Christian Yoga? Is It Possible?

“The word yoga is frequently used in Indian philosophy. It means “union” and connotes uniting the individual self with the higher self.” – Handbook of Hindu Mythology by George M. Williams

1 Peter 1:13-16, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

If you were told that you could take a pill that would help live longer, give you more energy and make you smarter, but it would change your personality which would negatively effect your relationships with the ones you love the most; would you take it? Say it would cause a schism between you and those you most care about that would make your life miserable, even though you would live longer, have more energy and you are now smarter. Would it be worth it?

I was sitting with a group of Ph.D. students eating lunch, or having tea, I can’t really remember which, but we were sitting nonetheless and I asked a question. I asked them what they thought of yoga being performed by Christians. The looks I received were very interesting. I think they thought I was asking one of my notorious “trick” questions and trying to fool them in some fashion.

They all sat there looking at me as if I had just shot someone. They had these confused, and some almost dazed looks on their faces. One finally asked me what I meant. I asked again, “What do you think of Christian yoga? Do you think that Christians can practice yoga?” None of them believed you could practice yoga as a Christian because of the Hindu connections to it. Even the name itself is Hindu in origin, meaning uniting with your pure reality, which is Brahman, as everything is Brahman.

I told them that churches hold yoga classes and that many Christians participate in yoga in the States. They could not believe that churches would allow yoga to be performed in their church. “Wait a minute,” I said, “many just use it for exercise, or at least that is what they tell me.” They said you cannot separate the two. You can try all you want, but why not just have a class where you stretch then. Why does it have to be yoga? Yoga has much spiritual connection tied to it. They were acting almost offended by the concept, as they are witnessing and telling Hindus their way is wrong and here we are in the West incorporating their spiritual practices into our church. Welcome back Corinthian church!

There is Jnana Yoga, which is salvation by knowledge and inward meditation, and then there is Bhakti Yoga, where salvation is through devotion to one of many deities. How about Karma Yoga, which is salvation by works as ceremonies, fasting and sacrifices, and then Raja Yoga that is a meditation technique that helps you take control over your body, breathing and thoughts. Yoga is tied spiritually to Hinduism, and to all it entails. They could not see the disconnection and neither should we.

When we start dipping our hand into other religions and taking from them things we like and think we are sanitizing them by taking out the spiritual aspects, we are fooling ourselves. Just because you think you sanitized it does not mean the spiritual world thinks they are sanitized. Adding to Christianity from other faiths is syncretism and is exactly the problems the Corinthian church was having. They wanted to incorporate all their pagan practices back into the church and Paul had to deal with it.

We forget about the Spiritual dimension to our faith and just because you don’t say “OM,” and instead say something else, does not make it better. Hindus don’t mind if you use Jesus in place of OM if it helps. The stretching and breathing are all control devices, especially how they have you do them. You are opening yourself up to areas that you are not aware of and if most knew the dangers they would not do it.

Yoga will start to make a schism between you and God spiritually. It just will, because there are spiritual connotations to it, whether you want to admit it or not, and whether you want to believe it or not. Truth is true regardless of what we think. Yoga was developed for spiritual purposes and not Christian, but Hindu and if it is not for God then it is against God. When we perform these rituals we open ourselves up for spiritual attack that can and many times will start to hurt your relationship with God.

Can Christians just stretch like professional athletes? Can Christians meditate on God’s word like He tells us? What is the purpose of Yoga? Maybe one should find out before incorporating it into their Spiritual lives.

1 Thess. 5:21, “Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”