Can a Christian practice yoga?

Several people recently have asked me whether I think it is possible for Christians to practice yoga. It is a very popular form of exercise across the world that originated in the Far East and has been sweeping the Western world for the last few decades. People who practice it say they are improving their bodies, their health and their minds ? but is it helpful or even safe to use this form of exercise if you are a follower of Jesus?

Yoga is inextricably linked to the Hindu faith and can be traced back several thousand years. It is indeed a system of strengthening breath and body and improving flexibility, but it is far more than that. The final aim of yoga is to unite with God and become one with him. This is a quote from ?The Divine Life Society? website in answer to a question about the origins of yoga:

"To live in God, to commune with God is Yoga. Yoga is life in God? life in God brings eternal bliss. Yoga shows you the way, unites you with God, and makes you perfect and immortal.? (Guradev)

It seems very clear to a Christian that the word yoga is almost completely replacing the word ?Jesus?. As Christians we believe that Jesus is the true ? and only ? way to come before God the Father. Jesus himself made it very clear that there was only one way and that was through Him. It is through our faith in Him and what He has done for us on the cross, that a way has been made back to God. We cannot earn salvation in any way ? it has been done for us and is a free gift. The Bible also makes very clear that humans and God are separate entities: God is the Creator; we are created by him, in His image. God is the painter; we are the picture. God is the potter; we are the clay. We are absolutely not (and never will be) the same as God.

What yoga is saying in its essence and philosophy (as in Hinduism) is that everything is God, and God is in everything. You are God, if only you could figure it out and be still enough in your body and breathing to realise it. You are all-powerful, worship belongs to you.

When it is written like that, all Christians should really draw back in horror ? knowing that the Bible is entirely shot through with verses about there being only one God, that true worship belongs to Him, that we are lost in our sin until Jesus rescues us, that Jesus is the only way.

It is very clear that the Hindu faith (and likewise the philosophy of yoga) are polar opposites to Christianity and cannot in any way be reconciled. It would be like trying to take the decision to walk both north and south at the same time ? it would get you nowhere at all.

But I?m not interested in the philosophy, how about just doing the exercises?

Are the basic yoga exercises as harmless as many people think? Os Guiness said this:

"The subtlety of eastern religion is that it enters like an odourless poison gas, seeping under the door, through the keyhole, in through the open window, so that the man in the room is overcome without his ever realising that there was any danger at all?

This reminds me of the old adage about putting a frog in a pan of cold water and turning the heat on gently, so it is boiled to death without even realising it. It may seem a rather dramatic way of looking at what you feel is just a set of exercises to improve your health but as Paul says in the book of Ephesians, we should be mature in all our thinking, we should think through our actions so:

"We will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching.?

It is worth thinking through what we are doing. Even the basic Hatha yoga that teaches the twin disciplines of breathing and posture is still part of the bigger picture. Traditionally there are eight ?limbs? of Raja (royal) yoga that lead to ultimate enlightenment and the two steps taught in Hatha yoga are ?limbs? number three and four of Raja. The ultimate goal therefore even of the basic yoga is to reach unity with an impersonal entity who is ?in? everything.

And beyond the basics of yoga, we are stepping into even murkier waters with the experience of ?kundalini? which yoga scholar Hans Rieker describes as, "The mainstay of all yoga practices?. This is described as an awakening beginning in the lower spine and passing through various centres of the body (chakras) until it reaches the brain when absorption into God occurs. Even the name ?kundalini? which means ?coiled serpent power? should perhaps give the Christian pause for thought.

Bearing all this in mind, it is potentially possible to perform yoga merely as a set of exercises without being drawn into the depth of the full Hindu experience. But does it seem wise?

Is it a case of standing very near the edge of a crumbling cliff? Or lying naked with someone you are attracted to, yet know fully that you don?t wish to sleep with before marriage? Or buying cakes to sit in front of you all day when you are desperately trying to lose weight? Or dabbling with horoscopes when you know the occult is not only wrong but dangerous?

Is it a case of playing with fire for no good reason?

Why use yoga to improve fitness levels when it marks the shallow waters of something deeper and darker? You could enjoy the health benefits of swimming or pilates, aerobics, gymnastics, dance classes and so on. There are endless fun and effective ways to work on our bodies and breathing, to relieve stress and enjoy good health without immersing ourselves in a practice that from the beginning is pointing the way to a philosophy that is mutually exclusive with our own Christian ways of thinking.

Hindu Guru, Swami Muktananda, has said:

"Kneel to yourself. Honour and worship your being. God dwells within you as You.?

Jesus says:

"Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.? (Matthew 4)

Jesus is unequivocal about this. Sometimes we have to make choices about how we live out a specific area of our life. We have only one life on earth to use as best and most effectively as we can and Jesus wants us to live it in full with Him, have the adventures with Him, and experience the true joy and peace that only He brings. Every choice affects our journey, and as sinful and fallible humans we need all the wisdom and help we can get. As Paul says in Hebrews 12:

"Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith?

Yoga as an exercise routine may not be an obvious trap or hindrance to our faith, but is it worth the risk?

@ Copyright 2011 Shaneen Clarke