christian yoga - part 3 )

Paul spends an entire chapter in 1 Corinthians 10 talking about idolatry. Read for yourself, beginning in chapter 9, verse 24 and then on through chapter 10. Several key elements to point out here. The first is that Paul obviously did some exercise, but he also focused more on conforming to God than to self (1 Cor 9, 24-27). He warns about idolatry and covers what happened to those of the old testament who fell into idolatry after being led out of egypt (among other sins in 1 Cor 10, 5-10). And finally he calls idolatry what it is (the theme of demons again) in verses 19-22.

Then Paul gives maybe the best advice of all in these types of situations.

23 "Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive. 24 Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. (1 Cor 10, 23-24) 31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33 even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. (1 Cor 10, 31-33)

The yogis themselves decry the whole idea of "christian yoga" because it tries to make yoga something it's not. Yoga is a complete system of spirituality that also includes some exercise. You can't really just take the exercise by itself and still have yoga - you end up with aggressive stretching or something. And you can't replace the spiritual enlightenment bits of yoga and stick God in there. It's a little like what the crusaders did - lopping heads off in the name of Christ. The activity and purpose are still something that just shouldn't be done, and pasting a cross on the top of it doesn't make it ok.

Do we all need to get a lot more exercise? Probably. Is yoga a great exercise system for balancing the body? Absolutely. But there are other things out there besides yoga that can do the same thing without all of the idolatry strings attached. Instead of grabbing a pair of scissors and whacking away at the strings, just go with a suitable "other." There are gobs of good stretching programs out there and even Pilates (which is still a bit weird in my book) if you feel like rigorous posing and stretching is the thing for you. Having been a personal trainer, I know that stretching and flexibility are the most overlooked components in any fitness routine and that most people would be much better off if they just skipped the jogging and worked on flexibility more than endurance.

But that doesn't mean that yoga is the only way to get in good and well balanced shape. It may be the oldest, but there are others that are just as effective and don't come with all the mythical gods and self worship. In other words, there is no such thing as "christian yoga." There are Christians who practice yoga, even if they probably should reconsider this, and there is yoga as it is traditionally practiced. But in the end biblical Christianity and yoga are mutually exclusive belief systems and trying to get them together is like trying to get two bits of matter to occupy the same place at the same time. It just doesn't work and you end up with a mess.

christian yoga part 2

People have tried to separate the asanas (that is the physical aspect of yoga) from the other nine parts. At which point all the yoga purists sneer and say it isn't really yoga at all without the other bits left in. In the christian yoga setting, the meditation on self is supposed to be replaced with meditation on God, but this is really a little ludicrous since you are trying to approach God from a self-discipline standpoint; and you might recall how that worked out for the pharisees.

But we don't have to really guess and wonder and argue too much about these sorts of things because we have a very clear guide in the bible. Two passages come immediately to mind that speak to this sort of thing, and merely from the physical standpoint. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 1-8 sums it up pretty nicely:

1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,  5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. 6 If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

While I might not step out on the limb and call yoga and tantrism the doctrines of demons (although I get the distinct feeling I should) it definitely falls into the category of godless myths and old wives tales. and the passage above says to have nothing to do with it. It goes on to say that while physical training is of some (small) value that Godliness has value for all things. Godliness and adherence to doctrines that are not scriptural, old wives tales, myths and legends are not compatible. Here, from the wiki, is the myth about how Hatha yoga came to be:

Traditionally, Lord Shiva (आदिनाथ) is credited with propounding Hatha Yoga. It is said that on a lonely island, assuming nobody else would hear him, he gave the knowledge of Hatha Yoga to Goddess Parvati, but a fish heard the entire discourse, remaining still throughout. Lord Shiva took mercy on the fish (Matsya) and made him a siddha, who came to be known as Matsyendranaatha. Matsyendranaatha taught Hatha Yoga to Chaurangi, a limbless man who was given hands and feet by Matsyendranaatha just by looking at him. Hatha Yoga Pradipika mentions Adinaatha, Matsyendranaatha, Gorakhanaatah and many other yogis who became famous Hatha Yogis.

Maybe that clears it up for you. You've got fishes being transmuted into siddha (we're really getting into doctrines of demons there - self-salvation) and limbless fellows instantly growing limbs just by being looked upon. By the way, you might want to look up Lord Shiva on the wiki as well so you get an idea who he is supposed to be. In other words, the whole history and practice of yoga is inexorably tied up into the spiritualism and influence of ideals and practices that more than smack of things that are definitely non-biblical.

christian yoga

There are some really good reasons that yoga has never quite caught on in the United States, or anywhere else in western cultures, for that matter. For one thing, people in the west tend to be more of the "run until you drop" variety than anything approaching meditation. But primarily, the biggest reason that everyone doesn't do some form of yoga in places like the United States, as opposed to their Indian counterparts, is that the whole system of yoga is rather at odds with Christian belief at a fundamental level. So it's pretty interesting to see headlines for such a thing as "christian yoga" when the two terms are just about as mutually exclusive as they can get.

I would be the last one to get on anyones' case about some exercise. The bible is pretty clear that gluttony is a sin and you don't have to go searching very far to find evidence of over-indulgence. Our entire society is rife with over-indulgences. Will eating too much get you a one way ticket to hell? Probably not, but you're far better off following God's guidelines than you are doing it your way, and that's really the point of Christianity - setting aside self and your own desires and allowing God to replace those desires, which tend toward sinfulness, with His will, which is always perfect. No, it can't be done, only Christ himself was perfect, but the whole story of the Bible is about the fact that we need to be saved from our sins, which are many, and only God could provide a way for our sins to be forgiven. He did that by becoming a man and taking the punishment for our sins upon himself. There is nothing we can do, nor anything we should try to do to earn that salvation either. It's all about God, and God alone.

Yoga takes a very different approach. There is certainly nothing wrong with taking good care of your body, which the scriptures call the "temple of god," since God lives in us when we ask Him to. But you also have to be a little careful (or a lot, some people are quite narcissistic) that you do not begin to worship your body instead of the Lord himself. This, in effect is the main crux of the debate between yoga and christianity. Yoga is a kind of spiritual system, while not a complete religion, that also says that a complete religious system isn't necessary. Yoga teaches that all you need - is you. Yogis spend years training their bodies and minds to reach a sort of inner peace and enlightenment and become one with  . . . themselves.

In a sense, yoga is about worshiping you; your body, mind and spirit. While it is interesting that the system fully identifies the triune nature of humans (why people have trouble with the doctrine of the trinity is beyond me), it also opens the door to something approaching original sin. In case you don't know, the original sin is pride - satan committed this first sin before the dawn of time - pride being an overgrown sense of who and what you are. Lucifer decided he was bigger than the britches he had been given, and it was all downhill from there. Yoga, at it's very root, teaches self reliance; that you don't need anything but proper breathing and meditation to achieve complete unity with yourself, and that's all that you need in the universe.