Posted on 07/01/2014 4:20:15 PM PDT by NYer
Yelling “fire” in a crowded theater can get you into trouble. So can saying “yoga” in a group of Catholics.
I just do it for the stretches, I don’t do anything religious.
It’s evil…the work of the devil.
Oh please! The next thing you’ll be telling me is the number 13 brings bad luck.
Practicing yoga breaks the First Commandment; it’s pagan worship.
And so it goes. And goes. And goes.
Three years ago, I did an article titled “To Yoga or Not to Yoga.” Initially, I wrote it then put it aside for around a year. I was not sure I was up for putting my head into a hornet’s nest. When the time seemed right, I posted it. The hornets came. So did a number of radio interviews in which the listener lines lit up the whole time. “Can you stay on for another half hour,” I was asked by host Drew Mariani at Relevant Radio. “This happens every time we talk about yoga.”
There are a lot of issues that come with controversy—contraception, supposed same-sex marriage, and abortion, being among them. The difference is that the Church has spoken definitely on those issues. People can agree or disagree with the Catholic Church but they cannot pretend the Church is in favor of any of those issues. With yoga, interpretations abound. Debates can get heated, with both sides convince that yoga for exercise is either harmless or evil.
In a definition from About.com, yoga is described as, “ . . . a disciplined path for purification of our attachments to the temporal world of form (bodies and objects) and the ever changing world of energy and mind, to experience the bliss and unity of consciousness as the unchanging, ever permanent, immortal and infinite Being.” Wow. Cool. Wait, what’s that about the immortal and infinite Being? Is that God? Or the devil? Or is it nothing if I just show up with a mat and stretch pants ready to limber up?
Yoga is considered a whole body experience originating in Hinduism as a means to reach enlightenment through exercises and meditations that unite the body, mind, and spirit. For Catholics, worshiping or becoming one with a yoga deity breaks the First Commandment. No one argues that point. The question is, can we claim to just be there in pursuit of physical fitness alone?
Hatha yoga, the one used in exercise classes, prepares the body for enlightenment through physical postures. Some people say they don’t participate in the meditations or postures that could be religious. After all, if an atheist folds his hands, he’s not praying. So if a yoga posture used for worship means nothing but a balance exercise to you, then is that all it is?
Putting your body into a particular posture does not automatically turn it into a form of worship. But what if that is the purpose of the pose as many of the yoga postures are? Can you remain neutral even if the instructor is not? Isn’t the intent of the person what matters most?
The controversy with yoga goes beyond a person’s intent. No one is accusing Catholics of going to yoga class specifically to worship a Hindu God. The problem is that yoga holds that all existence is one; there is no distinction between God and the universe. Through enlightenment a person becomes one with all of existence.
Having taken a yoga class myself many years ago, I know that the stretches, relaxation meditations and poses, all mesh together. It would be hard to discern the instructor’s meaning behind everything. For instance, a classic yoga mantra: “So’ham” means, ‘I am the universal Self,’” which is often used repetitively, timed with your breathing.
A friend who took a yoga class told me everyone was supposed to fold their hands and bow before they began. She said she did not do that but upon considering that yoga exercise is one part of a bigger pagan spiritual practice, she decided to quit. “Why take a chance?” she said. “If parts of it are wrong, then I’m not going to participate in any of it.”
In part 1 of the 3 part series, “What is Yoga? A Catholic Perspective,” Fr. Ezra Sullivan O.P., a Dominican Friar of the Province of St. Joseph pointed out that one indication of yoga’s spiritual nature even in exercise classes is the way it affects practitioners over time. “The International Journal of Yoga published the results of a national survey in Australia. Physical postures (asana) comprised about 60% of the yoga they practiced; 40% was relaxation (savasana), breathing techniques (pranayama), meditation, and instruction. The survey showed very significant results: although most respondents commonly began yoga for reasons of physical health, they usually continued it for reasons of spirituality.
“In addition, the more people practiced yoga, the more likely they were to decrease their adherence to Christianity and the more likely they were to adhere to non-religious spirituality and Buddhism. In other words, whatever their intentions may have been, many people experience yoga as a gateway to a spirituality disconnected from Christ.”
Regardless of the warnings or information, there are always Catholics who say they will not give up their yoga because it makes them feel good and they personally don’t use it for religion. But there is a further consideration with yoga. By participating in yoga, or when a school or church sponsors classes, it gives the message of blanket approval. If yoga is okay with the Church or with Sally Stretchy, then it’s obviously okay, is the impression. So, if just part of it is wrong, is it still okay to practice some of it? What do you think?
(To read all three parts of the yoga article or for daily spiritual direction go to: http://spiritualdirection.com.)
“Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.”—Romans 14:22
This, IMO, is the guide whatever the “disputable matter”. I notice that Christian apologists seem to present yoga in its most demonic expression and present that as “official yoga”. Fact is, there is no consensus on yoga in INDIA, let alone America. There is a new agey school of yoga, and Christians ought to avoid it like the plague. The poses in and of themselves are based on how the body moves. Pretty ingenious and elegant, actually. Wonder how that works...people created in the image of God found something of beauty in the human form. Not bad. Satan distorts and maligns and suggests worship of the creature. Bad.
The most innocuous things can be demonic if someone is not IN CHRIST. Believers know who made the universe, and that it belongs to him. With the mind of Christ we can discern the mountains from the molehills, the gnats from the camels.
It is a pity that photo was photoshopped.
Actually the hatha yoga asanas (postures or literally means “seat”, are not “designed to be positions of worship of Hindu gods”. I have studied serveral kinds of yoga for years, and read direct translations of the original instructions of yoga methods, and this is absolutely not true. I also understand many sanskrit words and in my many, many years of study I have NEVER seen this. It is entirely fabricated.
Perhaps some modern fools added on something like that, but it is NOT authentic, NOT traditional, and NOT true. The original purpose of hatha yoga was to be able to make the body fit in order to concentrate the body and mind on God. The one God. And was developed and codified millenia before the word “Hindu” was invented by Moslems.
Just setting the record straight.
She probably looked better untouched. You could injure yourself on those...
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The "expert" is not an expert. I don't like to argue or try to convince any one against their will, but please see my comment above. The idea that yoga asanas were designed, meant for, or practiced for this nonsense is utterly not true.
No one thought Joan of Arc was a “nut.” A heretic, yes, because she reverted to male clothing was the reason given for her execution. In fact, the Burgundians who prosecuted her were amazed at her brilliance. Some of them deeply regretted her judicial murder.
To be honest, I’m not really at all aware of yoga and it’s roots. In fact, I’m completely ignorant on the subject. How are you, lj?! I think about ya sometimes!
Perhaps the word ‘nuts’ would not fit the conventional thought of the time. Certainly, highly inappropriate and unthinkable would apply for the customs of 15th century Europe. She frightened a lot of people with her fearless faith, and as you say, history tells us much regret and reconsideration ensued in the many years since. That was my original point. I have always found her very fascinating and inspirational.
I understand your point but it was her contemporaries who gave her arms, a horse, and permission to do what she did. And all of them were men with the exception of Yolanda of Aragon who backed her. The Middle Ages was an amazing time for miracles!
I always recommend to people who like Joan the novel “Blood Red, Sister Rose” by Thomas Keneally. It is a very rough book because it only deals with her military life. But wow! The best fictional account ever written.
Thank you for the tip, Miss Marmelstein! I am interested in reading this book. I appreciate your insight.
I’m not calling the Bible nonsense - I’m giving my interpretation of it. No one has to agree with me, obviously. As for a reason for existence, I see the answer to that question simply as God. God IS existence, and our reason for existing is to seek God.
Maybe that’s too simplistic, but it works for me.
Good to see you, miss marmelstein. I just happen to know a lot about various kinds of yoga...
I’m not on fr much lately, just overworked to the max and have no time for reading much news (well, enough to make me nervous) but no time to ping lists or comment, not that my comments would be worth much.
Check your freepmail when you get a chance.
You’re still at the stage where you’re dealing with “God as a theory.”
I used to do that, until I met “God as a person.”
I really don't know how to reply to that. I think it's probably one of the most insufferably arrogant and insulting things anyone has ever said to me. Yet it reveals a mind completely unable to grasp what it has done, so what possible reply can I give?
How about this: How nice for you.
OK!
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