Recently, CNN had a short debate between two pastors on whether or not Christians should do yoga (Youtube). While the “debate” was really too short to have any real content, the comments on the blog post were annoyingly narrow, so I’ve added my perspectives below.
As an evangelical Christian who does enjoy and practice yoga, I would like to add my perspectives.
- Yoga is about self awareness and self-mastery, not to mention practicing calmness and self control amid tension
- Yoga is not really about emptying the mind, and those who say such not only reveal their lack of knowledge about yoga, they are merely attempting a “guilt-by-association” technique – while emptying the mind uncritically may allow demons or deceiving spirits into one’s life, focusing and listening to one’s body is in no way the same activity. Yoga is about self-awareness, self-mastery, self-control, self-care and self-stewardship, not emptying.
- Even if you are focusing on self-control, self-mastery, and self-awareness rather than on God, such things are not anti-Christ or unbiblical, and are part of regular athletics or any other discipline of mind, occupation, or body. While self-mastery can not bring you salvation, it does help us develop and practice self-control, a biblical virtue.
- Those who think that self-care and self-control are selfish are thinking unbiblically, and need to listen to my sermon entitled Finding God’s Call III – A Biblical view of self-love.
- I suppose you can take the yoga positions to the level of worshiping Hindu deities, but I highly doubt that by practicing awareness and self-discipline, and by holding certain poses, that you are in any way worshiping deities – that’s just plain silly talk. What makes the difference is where your mind and spirit are at, not how you hold your body.
- Christianity has a severely underdeveloped theology of the physical self-care, and literally NO physical disciplines to integrate with our Christian life (worship aerobics may be fun, but it’s hardly approaching any serious integration of spiritual practice and physical disciplines). This is largely due to an almost literal hatred of the body which comes from (a) a poor understanding of the use of the term “flesh” in the NT, which does NOT usually refer to our physical bodies, (b) the idea that too much self-care is a waste since these bodies will be discarded, and (c) an anti-pleasure theology that rejects the goodness of the created body and the Christian enjoyment of sex and food without being mastered by such.
- I highly recommend Anglican Peter Toon’s book Meditating As a Christian: Waiting upon God, which has one very good chapter on yoga, where he recommends it with some warnings – a very balanced, if not educated and practical view.
As to Christians ruining their testimony by doing yoga, I would say
- they already have a negative testimony by lacking any cogent and useful physical practices to integrate with spirituality, beyond fasting and praise aerobics.
- our failure to recognize common truth and wisdom in other traditions, as Paul did on Mars Hill with the Greek philosophers, is a bad testimony and causes people to reject our gospel because we are rejecting valid common truths and wisdom
- Romans 14 is about freedom – to obey our conscience, to not condemn others, and yes, to be considerate if our freedom might cause others to stumble. However, Romans 14 is about balancing these prerogatives, not cowing in to Pharisaical narrowness every time some religionist is offended?
Bob Minor has a book out for the in the closet pervert religious types called When Religion is an Addiction –
"The emotional "high" of righteousness functions to eliminate the addicts' sense of personal responsibility for their teachings, their actions, and their actions' painful toll on other human beings. Religious addiction, he observes, often covers sexual addictions."
Wanna post a review Seeker?
Religious addiction indeed may be linked to other addictive behaviors, esp. addictions of the flesh, which include both food and sex addictions.
But what does that have to do with yoga? Or is this our resident troll?
Someone once insisted to me that every state of mind corresponded to a state of meditation. That may be a bit of a stretch, but in this context is poses the question: What is Yoga?
Yoga can be:
Stretching. Benefits are mostly physical, increased blood flow, exercise.
Thinking. Benefits are organizing one's tasks for the day or planning or imagining interactions with oneself and with others.
Meditating such as Transcendental Meditation. Benefits are similar to thinking except repeating a mantra can make one more aware of his physical being, such as the pain in a tooth, or having an itch. Sometimes one can experience deep rest, although often that's not the case because it can be difficult to slow down enough to meditate in the first place. One can combine the activity of meditating with prayer, repeating a mantra while also reflecting upon a communication with oneself and perhaps with god.
Note that you can find a listing of the negative effects of TM by Goggling "Negative Effects of Transcendental Meditation". The write ups you'll find aren't just stories written by trolls, the dangers are real.
As to how this applies to the message of Jesus Christ, well not being a Christian I can only guess, but I would imagine that the most effective way to meditate is to use it to experience the glory of god and the message of Jesus Christ, and then later to leverage that experience to radiate this experience through one's activities. Frankly, your time might be better spent on a different activity.
So it's not meditation, per se, but rather the intent and intensity of the meditation that matters. Then after that, it is how does the meditation help one experience and promote the glory of god and the message of Jesus Christ.
Regarding Indian deities… TM might have a "halo" effect so that someone who practices might later become curious about Buddhist teachings. But the activity of TM, in and of itself, doesn't leave one wondering about Indian deities. Most practitioners such as think of the activity as being religion agnostic.
As to whether one should pass on TM all together: Perhaps. Perhaps it worthing trying out. The best strategy is to try it, but not to meditate more often than twice a week. If you're not meditating at all that's OK.
You posted as seeker on sfpulpit.com. I am replying based on your thoughts.
In your defense of yoga, you included the word SELF at least 13 times. You promote self-love. Jesus said "…If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."(Luke 9:23 ESV)
NW Prodigal, that is a typical, unbalanced application of the principle of self-denial. I addressed this in my sermon A Biblical view of self-love
Simply put, Jesus said "love your neighbor as you love your self." If you don't love your self, you are being a poor steward. Self-love and self-denial are not mutually exclusive polar opposites – Jesus' quote above shows that there is a legitimate type of self-love (which is to be understood as self-stewardship). The illegitimate type is where you put self before God in your decision making.
BRITNEY WROTE: Meditating such as Transcendental Meditation. Benefits are similar to thinking except repeating a mantra
I in no way encourage chanting, and have no experience with it, but suspect that it is one of those "emptying the mind" activities, though TM folks would say you are focusing. I would say that anything that puts you into a trance-like state could be spiritually dangerous. And typical yoga is not about that.
TM might have a "halo" effect so that someone who practices might later become curious about Buddhist teachings.
I think that Christians would do well to examine Buddhism, and hope to write a book on the subject – see Christ and Buddha: A Christian Synthesis.
You are right, some who are not well-established in their christian faith may abandon it because they don't understand that the REVEALED "truths" of Buddhism, namely that there is no personal God, and that we are "saved" from suffering by progressive enlightment over many lives, is where xianity and buddhism part ways, and where I think that buddhism is absolutely incorrect.
But in the arena of self-mastery and knowledge, yoga, buddhism, and the martial arts often tower above Christianity, in part, because we have focused too much on intellectual knowledge of God, and an interpretation of self-denial and body-hatred that have led us away from even common wisdom with respect to these things.
Thank you for your post on the Pulpit Magazine site. I was pleased to find the book that you recommended by Peter Toon online. I thought I would have to order the book, but was happy to read it right away. It was so helpful…JT