On Wednesday Night, September 6^th, we will be discussing “Christian Yoga.” If you Google “Christian Yoga” one of the sites that rise to the top of the 31 million results is a website called christianspracticingyoga.com. They call themselves “A network of Christians practicing yoga to go to God the way God came to us, in and through the body… Yoga is a systematic program for peaceful living with fuller awareness, and a tremendous tool for spiritual growth offered as a gift to the world by India. When a person’s heart is open to the richness, beauty and power of another tradition, it not only brings respect and understanding of the other, but it produces a meaningful deepening of one’s own relationship with God. The methods vary, but the original and underlying inspiration remains the same: to work with yoga as a spiritual path for all and as a way of opening to God. For Christians, that path goes to God through Jesus Christ, guided by the indwelling Spirit. For others, the path will lead to their understanding of Divinity or Supreme Being or Absolute.”

On the other hand, in a 2010 article in Huffington Post, a Hindu yoga practitioner and scholar Rajiv Malhotra calls “Christian Yoga” an “oxymoron.” He says that yoga is “fundamentally at odds with Christian teaching…. Yoga is a do-it-yourself path that eliminates the need for intermediaries such as a priesthood… All humans come equipped to recover their own innate divinity without recourse to any historical person’s [i.e. Jesus Christ] suffering on their behalf…. [Yoga’s] emphasis on the body runs contrary to Christian beliefs that the body will lead humans astray.”

Yoga has become a very popular exercise trend in the United States with estimates of 20 million American’s “exercising” at over 20,000 locations. Yoga pants are replacing blue jeans in the fashion industry. Yoga classes are even being offered at local Christian churches.  However, before you sign up for that yoga class – let’s stop and think about it.

 Loading ...