More on Christian Yoga.

I just read the greatest quote EVER in an article on Catholicism and yoga.

Because she recognized the immediate "health" sense of practicing yoga when she was given a series of asanas to practice after an injury and immediately recovered, this woman began by telling everyone she met about the benefits of a yoga practice.
Almost immediately , she was warned to stay away for fear of getting infested by demons by well meaning Christian friends.

Thus, this Catholic woman began her own journey, not unlike mine, to discover whether Christians can/should practice yoga.

One of the best comments she made was this:

As a Catholic, she is perpetually being hounded that her gestures and responses and physical postures during mass are "unspiritual" and that she is practicing an empty religion that does NOTHING to draw her to Jesus. People tell her to "get real" with Christ and to build a relationship and not to focus on meaningless gestures and meditations and responses.
And yet these same people who tell her that Christ has no power over her in Mass are telling her that essentially by stretching her legs she is willingly allowing powerful demons entry into her soul. In other words, (and I'm paraphrasing) demons have infinitely more power than Christ over our wills. When we exercise our will and try to meet with God, He will not meet us, but when a well meaning Christian leaves her will out of it and innocently moves her body a certain way, he will abandon her to demonic entities? What kind of God is that?

The main point of her article is that there is absolutely no "danger" in practicing yoga, not only for the exercise but in gaining a grasp of yoga's philosophy, so long as one does not begin to practice hinduism (and I'll add buddhism) alongside it. Any well-grounded Christian with an ounce of discernment can begin a home practice, learn the basics, benefit from the healthy changes that yoga will create in their life, without doing any danger or damage to their soul or situation.

It's when people begin to open themselves up to the new age blending of religious ideas that they begin to lose their WILL and sense of who they are in Christ. I suffer for people who agonize over their desire to practice yoga but feel that they cannot "partake" in something that didn't originate in the Bible. Do these people eat hamburgers? They aren't in the bible. Do they have Christmas trees? Not in the bible. Do they listen to Christian Rock? Not in the bible. Do they drive cars? Not in the bible. And yet they have managed to sanctify these things and blend them with their Christian identity. Why can we not do the same for yoga? Are these demons so much more powerful than Christ that they cannot succumb to His will for us as we exercise our own will-- healthy bodies, minds and souls focused on Him and overflowing with His love and light?

I loved reading this article, because it really showed me how I'm not the only one who has struggled to find meaning in the madness of people's fears and insecurities about God and their relationship to Him.

The basic premise is simple: DO YOGA. WORSHIP GOD ALONE. If at any point in your communal practice you come to a moment where you are using your will to open up to something other than Christ, stop and reject that as a part of your practice. Learn to be transformed by the RENEWING, and not emptying, of your mind. (Romans 12:1-2)
The complete text of the article can be found here:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/854539/is_there_such_a_thing_as_christian.html?singlepage=true&cat=50