Legacy

Yoga is Religion

By Karl C. Priest July 11, 2017 (Revised 8-18-21)

Yoga is like a spilled can of oil-based paint. It may be pretty, but it ruins what it is on unless careful cleaning is completed. In this article, yoga practitioners’ own words (in italics) will demonstrate the demonic facts of yoga. Bold font is added to direct the reader to a thread of religious references. Any comments inserted by the author are in red bold font. If the reader wants to quickly see proof that yoga is religion, he should simply scan through the bold font. Be sure to take note of asanas. Yoga postures/poses, so popular in Americanized yoga, are major parts of the picture.

With a deceptive introduction yoga leads people step-by-step to deep spiritual deception.

Let’s roll!

Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Yuj', meaning 'to unite'. The union here refers to the union of an individual self with the divine consciousness.

Yoga finds mention in the great Hindu scriptures such as the Gita, the Upanishads and other Puranas.

http://www.indiawellness.org/yoga/origin-and-history.html

The major branches of India Yoga in Hindu philosophy encompass Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Hatha Yoga. This can be compared to Protestant denominations.

Hatha Yoga or the Yoga of postures: It involves physical poses or Asana, Breathing Techniques or Pranayama, and Meditation to achieve healthy body and peaceful mind.
http://www.indiawellness.org/yoga/

Asanas collectively constitute the physical aspect of worship in ancient Yoga and various stretches and meditative poses of modern Yoga.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asanas

Yoga is more than mastering postures and increasing your flexibility and strength. "The traditional purpose of Yoga, however, has always been to bring about a profound transformation in the person through the transcendence of the ego," (The self. The conscious mediator between the person and reality especially by functioning both in the perception of and adaptation to reality.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ego

In Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism the word yoga means "spiritual discipline".

(The poses) were implimented (sic) by Buddhist teachings.
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall05/levy/history.html

Yoga is a family of ancientspiritual practices that originated in India

(In) the United States, yoga has become associated with the asanas(postures) of Hatha Yoga, which are popular as fitness exercises.

The goals of yoga are expressed differently in different traditions. In theistic Hinduism, yoga may be seen as a set of practices intended to bring people closer to God - to help them achieve union with God. In Buddhism, which does not postulate a creator-type God, yoga may help people deepen their wisdom, compassion, and insight. In Western nations, where there is a strong emphasis on individualism, yoga practice may be an extension of the search for meaning in self, and integration of the different aspects of being. The terms Self-Realization and God-Realization are usedinterchangeably in Hindu yoga, with the underlying belief that the true nature of self, revealed through the practice of yoga, is of the same nature as God.

The ultimate goal of yoga is the attainment of liberation from worldly suffering and the cycle of birth and death. Yoga entails mastery over the body, mind, and emotional self, and transcendence of desire. It is said to lead gradually to knowledge of the true nature of reality. The Yogi (A person who practices yoga. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yogi) reaches an enlightened state where there is a cessation of thought and an experience of blissful union. This union may be of the individual soul with the supreme Reality (Brahman: The Highest God of Hinduism.
http://www.hinduwebsite.com/brahmanmain.asp.

For the average person still far from enlightenment, yoga can be a way of increasing one's love for God, or cultivating compassion and insight.

The word "yoga" – from the Sanskrit root yuj ("to yoke") – is generally translated as "union of the individual atma (loosely translated to mean soul) with Paramatma, the universal soul."This may be understood as union with the Divine by integration of body, mind, and spirit.

Hindu practitioners of yoga are proud of their religious traditions, while non-Hindu practitioners claim that yoga may be practiced sincerely by those who have not accepted the Hindu religion. This is like saying you can study the Beatitudes without religion.

Common to most forms of yoga is the practice of concentration (dharana) and meditation (dhyana). Dharana, according to Patanjali's definition, is the "binding of consciousness to a single point." The awareness is concentrated on a fine point of sensation (such as that of the breath entering and leaving the nostrils). Sustained single-pointed concentration gradually leads to meditation (dhyana), in which the inner faculties are able to expand and merge with something vast. Meditators sometimes report feelings of peace, joy, and oneness.

Another common element is the spiritual teacher (guru in Sanskrit; lama in Tibetan). While emphasized to varying degrees by all schools of yoga, in some the guru is seen as an embodiment of the Divine.

When students associate with a particular teacher, school, ashram or order, this naturally creates yoga communities where there are shared practices. Chanting of mantras such as Aum, singing of spiritual songs, and studying sacred texts are all common themes. That sounds like church to me.

The first Yoga text dates to around the 2nd century BC by Patanjali, and prescribes adherence to "eight limbs" (the sum of which constitute "Ashtanga Yoga") to quiet one's mind and merge with the infinite. [Ashtanga is “ a style of yoga codified and popularized by K. Pattabhi Jois…which is often promoted as a modern-day form of classical Indian yoga. Ashtanga means eight limbs or branches, of which asana or physical yoga posture is merely one branch, breath or pranayama is another. (Jois believed) that asana, the third limb, must be practiced first, and only after could one master the other seven limbs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtanga_vinyasa_yoga

In the yogic view, the body is a temple of spirit , the care of which is an important stage of our spiritual growth. Through the practice of asanas, we develop the habit of discipline and the ability to concentrate, both of which are necessary for meditation.
http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/the-eight-limbs

Yoga as taught in most of today’s yoga classes, do not cover the entire range of yoga experience. They may concentrate more on asana (physical yogic postures) and pranayama (controlled yogic breathing techniques), without understanding that these are only a part of the entire system of Yoga philosophy…It gives the science of evolution of the mind and is aimed at the highest goal of life, the spiritual realization of the embodied soul…Even though we talk of eight levels, these are not strict compartments. One merges with the other… Asana is an essential step towards the higher practices of yoga. Asanas can be meditative poses or they can be other poses aimed towards attaining strength, balance and steadiness. Apart from the spiritual benefits, each Asana can have particular health benefits too.
http://www.yogicwayoflife.com/the-eight-limbs-of-yoga/

The philosophy of Yoga also presented certain arguments for the existence of God (Ishvara, lit., the Supreme Lord):

• The Vedas are regarded as evidence. The Vedas and their commentaries, the Upanishads mention and describe God—hence God exists.

• Continuity: people and things have various degrees of differences among themselves. Some people are foolish, some are wise. Hence there ought to be some Being who has the highest level of knowledge among all—who is omniscient. That Being is God

• Cosmic Evolution, leading to this universe, occurs because of the contact between Purusha (spirit) and Prakriti (Nature). Purusha is static, and Prakriti is unconscious. Hence there can be no contact between these two things of opposite characteristics, unless God—the omniscient Being—brings about this contact.

• Meditation upon God is regarded as the best means of attaining Liberation. If meditation on such a Being helps in liberation, and all obstacles are removed, then the object of the meditation must have a real existence.

Ishvara is regarded as a special Purusha, the manifested Brahman, the lord of the Universe, who is beyond sorrow and Karma laws, who is one, perfect, infinite, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent and eternal.

Hatha yoga

Over the last century the term yoga has come to be especially associated with the postures (Sanskrit asanas) of hatha yoga ("Forced Yoga"). Hatha yoga has gained wide popularity outside of India and traditional yoga-practicing religions, and the postures are sometimes presented as entirely secular or non-spiritual in nature.

Traditional Hatha Yoga is a complete yogic path, including moral disciplines, physical exercises (e.g., postures and breath control), and meditation, and encompasses far more than the yoga of postures and exercises practiced in the West as physical culture.

Hatha Yoga was invented to provide a form of physical purification and training that would prepare aspirants for the higher training that is called Raja Yoga (see above). This is still true today. Despite this, many in the West practice 'Hatha yoga' solely for the perceived health benefits it provides, and not as a path to enlightenment.

Traditional Yoga seeks to provide plausible answers to such profound questions as, “Who am I?”, “Whence do I come?”, “Whither do I go?”, and “What must I do?”

The history of Yoga can conveniently be divided into the following four broad categories:

Vedic Yoga
Preclassical Yoga
Classical Yoga
Postclassical Yoga

These categories are like static snapshots of something that is in actuality in continuous motion—the “march of history.”

VEDIC YOGA

The yogic teachings found in the above-mentioned Rig-Veda and the other three ancient hymnodies are known as Vedic Yoga. The Sanskrit word veda means “knowledge,” while the Sanskrit term rig (from ric) means “praise.” Thus the sacred Rig-Veda is the collection of hymns that are in praise of a higher power. This collection is in fact the fountainhead of Hinduism, which has around one billion adherents today. You could say that the Rig-Veda is to Hinduism what the Book of Genesis is to Christianity.

The other three Vedic hymnodies are the Yajur-Veda (“Knowledge of Sacrifice”), Sama-Veda (“Knowledge of Chants”), and Atharva-Veda (“Knowledge of Atharvan”). These hymnodies can be compared to the various books of the Old Testament.

When successful, the Vedic yogi was graced with a “vision” or experience of the transcendental reality. A great master of Vedic Yoga was called a “seer”—in Sanskrit rishi. The Vedic seers were able to see the very fabric of existence, and their hymns speak of their marvelous intuitions, which can still inspire us today.

PRECLASSICAL YOGA

Yoga came into its own with the Upanishads, which are gnostic texts expounding the hidden teaching about the ultimate unity of all things. There are over 200 of these scriptures, though only a handful of them were composed in the period prior to Gautama the Buddha (fifth century B.C.). These works can be likened to theNew Testament, which rests on the Old Testament but at the same time goes beyond it.

One of the most remarkable Yoga scriptures is the Bhagavad-Gîtâ (“Lord’s Song. In its significance, this work of only 700 verses perhaps is to Hindus what Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is to Christians.

These various preclassical schools developed all kinds of techniques for achieving deep meditation through which yogis and yoginis can transcend the body and mind and discover their true nature.

CLASSICAL YOGA

This label applies to the eightfold Yoga—also known as Râja-Yoga—taught by Patanjali in his Yoga-Sûtra. Sooner or later all serious Yoga students discover this work and have to grapple with its terse statements. The word sûtra (which is related to Latin suture) means literally “thread.”

Patanjali, who is by the way often wrongly called the “father of Yoga,” believed that each individual is a composite of matter (prakriti) and spirit (purusha). He understood the process of Yoga to bring about their separation, thereby restoring the spirit in its absolute purity.

POSTCLASSICAL YOGA

In contrast to classical Yoga, postclassical Yoga affirms the ultimate unity of everything.

According to these teachings, you, we, and everyone or everything else is an aspect or expression of one and the same reality. In Sanskrit that singular reality is called brahman (meaning “that which has grown expansive”) or âtman (the transcendental Self as opposed to the limited ego-self).

They regarded the body as a temple of the immortal spirit, not merely as a container to be discarded at the first opportunity. They even explored through advanced yogic techniques the possibility of energizing the physical body to such a degree that its biochemistry is changed and even its basic matter is reorganized to render it immortal.

This preoccupation of theirs led to the creation of Hatha-Yoga, an amateur version of which is today widely practiced throughout the world. It also led to the various branches and schools of Tantra-Yoga, of which Hatha-Yoga is just one approach.

MODERN YOGA

Yoga, in the form of Hatha-Yoga, entered mainstream America when the Russian-born yoginî Indra Devi, who has been called the “First Lady of Yoga,” opened her Yoga studio in Hollywood in 1947. She taught stars like Gloria Swanson, Jennifer Jones, and Robert Ryan, and trained hundreds of teachers.

In the 1950s, one of the most prominent Yoga teacher was Selvarajan Yesudian whose book Sport and Yoga has been translated into fourteen or so languages, with more than 500,000 copies sold.

In 1961, Richard Hittleman brought Hatha-Yoga to American television, and his book The Twenty-Eight-Day Yoga Plan sold millions of copies. In the mid-1960s, the Western Yoga movement received a big boost through Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, largely because of his brief association with the Beatles. He popularized yogic contemplation in the form of Transcendental Meditation (TM), which still has tens of thousands of practitioners around the world. TM practitioners also introduced meditation and Yoga into the corporate world.
http://swamij.com/history-yoga.htm

Both Buddhism and Hinduism believe in an (almost) endless cycle of births, known as samsara. They also both seek release from this cycle of rebirths.

Hindus believe in an everlasting soul (atman) that is reincarnated more-or-less intact from birth to birth. Through spiritual practice, Hindus seek release (moksha, also known as liberation) so that the soul can join with the Universal Divine Force (Brahman, often simply translated as God).

The Buddha, however, taught that there wasn't a constant soul, but a collection of feelings, perceptions, senses, and other intangibles that made up all living beings. The concept of the lack of a constant sould is known as anatta.

Hence, for Buddhists, the ultimate goal is something more abstract: ending suffering by escaping the cycle of rebirths, and entering into a state of Nirvana. It is a common misconception to translate Nirvana as meaning "Paradise," or as "Heaven."

Both Buddhism and Hinduism believe in the concept of Karma, which states that our past actions affect our present and future life states. One could do evil in this life and be reborn a worm in the next life. Similarly, afflictions in this life are often explained away as the effects of Karma from a previous life (or from misdeeds earlier in this life).

The Hindu concept of Dharma (duty) might be thought of as being "one's role in the universe." The concept includes not only one's performance of religious acts, but how they act in society and how they act toward their family responsibilities.

Hinduism, which has thousands of gods and goddesses, is for the most part actually a monotheistic religion. Each god is seen as one manifestation of the one Supreme God.

The Buddha, on the other hand, taught that we should not concern ourselves with worship or devotion to a particular God. The Buddha did not deny the existence of a Supreme God: he just said that we are responsible for our on enlightenment, and not to believe that a supreme being could help us.

In Hinduism, Yoga is more than a series of postures to be held as a form of exercise. Instead, Yoga (which literally means Yoke, as in to be yoked to God), consists of 8 different practices as follow: It cannot get any plainer than that!

Abstention from sins such as theft, violence, sex, greed, dishonesty
Observance of self and tolerance
Postures (known as Asana), which are familiar to most Westerners
Breath Control
Withdrawal of senses
Mental concentration and stilling the mind
Meditation
http://www.thebuddhagarden.com/difference-buddhism-hinduism.html

The above is indisputable confirmation that yoga is religion. As we used to side on the West Side streets of Charleston, WV, “Shuck and jive all you want. It don’t change nuthin.” Liberals who allow it in government schools, but go berserk over a Ten Commandments plaque are hypocrites and liars. How about Christians who ignore the problem or, amazingly, think there is such a thing as “Christian yoga?" “Guess who is ‘The Lord of Yoga’? This Hindu idol (god/demon) is only 1 of the 330 million Hindu gods. Yoga postures are offerings to these gods. The ‘Lord of Yoga’ is ‘Shiva, The Destroyer’ also known as ‘The god of Death.’” (http://praisemoves.com/about-praisemoves/why-a-christian-alternative-to-yoga/the-lord-of-yoga/)

ADDENDUM

1. Hinduism Is Of The Devil

Hinduism

2. Why Yoga Cannot Be Christianized

3. 12 Manifestations of Shiva

4. Scroll down to the April 12 article “Religion Established in Public Schools”

5. A March 9, 2013 news report said “Yoga on the rise in West Virginia”. From the article: Twisting this way and stretching that way during a yoga class is like attending therapy, church and the gym all at once. At least that's what Folded Leaf owner April Woody tells her yoga classes. "Yoga is different than plain exercise and just stretching," Woody said last week. "There's a deeper spiritual component to it.

6. Yoga is closely tied to “Mindfulness”. Also, yoga is closely tied to  Social Emotional Learning (SEL). See item 9 below.

7. See the Common Thread Addendum: (Also, search for “yoga” on that page.)

8. “We know that yoga means "to yoke" or "to unite." It has its roots as an ancient Hindu practice meant to unite a person with his body and with the universe. The classic mantras that people repeat in yoga to help them meditate —‘so'ham,’ means ‘I am the universal self’ — are all in service to this mission of ‘oneness.’ It is a pantheistic practice because it derives from the belief that we are all a part of some great flow of cosmic energy, which has no original Author, and which we all are born and then reborn into over and over again. Yoga is supposed to bring us into harmony with this ‘energy’…So, if we follow the trajectory of yoga, we begin with pagan spiritualism, trace it through the anti-Christian counter-culture revolution, then sprinkle on a bunch of new age gibberish, and here we land with the modern day yoga class… What is the point of trying to re-purpose pagan worship for the sake of getting a nice workout? "

9. Social Emotional Learning (SEL) has close ties to Yoga:

The Yoga Calm curriculum includes more than two dozen activities specifically designed for nurturing social-emotional skills, yet SEL processes are easily worked in with the physical yoga poses, as well, providing a fully integrated learning experience. 
https://www.yogacalm.org/why-social-emotional-learning/

Concepts of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) at the foundation of Yoga 4 Classrooms … Emotional intelligence, social competency, adaptable coping strategies, compassionate and positive attitudes, ability to focus – all these skills are cultivated by the consistent and supportive practice of yoga and mindfulness techniques .
http://www.yoga4classrooms.com/yoga-4-classrooms-blog/concepts-of-social-emotional-learning

Social-Emotional Learning is about teaching children and adolescents not only to recognize their own thoughts, emotions, and actions but how their actions and behaviors impact their future and greater society as a whole. This is when yoga and mindfulness come in…
http://boostcafe.org/yoga-mindfulness-support-social-emotional-learning-sel-emotional-intelligence/

Supporting Social Emotional Learning with Yoga Tools Workshop with Yoga Ed. CEO Brynne Caleda… Here’s what you’ll learn in this workshop>The  5 core competencies of Social Emotional Learning (SEL)>Why yoga is a great tool to teach your kids how to  handle everyday emotions like anger, disappointment, and anxiety,  feel empathy for others, and  build positive relationships to last a lifetime>How to easily support SEL with  simple, practical yoga tools
https://yogaed.com/resources/webinar-social-emotional-learning/

Academic “research” papers are used to promote the SEL religion. Here is an example:

Implementing yoga within the school curriculum: a scientific rationale for improving social-emotional learning and positive student outcomes

The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesise research evidence and propose a theoretical model suggesting that school-based yoga programs may be an effective way to promote social-emotional learning (SEL) and positive student outcomes.

Research suggests that providing yoga within the school curriculum may be an effective way to help students develop self-regulation, mind-body awareness and physical fitness, which may, in turn, foster additional SEL competencies and positive student outcomes such as improved behaviours, mental state, health and performance.

It is possible, pending additional high-quality research, that yoga could become a well-accepted component of school curricula. It will be particularly important for future research to examine possibilities around integrating school-based yoga and meditation with SEL programs at the individual, group and school-wide levels.

https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JCS-10-2014-0044/full/html?journalCode=jcs&_sm_au_=icVVR445jFVVVDNN

Here is an academic paper that exposes the intent of SEL:

Social-Emotional Learning: K–12 Education as New Age Nanny State

By Karen Effrem, M.D. and Jane Robbins, J.D March 2019 Pioneer Institute

The current popularity of social-emotional learning (SEL) represents progressive education’s greatest victory in its 100-plus-year campaign to transform our public schools, and, thus, the nature of America itself. Since it began, the mission of progressive education has been to liberate American students from the “shackles of traditional wisdom.” John Dewey and his legion of educationalists saw the elementary and secondary schools as the vehicle to form the New American, one who would be liberated from the prejudices of family, church, and tradition… advocates see teaching students their five “competencies” of self-awareness, self-management, social wareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making as the effective replacement for schools’ former moral education and character formation. Committed as they are to development of “the whole child,” progressive educators are promoting these skills as a secular replacement for what parents used to instill in children according to their faith, and to cultural and family beliefs and values. At its core, the skills of social-emotional learning aim to shift the center of moral decision-making from traditional wisdom and an awareness that we are children of God to the newly enlightened self. Prodded by progressive activists and courts, the schools have scrubbed all Judeo-Christian principles and values… (4)

SEL posits that education should focus less on academic content knowledge and more on students’ attitudes, mindsets, values, and behaviors… With roots in American progressive education and particularly in the movements for Outcome-Based Education and Self-Esteem, SEL is now pushed onto state and local education systems by the federal government and even international governmental entities. Other progressive-education forces, including the purveyors of widely used preschool standards, are equally enthusiastic. And SEL is interwoven into education movements such as the Common Core State Standards and Competency-Based Education. SEL proponents present their product uncritically as the transformational tool that will propel students into greater academic achievement and personal fulfillment…But…the risks to students’ privacy, health, and even their very futures are significant…SEL goes well beyond encouraging students do their best and believe in themselves; instead, it constructs a government- and corporate-controlled edifice to measure, assess, and draw predictions from students’ most fundamental private and personal characteristics. (6-7)

(The) Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) (is) the godfather of SEL in pre-K-12 education…(SEL) transfers the locus of instruction from family, civil, and religious institutions to the school (effectively, to government)… enormous sums are being poured into SEL in public schools. (7-8)

The first foothold SEL gained in federal law came through the Goals 2000: Educate America Act,38 signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 (not coincidentally the same year CASEL came into existence). An early foray into standards-based education reform, Goals 2000 was largely based on OBE. States were required to adopt the statute’s National Education Goals to receive federal funding through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), reauthorized also in 1994 as the Improving America’s Schools Act.39 This ESEA reauthorization also marked the first time the federal government required statewide standards and tests, which opened the door to more federalized control of education in No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Race to the Top (RttT)/Common Core, and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). (10)

SEL is now a global phenomenon. For example, in 2017 the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) launched its Study on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES).134 OECD has long administered the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test to measure academic knowledge, but now is branching out into methods of measuring and shaping students’ personalities. (16)

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED593789.pdf

“(A) key occultist whose ramblings inspired some of the “spiritual” developments being manifested in education today was the late Alice Bailey, who founded the Lucifer Publishing Company (later renamed Lucis Trust) in 1922…

“Despite being almost entirely unknown to the average person, Bailey and her “Ascended Masters” come up again and again in the world of education. Consider, for instance, the “Social-Emotional Learning” (SEL) craze — basically a new toolkit for indoctrinating children with radical left-wing ideology — that has infected every public school and even many private schools in recent years.

“According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the leading outfit promoting SEL, the very idea for SEL came out of meetings at the Fetzer Institute. That shadowy “New Age” organization was created by John Fetzer, a fervent devotee of Bailey who regularly hosted groups at his institute to recite Bailey’s “Great Invocation” prayer supposedly given to her by her Ascended Masters.”

Newman, Alex. “Government Schools vs. Christianity.” The New American, June 21,2021, pp. 20.

https://thenewamerican.com/magazine/tna3712/page/129492

Regarding Alice Bailey, see A Common Thread.

10. SEE Becoming Mindful of Mindfulness

11. Some Meditation Practices Can Be Scary

12. Also see the January 10, 2013 article and follow the yoga thread from there.

13. “Yoga Is A Pagan Ritual. Maybe Christians Should Find A Different Workout” Routine

snips

You can find the word yoga and the basic concept in Hindu texts dating back thousands of years. It's true that the modern western version is not entirely the same as its traditional form, but I do not see that as a mark in its favor. After all, it's no coincidence that it was  exported to the West hand-in-hand with the philosophy of the "universality" of all religions, and it finally began to explode in popularity with the counter-culture movement of the sixties. Hindus had their spiritual purposes for yoga, we have ours. Neither purpose seems at all compatible with Christianity.

So, if we follow the trajectory of yoga, we begin with pagan spiritualism, trace it through the anti-Christian counter-culture revolution, then sprinkle on a bunch of new age gibberish, and here we land with the modern day yoga class. Is it really crazy to think that perhaps this thing — with its combination of ancient paganism and new age mysticism — may not be an advisable hobby for Christians?

The physical practices of yoga are expressly designed to open ourselves up to enlightenment (Hindu enlightenment, that is). The intended final stage of yoga is to achieve a state called  Samadhi, where the self disappears and you are brought into an unthinking trance. You may perform the moves without consciously seeking the demonic trance they were designed to help you attain, but it would seem you are playing, quite literally, with fire. And then the question is why?

What is the point  of trying to re-purpose pagan worship for the sake of getting a nice workout? What's wrong with just using an elliptical machine? How is the Kingdom advanced, how is an individual's actual spiritual fulfillment attained, by participating in a pagan ritual?

https://www.dailywire.com/news/26640/walsh-matt-walsh

14. “ Former Ohio instructor calls term ‘Christian yoga’ stretching the truth”

One former yoga instructor says some church-goers and school educators mistakenly believe yoga is just stretching. While stretching is beneficial, she says yoga is not good even if you slap the word ‘Christian’ in front of it…“Yoga is Eastern Religion. There are several so-called Christian versions of yoga, like ‘Holy Yoga,’ ‘Rev on the Mat,’ and ‘Christian Yoga Association.’ But by changing the name of what you call it, or by doing yoga poses ‘focusing on Jesus,’ I was still deceived.”…“Parents have their heads in the sand if they allow school districts to integrate yoga during compulsory classroom learning. The public schools are actually proselytizing little minds and introducing them to a form of spirituality that could be contrary to their religious upbringing. I should know, because I used to teach it.” “I was going in the wrong direction and was naive until I repented and stopped practicing yoga in August of 2020. I thank GOD for answering my prayers.”

Dudley explains that if persons practice yoga “asanas,” or positions, they retain elements of their earlier spiritual meanings. The “Sun Salutation” in yoga is designed to greet Surya, the Hindu sun god. “Warrior Poses” are associated with Virabhadrasana involving the deity Virabhadra, an incarnation of Shiva. Likewise, the Lotus position is used in opening a person up for a spirit to come in. Dudley says yoga techniques for exercise cannot be separated from its philosophy. She calls yoga a practice of psychosomatic exercises and has a literal meaning of ‘Yoke’ meaning ‘to join’, ‘to unite’ or ‘to attach’.

https://frontlinesohio.com/index.php/2021/02/02/former-ohio-instructor-calls-term-christian-yoga-stretching-the-truth/

LEGACY INDEX