Is There Christian Yoga

Is There "Christian" Yoga? by Roger Oakland "Yes to Yoga: Can a Christian breathe air that has been offered to idols?"1 The title caught my attention in a Christianity Today article. The author begins: It's 7:45 p.m. on a weekday and for the first time today, I consciously slow down my breathing. I send the air deep down into my belly, letting it rise and fall like a wave. In ... Out ... Along with a group of 30 people ... I use the unhurried cadences of the air filling and leaving my lungs to lull my muscles and joints into d aring postures.... Finally--my favorite pose that comes at the end of each workout--a corpse, during which I lay down and relax every muscle.2 Now, you may be asking the question, why would Christianity Today publish an article promoting Eastern religion? Yet, the author of the art icle claims to be an evangelical born- again Christian. She says yoga draws her closer to Jesus. In her own words: [Y]oga has never had any negative influence on me, and it doesn't t rigger any harmful religious impulses. Just the opposite is true. The three hours a week I spend doing yoga ... draw[s] me closer to Christ.3 Why would it draw you close to Christ? The woman sees yoga as a way to connect with the Holy Spirit, and the breathe in, breathe out repetition is essential: Do You have to meditate to feel the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is already in Y ou once you excepted Chirst. Why to you have to ask him to come in again? Holy Spirit in. Anything that's not from God out. Come Holy Spirit. Renew my mind. In. Out.4 Christian yoga practitioners often claim they cannot be deceived, even though they know what yoga is and where it comes from. The author of the article states: Now, my enthusiasm for yoga doesn't mean I 'm in denial about its Hindu roots.... I know that hard-core yogis believe that yoga is more than exercise or a relaxation technique. To them, it's a religious ritual. But the Hindu gods don't make it onto my mat. Yoga purists don't lead classes at mainstream American gyms.5 In other words, it's OK t o do yoga if you only do it halfway. But the problem is, you cannot disobey God just halfway--and the demons know it. So what would Jesus say? Can a Christian incorporate Hindu spiritual practices in order to get closer to the Jesus of the Bible? I have a strong suspicion the "Hindu gods" have an agenda to introduce unsuspecting yoga practitioners to a different Jesus.

Is There Christian Yoga

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