Why I’m Not Doing Yoga

I am going to be starting the P90X fitness program with some people that I work with in January. This is a very challenging, extreme fitness program for 90 days. I am very excited about starting and have already watched some of the work-outs, bought some of the gear and even did two of the work-outs as a test.

One of the work-outs is Yoga X, which is an extreme version of Yoga. Yoga has become an extremely popular exercise routine for lots of people in the USA. I had never done Yoga before, but I was aware of it and have often cautioned people about some of the dangers of Yoga from a Christian perspective.

So last Friday I did the P90X Yoga work-out. I wanted to see what it was like, and how hard it would be. It was an hour and a half and was a good work-out. I even posted about it on Twitter and Facebook. I was a little uneasy while doing the work-out because he said several times to empty your mind. The names of some of the positions were also a little strange to me. It seemed pretty harmless, yet I felt uneasy and uncomfortable with some parts of the work-out.

This weekend I spoke with a friend about this and was reminded about the origins of Yoga. So I did a little more research and after doing that I have decided to not do Yoga anymore. Instead our workout group will be doing a one hour stretching routine.

As a Christian leader I thought it was important for me to speak to this and explain why I am not doing Yoga. Yoga started in India and comes from the Hindu religion. The word Yoga comes from a word which means yoke or union. Traditionally, yoga is a method joining the individual self with the Divine, Universal Spirit. Physical and mental exercises are designed to achieve this goal, also called enlightenment.

You can Google yoga and read about it for yourself, click here to learn more. A good place to read about the Christian perspective is Got Questions.org. From everything I have read and studied about yoga, it reminds me of New Age Spiritualism. Many of these teachings sound good, healthy and helpful. But none of it points you to a closer personal relationship with Jesus. None of it points you to the Word of God for wisdom and discernment. It talks a lot about looking within yourself and emptying yourself to become united to God.

There are great ways to exercise, stretch and meditate without doing yoga. If you are practicing in yoga, I just want you to be aware of what you are doing. Be very careful about emptying your mind, and looking within or connecting, yoking or uniting with “God”. Many of the positions are acts of worship to gods or spirits. We can connect with God very simply through prayer. Because of Jesus we can go directly to God with everything through prayer. When we meditate we should meditate on God’s word. We should fill our minds with what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable – Philippians 4:8.

There are many people doing Christian versions of yoga. You need to decide for yourself what to do by praying about it, reading about it to educate yourself. For me, I have decided it is not what is best for my spiritual growth. If any of this offends you, it is not intended to offend. I am simply explaining why I made the decision to not do this and hope you will seek God on what is best for you as well.

5 Replies to “Why I’m Not Doing Yoga”

  1. As a Hindu, it is so nice to hear when someone gets the fact that all the various Yogas are part of Hinduism. The Yogas are the religious/spiritual practices of Hinduism and sects 'yoke' Atmana(individual soul) to Brahmin(soul source). The author is correct, it is New Age spiritualism, which can be OK, except when it steals, distorts, exploits another religion as what is occurring. It is fine to recognize "There are great ways to exercise, stretch and meditate without doing yoga."(unless ethically taught be a qualified Hindu for no fee)…or misrepresenting it to be more accurate. Here are some more facts from scholarly sources that new agers fail to concern themselves with:
    ~Sanskrit: The ancient language of the Hindus [Webster's] Note: all subsequent terms are Sanskrit (Skr.) and thus Hindu
    ~Aum/Om: The most sacred syllable in Hinduism [Oxford World Religions]
    ~yoga: Skr. "Hinduism" [Webster's]
    ~yoga: Oneness of Atmana and Brahman [Dict. of Skr. Names]
    ~yogi/yogini: (male/female) Hindu Ascetic [Oxford World Rel.]
    ~Atmana: Skr. Self/Spirit; Hinduism [Webster's]
    ~Brahman: Skr. Hindu Religion [Webster's]
    ~yoga: Skr. A Hindu discipline [Oxford Am. Dict.]
    ~ yoga: Skr. A system of Hindu religious philosophy [Thorndike Barnhardt]
    ~yoga: Skr. general term for spiritual disciplines in Hinduism [Columbia Encyclopedia]
    ~Swami: Skr. Title of respect of a (Hindu) Holy man or teacher. [Oxford World Religions]
    ~Guru: Skr. A teacher of worldly skills…more often of religious knowledge…liberation (Moksa). [Oxford World religions]
    ~Moksa: Release/liberation – the fourth and ultimate goal of Hinduism. [Oxf. World Religion]
    ~Veda Skr. The most ancient sacred literature of the Hindus. [Webster's]
    ~The first recorded evidence of the Skr. word "yoga" is found in the Vedas."Seers of the vast illumined Seer yogically control their minds and intelligence." Rig Veda V.81.
    ~Upanishads: Text in Hinduism which ends or completes the Vedic corpus (body of [Hindu] laws)[Oxf. World Religions]

  2. I really appreciated this post. I read all of your's and they always give me much to think about. I appreciate your willingness to share the Truth..whether it's popular or not. I know you are seeking to be strong physically, but thanks for being strong spiritually and sharing God's messages.

  3. Why must you automatically assume that just because something originated in another religion, then it is something to be avoided? I am a Christian and also practice yoga, and find that 'emptying of the mind' makes me a better person, more able to focus on those things in life God would have me do and be. Christianity is not the only religion to have 'truths' in it. God gave us intelligent questioning minds, capable of understanding and learning from each other. Why run away scared, assuming the worst, when you may be missing out on something that could deepen and enrich your relationship with God? Not everything that is beneficial has to be 'Christ' centered….sometimes caring for ourselves and our spiritual side makes us more capable of being Christlike.

  4. I got hurt in a Yoga class doing the "down dog" pose, lead to lower back troubles that have finally resolved after about 18 months including difficulties sleeping more than about 5 hours a night.

    I had two falls during the time my back hurt from the initial yoga injury….which prolonged that and ended up with a torn meniscus that took surgery to resolve. I also sought chiropractic care during this time and nothing resolved the back problem until the knee tear was discovered.

    Coincidence, I'm not sure. All I know is I never had any on going lower back troubles before I took this yoga class and it was a gentle one. I also am not prone to falling, but took two bad tumbles when I was going through this, too.

    I do use the neti pot to clean sinuses when needed and the origin of that is yoga.

    I would have liked to have been able to do the physical part of yoga, but I guess it was not for me and probably just as well.

    I think we can be discerning though as Christians concerning yoga and martial arts, but I found that these will not be things I will do for fitness personally.

    I haven't studied martial arts at all since my 20's and always cringed at bowing to the floor. Been so long, I forget the exact part of that ritual.

    I do not want to ruffle feathers here, but I would like to mention that in this Christmas season, a good number of things we do to celebrate had their origins in paganism (Christmas tree, for one example).

    I do think one can do yoga exercises or study martial arts without getting into the religious parts of that, but one has to be discerning.

    Linda

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