Jesus and Yoga…Yes, No, Maybe So?
At church yesterday I spoke with a godly man/big-time distance runner about the knee pain I’ve developed due to the rapid increase in my running mileage. He invited me to try Bikram Yoga (ie., yoga in a 105 degree, 40% humidity room) with him, saying that his involvement with Bikram Yoga this past year has helped him with many running injuries.
So, yesterday afternoon, I gave it a shot. I’ve never sweat so much in my life. I’ve never put my body in positions like that before. I’ve never heard such loud breathing.
And, actually, my knee does feel a bit better today.
When I first heard of yoga as a teenager I swore off yoga as a Hindu practice at odds with Christianity.
When, a few years later, I first heard of a Christian practicing yoga, I concluded that he must be a heretic.
But, over the last several years, through some conversations and some study, I’ve begun to think that though yoga has some Hindu roots, it doesn’t have to be a practice at odds with the gospel, at odds with glorifying the God who gave us bodies and breathing. Yesterday’s yoga tryout testified to this.
And, I’m excited about this new mission field that lies before me: a room filled with 40 some people who, best I can surmise, are strangers to the good news of Jesus–the One whose body was twisted into the most painful position of all, the one who quit breathing, so that sinners could know the one true God.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. I’m going to continue to think through this issue myself. What do you think about Jesus and Yoga? Is Yoga something Christians should abstain from entirely, or is their room for thoughtful involvement with Yoga? Why or why not?
I started running more and more… and my legs get really tight. So I went to the 24 hr. Yoga class. I had similar thoughts before, but I really think it is a matter of finding a teacher who doesn’t emphasize the “spirituality” of Yoga. The thing that I was more uncomfortable with was the fact that I was one of three guys out of thirty people… I have only been to a four or five Yoga classes overall and they are all dominated by women.
The class helped a bit for developing balance and obviously flexibility which will help in the long run for my running.
I love yoga. Don’t tell Johnny Mac:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVdLZlBYseg (it’s rare you’ll find me and Doug P. on the same team)
I do DVDs:
These are the ones I like:
It’s not that fruity, easterny (you get a little:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00019U9U6/wwwtakeyourvi-20
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00019U9UG/wwwtakeyourvi-20
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002DSPZW/wwwtakeyourvi-20
Here are the reasons I like it:
1. Amazing combo of strength and flexibility workout
2. My wife and I can do this exercise together and both get a great workout.
3. It doesn’t take long to get a full body workout
4. No gym membership fees. Just open the laptop and insert the DVD. I rotate the DVDs to keep it interesting.
Combine yoga with some good cardio and you’ll be set.
Yoga is no more sinful than doing pushups. Can you do pushups sinfully? Sure. You could do them pridefully and worship your body. Can you do yoga sinfully? Sure, but even if the instructor is talking about eastern religious practices (which the guy I use doesn’t do much) how is that different than any other cultural activity that involves unbelievers? Everyone is worshiping a false God if they don’t trust Jesus.
So that is my take. I would say you are free to do yoga, but perhaps you might want to find a DVD set that you like that doesn’t push the eastern stuff too much. This is very possible. But, what you are saying about the yoga class mission is even more reason to get into it. Great idea.
z
Count me among the anti-Yoga crowd. Extreme stretching is fine, but calling it Yoga is to associate it with its roots. The poses in Yoga are specifically and inherently tied to the religion, not something Christ followers should be doing and promoting if we can avoid it. I think you can do great stretching routines without having to resort to Yoga.
1 Cor 8?
I was thinking of the same Scripture as Nick. Christians have responsibilities AND rights. It is a fine line to walk, but I think a Pastor doing yoga might lead to more witnessing opportunities (and ultimately glory for God) than a Pastor shunning yoga.
My mom is a yoga teacher, and I as a Christian, have often wrestled with this concept. I think about how we share Christ with others, especially those in different cultures. We don’t teach them Western Christianity, and force them to adopt our western church traditions, but instead we look at their culture, and teach them using ways that they will understand. Peter shows a perfect example of this in Acts 17 when speaking about the unknown God to the Greeks. I also think of how Jim and Elizabeth Elliot shared about Jesus. I believe that we don’t throw out a person’s tradition in order to show them Christ. If we had done that, we wouldn’t celebrate Christmas – which originally has many pagan roots. Yoga is a time for someone to be still in the prescence of God. It forces you to focus, and it allows you time to meditate (which is mentioned many times in the bible – although some Christians today still cringe at the word). I also believe that God tells us that are body’s are temples, and we are to treat them as such – so that means to take care of them, and yoga is a great way to do that…
Just some of my thoughts
Hi there Justin:
I have received many benefits from doing basic Yoga and have had debates with christian friends about whether or not it is wrong to do. I receive The Christian Research Journal, and over the course of a few magazine articles, The Bible Answer Man has written a lengthy description of the history of Yoga, etc.
I think God looks at our heart and knows our motives. If we are using Yoga as a means to care for our bodies without worshipping the act itself, i think it is fine. But I am open to loving christian correction.
When you click on the link, click on the Christian Research Journal, then click on the Yoga 1, 2, 3.
I think that Yoga is fine for a Christian to partake in, as long as you are meditating on Christ and not…. nothingness. I do agree that when you mention “yoga” to someone, it is often associated with the spiritual practice behind it, but that seems to be passing as it becomes the “chic” workout for the masses. :)
I saw this a while back, check it out- Yahweh Yoga!
http://yahwehyoga.net/
p.s.- I never would have put Justin Buzzard and Bikram Yoga in the same sentence. Ever. :-D
Justin! Thank you for bringing up this topic. It is something I’ve often wondered about, and still do wonder about. Years ago I read the book Death of a Guru, and ever since I have never been able to fully embrace the idea of yoga as something that could be okay as Christians. It’s roots are incredibly dark, and I’m still leary of it, but hearing your experience makes me a little more likely to consider it.
I would say this is much like the argument I had with my mother regarding karate and other martial arts.
She believes all martial arts are evil as they are originally derived from eastern mysticism.
But if you look into anything far enough, you will find parts of other religious cultures in there – christmas being a really big example of this.
What is importan is choosing to honour God in everything you do. Obviously the early jewish Christians struggled with similar issues, such as whether or not to eat pork as God had instructed the Jews not to.
As Christians, “everything is permissable but not everything is beneficial”.
Yoga, karate, and other forms of exercise or self defense do have eastern origins, but what stops us as Christians taking the physical side and replacing the spiritual side with our God?
When I was studying karate, our instructor professed to be a Christian, and the majority of the class were atheists who did not believe in eastern background of the sport, with a few Christians in the class like myself.
We began each class by paying respect “to the god we believe in” and for the Christians in the class this was bowing to THE God, our God. Us christians made no secret it was our God we were giving our respect and honour to.
And like I believe someone else has mentioned, about meditation – during meditation I used this as a time to meditate as a christian – thanking God for my day, asking for forgiveness for anything that needed doing so and mentally getting off my chest anything I needed with God before continuing with anything else.
I know many Christians fear the influence of eastern religion in some of these activities, but, as I’ve seen in particular with the soccer ministry of my church, sport is a fantastic way to reach out to the non christian.
I think Christians were able to learn and then teach the physical aspects of things like yoga and martial arts, while removing the eastern mysticism and making it about the one true God instead, in any spiritual component, then I think it would reach a lot of people.
Things of eastern origin are very popular in our culture, and I really believe we could reach many people if we just took the physical things, removed the eastern spirituality and replaced it with christian spirituality.
Reach people’s minds, bodies and souls in one.
Hey Justin
Great question. I have just started doing yoga! I think it is great.
1. It is morally neutral — I am exercising! How is stretching a muscle a religious compromise?
2. Our teacher says nothing about God, religious issues, etc.
3. It helps me with some issues of pain and inflexibility in my back and that has improved my golf game. Anything that improves my golf game is a gift from God.
Your friend
Mark
Hi Justin, you don’t know me, but i really appreciate your blog and i want to take this opportunity to thank you.
To put it bluntly, as a Christian, I would feel very uncomfortable practicing Yoga for two reasons.
1) I sympathize with many of our brothers and sisters who practice Yoga as an exercise only and possibly as an opportunity for evangelism. I really do. It is always the intent, though imcomplete by itself, that is more important than content. However, intent or sincerity isn’t enough. God wants us to worship in spirit and in truth and love rejoices with truth. I believe God wants us to be sincere, but He wants us to be sincere grounded in the objective Truth that He has shown us. In this regard, I feel it’s difficult to accept the forms of exercises inspired by Hindu philosophy while trying denying the spirit that made them. This leads to my next reason.
2) Someone already mentioned 1 Cor 8 above, but i felt the emphasis was not on Christian freedom itself, but voluntarily exercising that legitimate freedom for the sake of those with weaker faith. Perhaps i feel this way because my faith is weak. I have listened to your sermons and I learn so much from you and regardless of whether you do Yoga or not, my regard for you wouldn’t change a bit. However, it would seem wiser if you would opt for some other exercise for the sake of weaker brothers like me.
Well, I hope i didn’t discourage you in any way. There’re bigger and more glorious things in life and I’m thankful God is using you in that way!
I think the current practice of yoga in the US has been pretty completely distanced from its roots.
All truth is God’s truth, and I think that yoga has pretty clear health benefits, and it’s a great opportunity for prayer and evangelism. Claim it for the gospel.
I have trouble with the argument that Christians should steer clear of Yoga because of its Hindu roots. By that same logic, we’d have to seriously re-examine how we celebrate Easter. The name “Easter” comes from the name of a pagan, Anglo-Saxon goddess, and all our practices surrounding eggs and bunnies are rooted in pagan fertility rituals.
However, those practices have enough distance now from their origin and can be redeemed to symbolize newness and rebirth in Christ. I would make the same argument for why Christians should be able to practices yoga.
Is it the name “Yoga” that makes it rooted in evil? Because if so, you could just say you do intense stretching and exercises in a hot room and leave out the “Bikram Yoga” part. Which begs the question: Is the name alone enough to link the entire practice to its roots thereby making it evil? I love the point about Easter that someone else made.
I agree that going to a yoga class that focuses heavily on Eastern ideas, meditation, spirituality is probably not a great idea; however, many yoga classes make no mention of these things. They are strictly athletic practices with nice neat Americanized names for the poses like “Eagle Pose” or “Up Dog” (which I can never hear without thinking, “What’s up, dog?”) So is that kind of yoga evil? I really can’t see how.
And surely there is nothing inherently evil about a certain movement – in fact I bet almost everyone has done a few yoga poses before and not even known he/she has done them.
So maybe we should just start calling it something else. See you at the Works Muscles You Didn’t Even Know Existed class!!
p.s. I am a Christian and a yoga instructor.
How do you get someone to swallow a lie? Surround it with lots of truth so the lie isn’t discovered until after the swallowing is done. I see Yoga (traditional eastern Yoga) as swallowing a lie surrounded by lots of truth. How you ask?
The bodies that God designed for our use here on earth are a marvelous creation. Our western cultures are rather oblivious to this glorious design and great care for our bodies. Eastern cultures have long embraced various disciplines of the body as a package which wraps spiritual mysticism in various forms – a marriage of the two.
Can you learn the care and discipline of the body and not swallow the inner core? Here in America the spiritual mysticism component is often a junior partner to the stretching and exercise aspects. Can you practice Americanized Yoga? All things are possible with God. The question between you and God is one of walking worthy of your calling in Christ Jesus – can you engage in this activity without shaming HIS name. I encourage you to abstain from any activity which you cannot answer with confidence to any who asks.
God Bless!
I just wanted to share the information i have about yoga. Since i am from India, i am aware of the orgin of yoga..In hindu relegion ancient days tutors were called as Guru’s.. who infact teaches his students skills as well as the way of life.. So yoga was one of the ways they used to keep the mind empty from thoughts (blank)..which is dangerous as the devil sneaks in where there is not god!! only two possibilities good or evil nothing in between .. before starting YOGA excersise there is a custom oh touching the the floor facing the sunlight -It is called “SURYA NAMASKAR” It means wroshiping the SUN-
Jesus said in bible very clearly thats we should’nt worship anything that is above or beneath or in waters below or on any of HIS creation-EXODUS 20:4 They will be punished ! and again jesus said do not immitate what the world and other relegions does. He breathed life into us as his own creations but we should use the life for a breathing excercise which indireclty glorifies another relegion ???
i am sorry if am wrong but this is what i felt..
I just wanted to share the information i have about yoga. Since i am from India, i am aware of the orgin of yoga..In hindu relegion ancient days tutors were called as Guru’s.. who infact teaches his students skills as well as the way of life.. So yoga was one of the ways they used to keep the mind empty from thoughts (total blank)..which is dangerous as the devil sneaks in where there is not god!! only two possibilities (good spirit or evil spirit) nothing in between .. before starting YOGA excersise there is a custom of touching the the floor facing the sunlight -It is called “SURYA NAMASKAR” It means wroshiping the SUN for energy-
Jesus said in bible very clearly that we should’nt worship anything that is above or beneath or in waters below or on any of HIS creation-EXODUS 20:4 They will be punished ! even though we dont intentionally do anything wrong it is still an act of idol worship.
and again jesus said do not immitate what the world and other relegions does. He breathed life into us as his own creations but we should not use the life for a breathing excercise which indireclty glorifies another relegion ???
i am sorry if am wrong but this is what i felt..
my aunt, who is a believer, recently “warned” my parents and other relatives, that tai chi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_Chi_Chuan) can make you susceptible to demon possession. i was very torn to hear those words spoken to my other family members, because this put them off from Christianity even more. like yoga is for today’s women (and some men) as a form of exercise, tai chi is something that the elderly use to stay in shape. anything can become an idol if it’s viewed by that person as an ultimate thing. but sometimes, exercise is just exercise..?
have you heard of this book?
http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Body-Christ-Position-Christians/dp/1928660487
I have read all comments and must admit that I expected this kind of explanation for doing yoga or martial arts. I heard it so many times but this don’t make them true.
Swami Sivananda Radha: When most people in the West think of yoga, they think of yoga as a form of exercise. Too often… there are yoga teachers who teach asanas without an understanding of their real nature and purpose. Asanas are a devotional practice which like all spiritual practices, bring us to an understanding of the truth…. Beyond this there also lies a mystical or spiritual meaning.
People has christianized some holidays (Christmas and Easter) and now have excuse to do this with other things… dangerous practice, I will say… Excuse me if I look harsh but Christians can be so shallow sometimes… do we really need yoga and martial art to preach Gospel to unbelivers?!
And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. We speak wisdom, however, among them that are fullgrown: yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nought: but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that hath been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory:
I don’t know anything about the roots of Yoga so I wasn’t going to say anything. But since Tai Chi came up I just wanted to say that I think this issue is different for pastors vs your avg Joe.
I think it’s possible for someone to do an exercise that may have started out with unbiblical spiritual roots but do it in a Godly way. The Olympics started as a religious festival worshiping Zeus but if I took up an Olympic sport as a believer, I would not be dishonor the Lord or channeling demons.
I think Leon suggested, it is not the motions or the label but the heart. However, for a public Christian leader things become more difficult and it may send the wrong message even though the pastor’s heart is in the right place.
Thoughts from someone who has researched the matter:
http://www.issuesetc.org/podcast/Show55091208H2S3.mp3
I am a Christian and I have done Bikram yoga for about 7 years now. The yoga exercise has been wonderful for me as I had chronic back issues before. There are hardly any Eastern ideas that creep into the class itself but I do hear some thoughts from students who might border along the combination of Eastern spiritual and New Age thoughts. After the class I Thank God as opposed to the bow done by others.
Emotionally, the yoga does bring emotions to the surface. It makes me aware if I have anger, hurt, or tears deep down. In the past couple of months, I became aware of the importance of keeping God in my focus during the class instead of having my mind blank. When recently those emotions of deep hurt came out, my mind went to despairing places that only the dark would take me. I struggled during class but brought Godly thoughts into my mind and I was ok.
As Christians in a yoga classroom, we are probably too quiet about our beliefs and why we feel the way we are. It is a perfect place to reach out to others.
Recently, another Christian Bikram yoga student competed in a regional event. Karen prayed before her routine while others did their Eastern type meditation. While others wavered in their routine, Karen was on target and focused.
As for yoga for Christians, I would love to take a different approach and have the dialogue be filled with spiritual thoughts that fill up my soul and mind as well as work my body.
I’d be glad to converse with others who have the same thoughts.
I think you need to stop being prejudice and open your mind. Do you really think Jesus would mind if you tried something for your health. Do you really think Jesus would be so closed minded. Come on, stop being so closed minded. I think Jesus would open his arms and his heart to anyone, no matter religion, race or background.
Christians like you scare me.
I am a born-again evangelical Christian who loves Jesus, Loves her Bible and loves yoga. I love it so much that I’m getting certified to teach. It is great for the physical, emotional and mental well-being of the practitioner. Caring for your temple is a form of honoring God!
But more than that, Yoga Classes are AMAZING mission fields!!! Walk into any standard yoga studio and it is chock FULL of seekers… people who are looking for truth, looking for answers, looking for peace. As Christians, we know that peace and salvation only comes from Jesus. Yoga does not bring lasting peace. Hinduism surely doesn’t. If anything, Hinduism and Buddhism are systems of endless works and uncertainty…and death. Jesus is the only sure thing, the only way, the only truth and the only life.
Go to a yoga class and witness to people, while getting a good work out for yourself. Meditate on Jesus and preach the gospel to the person who was laying next to you. It’s a win-win situation!
UNLESS…it makes you stumble. If your conscience is weak, you won’t be able to. Paul said that eating meat sacrificed to idols didn’t bother him because he knew Who his god was. If you are strong in your faith, reap the benefit of stretching “sacrificed to idols”. But if it makes you stumble, just do aerobics and eat vegetables. (See 1 Corinthians 8) To the pure, all things are pure…
Try:
http://www.holyyoga.net
