and this was actually the parish hall.
However, I think we need to be careful about condemning all yoga exercises.
There really seems to be some twisting going on here. Take a good look at these two sentences: "There are those who claim there is nothing wrong with practicing Yoga for exercise purposes only, but even the teachers of Hindu have stated that the philosophy and the practice of Yoga are inseparable. From Johanna Michaelsen’s book “Like Lambs to the Slaughter” (pp 93-95) she states, “You cannot separate the exercises from the philosophy… The movements themselves become a form of meditation.”"
Did you catch it? The author, Johanna Michaelsen is saying you can't separate the exercises from the philosopy. It isn't a yogi saying it, it's a lady who's anti-yoga. Even if a yogi did say it, what are we going to do, make a list of every body motion that exists in yoga and never move our bodies like that again?
Now I'm not going to say yoga is harmless. It isn't. That meditation, focus on the light crap is defintely the occult. But to say stretching puts you in league with the Devil? I'm not buying that one.
Yoga as a spiritual practice is definitely not a positive thing. Your friend was probably a “seeker” to begin with. I had a similar friend who eventually went off to live at a yoga retreat and be exploited by the “guru” who ran it. And then, of course, there’s kundalini yoga...
But yoga in exercise classes here is nothing but flexibility training to soothing music. I am much more worried about things like the goofy yoga and enneagram “retreats” they run at our local diocesan retreat house. I thought all that stuff had phased out, but apparently it’s still with us (being conducted by elderly nuns, as usual). Our bishop is very orthodox, so it surprises me that we still have this, but perhaps whoever runs the retreat center is one of those people who has strong supporters and the bishop feels it’s a battle he’d rather not take on right now. He’s got a lot of other battles going on!
Yoga WAS a denomination of Hinduism centuries ago and it's still one the six "official" orthodoxies of Hinduism.
However, 99% (my number) of the Hindus today are Vedantists, that is, they don't subscribe to the Yoga denomination of Hinduism.
Yoga is more than incompatable to Christianity, it's galaxies apart, with absolutely nothing in common.
The yoga I teach is strength, flexibility, relaxation and breathing. I never heard of ANY religion embracing relaxation. Lol. But the discipline of nonreligious yoga is a good thing.
I always encourage the spiritual seekers to go elsewhere for their "quest." They AIN'T gittin' yoga spirituality from me.
Pilates Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilates
Cheers,
CSG
And she's so unostentatiously humble, too. I just had to sigh ...
As a Catholic contributor, I never write for human respect. If that were my purpose, I would have already curtailed writing. Because my intent is to speak the truth, I never expect a pat on the back. But I maintain it pleases me to learn that my work does not always fall on deaf ears.
You are quite right in that there IS no such thing as a yoga class with no spiritual component whatsoever IF you take it from one of the standard yoga houses, that is, Shivananda, Iyengar, Bikram, Sachidananda (Integral Yoga), etc.
Today, there seem to me more NONspiritual yogas than not. Fitness studios, gyms, fancy-schmany clubs, schools (colleges, universities) and one-man shows usually do offer the generic yoga. They probably wouldn't last in the yoga business if they did anything else.
My 2 cents.
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