THE YOGA BOOM: A CALL FOR CHRISTIAN DISCERNMENT
PART 3: TOWARD A COMPREHENSIVE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
by Elliot Miller
The yoga boom
demands a comprehensive Christian response that includes discerning whether
yoga can be compatible with Christianity, detecting any biblically acceptable
alternatives to yoga, and determining how Christians should respond to yoga’s
profound penetration of Western culture. In part two we saw that raja
(classical) yoga is incompatible with Christianity. Hatha (physical) yoga is
not so overtly religious, but Hinduism lies just beneath its surface and often
surfaces in unanticipated ways, and so it is unwise for Christians to practice
it. The very structure of yoga is designed to facilitate the goals of Hindu
spirituality, and so every attempt by the Christian yoga movement to redeem yoga
for Christian use has failed. There are good Christian alternatives to yoga for
achieving comparable physical benefits, such as Laurette Willis’s PraiseMoves.
To prevent the further advance of yoga in secular culture at the expense of
Christianity, American Christians need to fight for their First Amendment
rights and press for a consistent definition of religion in the public square.
What is yoga, and what is it doing here? In parts one and two of this series I
answered both of those questions. Yoga is a rigorous moral-physical-mental
system of disciplines designed to achieve union with Hindu understandings of
God or Ultimate Reality. Eastern gurus and yogis came to the West on a mission
to seed Western culture with Eastern spirituality, and they met with stunning
success once they came upon the approach of offering yoga as a superior means
of realizing Western values, such as improved physical health, ability, and
appearance. In the United States, yoga is rapidly becoming integrated into such
traditionally secular institutions as public education, health care, and the
work place. It has been widely embraced by Roman Catholics and mainline
Protestants, and over the past several years a Christian yoga movement has been
thriving among evangelicals. l At the close of part two I began to outline a
comprehensive Christian response to the yoga boom. Such a response first must
determine whether yoga can in any sense be compatible with a faithful practice
of biblical Christianity, and I demonstrated that at least raja (classical)
yoga cannot be.
This final
installment will answer conclusively the remaining questions:
(1) Is hatha
yoga religiously neutral?
(2) Can yoga be
Christianized?
(3) Are there
any biblically acceptable alternatives to yoga? and
(4) What can
and should Christians do about yoga’s incursion into secular institutions?
IS HATHA YOGA
RELIGIOUSLY NEUTRAL? The
majority of Christians can be convinced rather easily that raja yoga is
incompatible with Christian faith. There is much less consensus when it comes
to hatha yoga. Even the most vociferous critic of hatha yoga hardly can deny that the spiritual
harm that comes to a Christian who practices it can sometimes be negligible. No
one can deny that yoga imparts physical benefits. Why then bother to make this
a discernment issue for Christians? Aren’t there more crucial battles for
Christian discernment ministries to wage? To assent that some Christians can
practice yoga with little or no spiritual harm is not to assent that all
Christians can do so. The reason why yoga looms large as a discernment issue
for Christians at this time is because of its pervasive presence and strong
appeal in Western culture. If fifty, twenty-five, or even ten percent of
Christians would fall into deception and idolatry by practicing yoga, that
amounts to a staggering number of spiritual casualties for the body of Christ
to sustain. This therefore is not an issue that Christians should gloss over.
The Western church really needs to look at the implications of practicing hatha
yoga and determine if the spiritual risks involved are worth the physical
benefits, especially when alternative forms of stretching exercise are
available (see below). Let us look, then, at the reasons for concern and
caution. There are some rather sneaky elements in hatha yoga that help explain
why enrolling in the neighborhood yoga class would be a dubious decision for
the Christian. First, teachers and students typically greet each other with the
Sanskrit namaste, which means, “I honor the Divine within you.” This is an
affirmation of pantheism and therefore a denial of the true God revealed in the
Bible. Furthermore, hatha yoga classes typically conclude with “a 10–15 minute
relaxation period to relax the body and still the mind.”1 As part of this
process students often are given a mantra to repeat in meditation or chanting.
Hindu mantras are generally the names of Hindu gods or goddesses. The Christian
who thought she (or he) was just concluding her yoga session with a relaxation
exercise will be shocked to learn she has invoked a false god and broken the
First Commandment. Finally, promoters of raja yoga believe that participation
in hatha yoga tends to lead practitioners into raja yoga. I will devote the
remainder of this section to explaining my reasons for holding the same view.
Stairway to Samadhi Once a person begins to practice yoga, even if only
assuming its postures, she becomes a part of the yoga world. She now identifies
with other practitioners and friendships are likely to develop. Her sympathies
will tend to align with the practice and its practitioners. Such psychological
developments naturally occur when someone incorporates a discipline into her
lifestyle, and objectivity can suffer as a result. Furthermore, there will not
always be clear lines or warning signs separating the physical from the
spiritual in yoga, and there will be subtle social and psychological pressures
to progress further into the discipline (e.g., to move on to doing chants or
meditation). In an article on how “belonging to a community of like-minded
souls is essential to the practice,” Yoga Journal asked author Sara Powers,
“Does community require a shared philosophical frame, or can it just evolve
within a group of asana [posture] practitioners?” Powers replies: It can start
wherever you enter the path. Asana seems a likely doorway for the larger
community because people from all different backgrounds feel safe doing
asana—it doesn’t ask them to question their underlying beliefs. But even so,
when people enter the path of yoga they begin to change. Sometimes this makes
them feel lonely because no one else they know is watching their breath and
becoming more mindful. Sharing these discoveries with family and friends can be
alarming. And that is where sangha [i.e., community] comes in. I always suggest
that all new students begin making friends in yoga class to support one another
through the changes that inevitably take place. (emphases added)2 Engaging in
practices that have established spiritual purposes within Hinduism or other
Eastern religions can easily lead to confusion and a possible embracing of
those concepts on some level. For example, one could come to accept the reality
of prana (universal life force), since prana is central even to the theory of
hatha yoga. Prana implies and is based on pantheism, so now the Christian has
elements of conflicting worldviews in her belief system. Belief
in prana would make the concept of chakras (psychic centers in the body) seem much more reasonable, and from there kundalini would not be a large leap. Suddenly, she is a Christian-Hindu syncretist3 at best. Recall the words of Svatmarama cited in part one, who introduced his classic text on hatha yoga by describing it as a staircase that will enable the blind masses to ascend to the high pinnacle of raja yoga.4 One who practices yoga is participating in a system that deliberately was designed to lead participants ultimately to samadhi or union with Brahman, the Hindu deity. When dealing with a practice that is potentially idolatrous, should the Christian have the confidence that she will be able to avoid those elements? How can she be sure that she will always be able to recognize them? Won’t there be times when her guard will be down and she won’t realize what she’s getting into? Even if the Christian is confident she can avoid moving into raja yoga, does she really want by practicing yoga to send the message that yoga is OK to weaker Christians and nonbelievers? They could be drawn through practicing hatha yoga into the Eastern spirituality that underlies it, even if she is not. This, of course, would violate the principle of love that should lead a Christian to sacrifice something she herself could do without sin if it would tempt a weaker brother or sister to sin (see Rom. 14). The magazine Body and Soul expressed similar optimism that the practice of hatha yoga eventually draws the practitioner into the spiritual heart of yoga: Operating on the theory that an open body leads to an open heart, yoga starts with a renewal of the body and leads to a rejuvenation of the spirit. The three main aspects of yoga practice—postures, or poses (asanas), breath control (pranayama), and meditation—make up a gradual focusing inward, body to mind, toward stillness and serenity. According to yoga philosophy, the alteration of purely physical habits—your body awareness, the way you move and breathe—will naturally alter the way you use your mind.”5 The Spiritual Basis of Asana and Pranayama As we saw in part one, the first goal of yoga practice is to still the mind so as to free it from its captivity to the three gunas. Everything in yoga, therefore, including the postures and the breathing exercises, is calculated to “alter the way you use your mind.” The goal is to make the mind more conducive to meditation, altered states of consciousness, mystical experiences, and Eastern philosophy. According to Yoga Journal, if you are practicing hatha yoga you are already practicing meditation in its beginning stages: You may already feel a sense of peace from your yoga practice. You may feel that you’ve already attained some of the other meditation benefits described above. There’s a good reason for this: In Buddhist terms, asanas are their own type of meditation; to perform difficult postures, you have to focus awareness on your body and breath and relax into the pose. Being mindful of your body as you occupy it is a classic technique prescribed by the Buddha. In classical yoga, too, meditation and postures go hand-in-hand. “It’s actually the same thing,” says [yoga scholar Stephen] Cope. “With postures, you’re also training equanimity [composure], and you’re training the mind to become focused. You’re using the body as the object of that focus. “You’re also training awareness,” he adds. “You’re conditioning the mind to scan to see how things shift, to see the ebb and flow of energy in the subtle body. These are the same skills we’re training in meditation.”6 The postures of yoga are not religiously neutral. All of the classic asanas have spiritual significance. For example, as one journalist reports, The sun salutation, perhaps the best-known series of asanas, or postures, of hatha yoga—the type most commonly practiced in America—is literally a Hindu ritual. “Sun salutation was never a hatha yoga tradition,” said Subhas Rampersaud Tiwari, professor of yoga philosophy and meditation at Hindu University of America in Orlando, Fla. “It is a whole series of ritual appreciations to the sun, being thankful for that source of energy.” To think of it as a mere physical movement is tantamount to “saying that baptism is just an underwater exercise,” said Swami Param of the Classical Yoga Hindu Academy and Dharma Yoga Ashram in Manahawkin, N.J.7 It is likewise impossible to get involved with pranayama practice without getting involved substantially—not just indirectly—with Hinduism. Richard Rosen, author of
The Yoga of Breath: A Step-by- Step Guide to Pranayama, explains that the word pranayama combines two Sanskrit words, prana and ayama: “Prana is the universal life force, a creative power or intelligence that drives everything and everyone along. Often it’s translated as breath, but that’s an oversimplification—breath is only one of the many manifestations of prana. Ayama literally means to ‘expand and restrain.’ Pranayama is literally the expansion and restraint of the life force.”8 Rosen added that “with all our emphasis on asana, it’s easy to imagine that it’s the central practice of Hatha Yoga, but it’s not. Asana is essentially a preparation for pranayama—a means to purify and ripen the body-mind for breathing and meditation.”9 As we also saw in part one, the second goal of yoga is to control the flow of prana through the body, so as to raise the kundalini and achieve enlightenment. Pranayama is about achieving this goal: the expansion and restraint of the life force, as Rosen described it. It’s not primarily being done for health reasons, but for a spiritual purpose. Since, as Rosen puts it, “Hatha Yoga consists of two ‘wings,’ asana and pranayama,”10 it is impossible to participate legitimately in hatha yoga without getting involved with trying to manipulate this universal life force, which is really just another way of describing the Hindu conception of God (Brahman). It is true that in recent years the yoga boom has produced extremely watered-down versions of yoga that usually are taught and practiced in gyms or fitness centers rather than in yoga studios and include only asanas and not pranayama, meditation, or chanting. It is debatable whether these exercise regimens, such as Beth Shaw’s YogaFit, can truly be called yoga at all.11 The spiritual risk in participating in these forms of “yoga” may come more from the vanity of pursuing perfect abs or buns of steel than from their extremely loose and distant association with Hinduism. Some of the cautions against a Christian participating in yoga elaborated above would still apply, however, such as the tendency to psychologically identify with the world of yoga once one begins to practice it and the pressure to progress further into the discipline. Truth in Advertising: “Come Study Hinduism” As we have seen, many yoga teachers and advocates deliberately cover up the spiritual nature of yoga in order to extend its influence in secular culture, but, on the other hand, there is no shortage of yoga teachers and authorities who openly proclaim it. “’Why be covert?’” Swami Param asks. “Participants should be invited upfront to ‘come study Hinduism,’ which is what they’re doing when learning hatha yoga.”12 Sannyasin Arumugaswami, managing editor of Hinduism Today, is refreshingly frank about the subject. As reported by Knight Ridder News Service, he offers astute observations that Christian practitioners of yoga should not overlook: “Hinduism is the soul of yoga ‘based as it is on Hindu Scripture and developed by Hindu sages. Yoga opens up new and more refined states of mind, and to understand them one needs to believe in and understand the Hindu way of looking at God....A Christian trying to adapt these practices will likely disrupt their own Christian beliefs.’”13
in prana would make the concept of chakras (psychic centers in the body) seem much more reasonable, and from there kundalini would not be a large leap. Suddenly, she is a Christian-Hindu syncretist3 at best. Recall the words of Svatmarama cited in part one, who introduced his classic text on hatha yoga by describing it as a staircase that will enable the blind masses to ascend to the high pinnacle of raja yoga.4 One who practices yoga is participating in a system that deliberately was designed to lead participants ultimately to samadhi or union with Brahman, the Hindu deity. When dealing with a practice that is potentially idolatrous, should the Christian have the confidence that she will be able to avoid those elements? How can she be sure that she will always be able to recognize them? Won’t there be times when her guard will be down and she won’t realize what she’s getting into? Even if the Christian is confident she can avoid moving into raja yoga, does she really want by practicing yoga to send the message that yoga is OK to weaker Christians and nonbelievers? They could be drawn through practicing hatha yoga into the Eastern spirituality that underlies it, even if she is not. This, of course, would violate the principle of love that should lead a Christian to sacrifice something she herself could do without sin if it would tempt a weaker brother or sister to sin (see Rom. 14). The magazine Body and Soul expressed similar optimism that the practice of hatha yoga eventually draws the practitioner into the spiritual heart of yoga: Operating on the theory that an open body leads to an open heart, yoga starts with a renewal of the body and leads to a rejuvenation of the spirit. The three main aspects of yoga practice—postures, or poses (asanas), breath control (pranayama), and meditation—make up a gradual focusing inward, body to mind, toward stillness and serenity. According to yoga philosophy, the alteration of purely physical habits—your body awareness, the way you move and breathe—will naturally alter the way you use your mind.”5 The Spiritual Basis of Asana and Pranayama As we saw in part one, the first goal of yoga practice is to still the mind so as to free it from its captivity to the three gunas. Everything in yoga, therefore, including the postures and the breathing exercises, is calculated to “alter the way you use your mind.” The goal is to make the mind more conducive to meditation, altered states of consciousness, mystical experiences, and Eastern philosophy. According to Yoga Journal, if you are practicing hatha yoga you are already practicing meditation in its beginning stages: You may already feel a sense of peace from your yoga practice. You may feel that you’ve already attained some of the other meditation benefits described above. There’s a good reason for this: In Buddhist terms, asanas are their own type of meditation; to perform difficult postures, you have to focus awareness on your body and breath and relax into the pose. Being mindful of your body as you occupy it is a classic technique prescribed by the Buddha. In classical yoga, too, meditation and postures go hand-in-hand. “It’s actually the same thing,” says [yoga scholar Stephen] Cope. “With postures, you’re also training equanimity [composure], and you’re training the mind to become focused. You’re using the body as the object of that focus. “You’re also training awareness,” he adds. “You’re conditioning the mind to scan to see how things shift, to see the ebb and flow of energy in the subtle body. These are the same skills we’re training in meditation.”6 The postures of yoga are not religiously neutral. All of the classic asanas have spiritual significance. For example, as one journalist reports, The sun salutation, perhaps the best-known series of asanas, or postures, of hatha yoga—the type most commonly practiced in America—is literally a Hindu ritual. “Sun salutation was never a hatha yoga tradition,” said Subhas Rampersaud Tiwari, professor of yoga philosophy and meditation at Hindu University of America in Orlando, Fla. “It is a whole series of ritual appreciations to the sun, being thankful for that source of energy.” To think of it as a mere physical movement is tantamount to “saying that baptism is just an underwater exercise,” said Swami Param of the Classical Yoga Hindu Academy and Dharma Yoga Ashram in Manahawkin, N.J.7 It is likewise impossible to get involved with pranayama practice without getting involved substantially—not just indirectly—with Hinduism. Richard Rosen, author of
The Yoga of Breath: A Step-by- Step Guide to Pranayama, explains that the word pranayama combines two Sanskrit words, prana and ayama: “Prana is the universal life force, a creative power or intelligence that drives everything and everyone along. Often it’s translated as breath, but that’s an oversimplification—breath is only one of the many manifestations of prana. Ayama literally means to ‘expand and restrain.’ Pranayama is literally the expansion and restraint of the life force.”8 Rosen added that “with all our emphasis on asana, it’s easy to imagine that it’s the central practice of Hatha Yoga, but it’s not. Asana is essentially a preparation for pranayama—a means to purify and ripen the body-mind for breathing and meditation.”9 As we also saw in part one, the second goal of yoga is to control the flow of prana through the body, so as to raise the kundalini and achieve enlightenment. Pranayama is about achieving this goal: the expansion and restraint of the life force, as Rosen described it. It’s not primarily being done for health reasons, but for a spiritual purpose. Since, as Rosen puts it, “Hatha Yoga consists of two ‘wings,’ asana and pranayama,”10 it is impossible to participate legitimately in hatha yoga without getting involved with trying to manipulate this universal life force, which is really just another way of describing the Hindu conception of God (Brahman). It is true that in recent years the yoga boom has produced extremely watered-down versions of yoga that usually are taught and practiced in gyms or fitness centers rather than in yoga studios and include only asanas and not pranayama, meditation, or chanting. It is debatable whether these exercise regimens, such as Beth Shaw’s YogaFit, can truly be called yoga at all.11 The spiritual risk in participating in these forms of “yoga” may come more from the vanity of pursuing perfect abs or buns of steel than from their extremely loose and distant association with Hinduism. Some of the cautions against a Christian participating in yoga elaborated above would still apply, however, such as the tendency to psychologically identify with the world of yoga once one begins to practice it and the pressure to progress further into the discipline. Truth in Advertising: “Come Study Hinduism” As we have seen, many yoga teachers and advocates deliberately cover up the spiritual nature of yoga in order to extend its influence in secular culture, but, on the other hand, there is no shortage of yoga teachers and authorities who openly proclaim it. “’Why be covert?’” Swami Param asks. “Participants should be invited upfront to ‘come study Hinduism,’ which is what they’re doing when learning hatha yoga.”12 Sannyasin Arumugaswami, managing editor of Hinduism Today, is refreshingly frank about the subject. As reported by Knight Ridder News Service, he offers astute observations that Christian practitioners of yoga should not overlook: “Hinduism is the soul of yoga ‘based as it is on Hindu Scripture and developed by Hindu sages. Yoga opens up new and more refined states of mind, and to understand them one needs to believe in and understand the Hindu way of looking at God....A Christian trying to adapt these practices will likely disrupt their own Christian beliefs.’”13
CAN YOGA BE
CHRISTIANIZED? Susan
Bordenkircher, Brooke Boon, and other promoters of “Christian” yoga believe
that their approach to yoga is the exception to the rule that Arumugaswami
describes. As CRI’s research specialist in Eastern religions for over three
decades, I beg to differ. If yoga is inherently unchristian, then no effort to
Christianize it can ultimately succeed. Indeed, I noticed several elements in
Christian yoga that are properly Hindu and not Christian. For example, Boon
writes, “God calls us to be bold in our walks but reminds us that we are strengthened
most when we surrender. Manifesting that principle in our bodies through the
physical postures helps us to manifest it in our spiritual and emotional bodies
as well.”14 The idea that human beings have additional bodies besides the
physical is foreign to Christianity (the soul is not a “body”), but an
important feature in yoga as well as Western occult theory. If you doubt this,
simply type “emotional body spiritual body” into the Google search engine on
the Internet. Every result will pertain to yoga or occultism. A more troubling example of
this occurs after Boon lists the “eight steps of classical yoga” as taught by
Patanjali, with the eighth being “absorption—the realization of the essential
nature of the self.”15 She proceeds to affirm that “yoga is a system of
techniques that can be used for a number of goals, from simply managing stress
better, learning to relax, and increasing flexibility all the way to becoming
more self-aware and acquiring the deepest knowledge of one’s own self in
Christ.”16 As this series has made quite clear, knowledge of one’s true self is
the ultimate goal of classical yoga, as it is in all gnostic systems; but when
has it ever been a goal of Christian spirituality? Can Boon “baptize” this
yogic quest for self-knowledge by inserting the words “in Christ” or by adding,
as she goes on to do, “while consciously seeking a deeper relationship with the
Lord Jesus Christ”?17 Adding Christ into the equation does not make the pursuit
of self-knowledge in “Holy Yoga” any more of a Christian practice than adding
sprouts to a greasy hamburger makes it health food. Hindu influence on teachers
of Christian yoga is also evident when they transfer the yoga concept of bodymind,
which is based in pantheism, into Christianity, where it has no basis. In
classical yoga this doctrine means that the body and mind compose one
substantial entity (see part one). Because of this teaching, not only are the
postures of yoga created for the end result of mind control, but it is also
believed that the mind or soul cannot reach its potential if the body is beset
with weakness. For this reason B. K. S. Iyengar said, when asked by a reporter
about his daily five-hour yoga practice at age eighty-six, “My friend, if the
body collapses, the mind cannot hold on…I am doing with sheer will power to
maintain both body and mind.”18 Sri K. Pattabhi Jois likewise emphasizes that
it is not possible to master the first two limbs of yoga (moral restraint and religious
observance) “when the body and sense organs are weak and haunted by
obstacles.…A person must first take up daily asana practice to make the body
strong and healthy….With the body and sense organs thus stabilized, the mind
can be steady and controlled.”19 We find this same emphasis on bodymind (or
bodyspirit, as pioneering Christian yogi Nancy Roth calls it) in Christian yoga
teachings. Bordenkircher writes: As your range of motion decreases, your
ability and desire to do certain tasks will likely be affected. Your attitude
may be negatively affected. As your weight increases (as is the case for most
of us who don’t exercise), your relationships may even suffer as you struggle
with self-image and esteem. Ultimately…the pain and discomfort you may feel in
your skin can be the cause of division between you and God. How are you to
share the love of Jesus, the peace of God, and the freedom you have through
salvation if all you feel is uncomfortable and cranky? Do you exhibit freedom
in Christ if you are bound by the limitations and inabilities of your
out-of-tune body? If you represent Jesus to the world, what kind of message are
you sending: one of brokenness or one of healing?20 Bordenkircher is speaking
in terms of Christian values and so she no doubt thinks she escapes the
influences of Hinduism. What she is teaching, however, is something she likely
picked up in a yoga environment, certainly not from a contextual study of the
Bible. The Bible does teach that our bodies and souls are interdependent and
form a whole and that Christians are temples of the Holy Spirit. It does follow
from this that we need to take care of our bodies. It also is true that when
our bodies are in poor shape or health it can be more difficult to walk in the
Spirit and to serve the Lord effectively. It is not true, however, that our
moral decisions are determined by our bodily condition or that Christian
sanctification flows from, or depends on, a sound body. What Bordenkircher is
teaching can be refuted in three words: Joni Eareckson Tada. Has not God been
glorified over the past four decades as this quadriplegic woman radiates the
love, joy, and strength of Christ through the “limitations and inabilities” of
her body? Is not the glorification of God the chief end of the Christian life?
God refused to remove Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7–8),21
which many Bible scholars believe was a bodily condition (cf. Gal. 3:14–15),
for the express reason that “‘my grace is sufficient for you, for [My] power is
perfected in [your] weakness’” (2 Cor. 12:9). “Therefore,” Paul said, “I
am well content with weaknesses…for Christ’s sake, for when I am weak, then I
am strong” (v. 10). Christians are called to be spiritually victorious
regardless of the condition of their bodies, and they can do it because the
yoga doctrine of bodymind is not true. Christian-Hindu Syncretism: Improving on God’s Plan?
Bordenkircher proceeds to make her position clear: “I contend that there is no
practice like yoga for integrating the mind and body in unity.”22 Are we to
infer from this that what God provided in Scripture is inferior to what Indian
sages provided in yoga? She would no doubt reply no, but what else are we to
think when she adds that “what makes the practice unique is the correlation of
the mind with the body in order to create health on the inside as well as the
outside. To put it simply, the key is the breath. Your breath determines your
movement and at the same time acts as the catalyst for a perspective change, a
focus shift that results from the stillness and quiet. Add to this an intention
for Christ-centered worship, and you have a recipe for wholeness.”23 Boon makes
similar claims: “Yoga can be thought of as a philosophy. It’s the idea that by
bringing a union of focus between mind and body, while simultaneously making
the mind and body stronger and more flexible, we become more authentic people,
able to hear God and experience Him in previously impossible ways.”24 According
to its leading promoters, then, Christian yoga unifies the Christian’s inner
self and thus promotes spiritual growth, something Christian sanctification is
supposed to produce. If this is so, it is fair to ask why yoga originates in
Eastern religion and is absent in the Bible. Roth, Bordenkircher, and Boon are
trying to infuse Hindu concepts and disciplines with Christian meaning. By
doing so, they are unmistakably implying that Hindu religious structures are
valid, and by merging them with Christian content they not only improve on
Hinduism, but also on Christianity. This is religious syncretism, pure and
simple. The Myth of a Pristine, Pre-Hindu Yoga To argue that yoga predates
Hinduism and therefore is spiritually safe is not tenable, for the following
reasons: 1. What makes the promoters of Christian yoga think that pre-Hindu
yoga was spiritually safe? The fundamental reason why mixing Hinduism with
Christianity is objectionable is because Hinduism is a pagan religion, but so
was the Stone Age shamanism practiced in the Indus Valley 5,000 years ago. This
argument therefore makes a distinction without a difference. 2. The word “yoga”
needs to be more carefully defined, as it is being conveniently subjected to
gross equivocation. All we really know about “yoga” in India 5,000 years ago is
based on stone seals that depict figures sitting cross-legged in what is
presumed to be meditation. We cannot categorically separate this Stone Age
shamanic culture from Hinduism, since Hinduism evolved out of it and other
indigenous sources. We infer from these figures that yoga existed, but what
actually existed besides meditation? There is no evidence that raja or ashtanga
yoga, with its eight limbs, existed prior to the second century BC or
thereabouts, when Patanjali set it forth in his Yoga Sutras. The stretch
postures that Westerners tend to think define yoga do not appear until around
the fifteenth century AD in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. It is therefore
meaningless to say that yoga predated Hinduism because what we mean by “yoga”
clearly developed in a Hindu context. 3. Even if original yoga could be
demonstrated to be non-Hindu, Boon explicitly says that Holy Yoga is based on
hatha yoga and bhakti yoga,25 both of which originated in a mature Hinduism.
Boon laments that “Satan has been so effective in co-opting yoga for himself
and making Christians scared of it.”26 Oh? Does he also co-opt voodoo,
channeling, astrology, LSD, and idol worship? Some practices are inherently
idolatrous, occult, and/or spiritually dangerous. There has rarely been a
religious practice that was developed with more rigorous, systematic precision
to accomplish the goals that flow from that religion than yoga. As we saw
clearly in part one, the whole elaborate, eight-limbed practice of yoga is
designed for the purpose of quieting all thoughts so that the practitioner no
longer identifies with his (or her) temporal, phenomenal ego and consciously
can unite with his supposedly eternal, divine Self. As someone who has
experienced this in his pre-Christian past I can join my testimony to those of thousands of
others who maintain that the practice itself produces the experience of “cosmic
consciousness,” the sense of oneness with the Universe, a new openness to
spirit contact, and psychic phenomena. Altered states of consciousness are the
means through which unregenerate people have spiritual experiences, and since
these experiences are not through the mediation of Jesus Christ, from the
Christian perspective, whatever is being experienced is not the Holy Spirit.
Christians, on the other hand, are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and do not need
to go “out of their minds” to experience God. They are already in a
relationship with Him and if they draw near to Him by faith they will find that
He draws near to them (James 4:8; cf. Gal. 3:2). To argue, therefore, as Boon
does,27 that yoga is a universal practice that is no more exclusively Hindu
than prayer is exclusively Christian ignores the critical differences between
the two. It is no accident that yoga arose in one specific culture and then
spread across the world from there, whereas prayer spontaneously appears in
virtually all human cultures throughout history. Prayer is simply talking to
God or whatever “higher power” one believes in; yoga is a system of disciplines
designed by world denying (ascetic) mystics to escape maya (illusion) and
achieve gnosis (mystical knowledge of their own divinity). Is It Good to “Get
Out of Our Heads”? Boon maintains that “Holy Yoga
helps us pray by teaching us to cultivate a quiet heart and mind. As Thomas
Ryan put it, ‘It invites cerebral Western world people to “get out of their
heads.”’ This is crucial in helping us master one of the most important yet
neglected aspects of prayer—listening. We cannot hear God speaking to our
hearts if our minds are cluttered with requests, worries, and complaints.”28
Boon says, “Like all of yoga, the practice of meditation is a gift of God that
others have co-opted for their uses and to suit their own ends.…Meditation is
an exercise in contemplation. It is a silent or contemplative form of prayer in
which we focus on God, a specific attribute of God, or a passage of Scripture.
We think, pray, then allow our hearts and minds to be open to hearing God’s
voice in the silence.”29 Boon is profoundly confused on the subject of
meditation, and, unfortunately, she is spreading her confusion around. Part of
her definition of Christian meditation is correct. It is an active mental
process that involves reflecting on the attributes, works, and words of God,
but she has bent the definition to include elements of Eastern meditation. She
prescribes yogic techniques such as focusing on one’s breathing or visualizing
an idyllic scene, a picture of the cross or of Jesus, or a candle. “The idea is
to hold that visual in your mind as a point of focus to bring back your
attention when your thoughts have wandered,” she says.30 She endorses the
repetition of words as “another means of clearing the mind of distractions,
calming the body, and attempting a complete heart-mind-body connection with
God.”31 These are the exact techniques that Eastern gurus such as the late
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi of Transcendental Mediation have always taught their
disciples as a means of quieting the mind and dealing with distractions. This
merging of two utterly distinct practices is what breeds the confusion.
Christian meditation more likely would accompany Bible study than prayer. There
is indeed a place for listening in Christian devotions, but it is commonly
considered a component of prayer and is not properly called meditation. Boon is
right that at times we need to quiet our anxious thoughts and listen to God,
but this is an art that Christians have cultivated throughout church history through
the sustained practice of prayer. An Eastern discipline designed to empty the
mind of all thought is neither necessary nor helpful to Christian prayer.
Mental disciplines such as those practiced in Eastern meditation are
spiritually dangerous even when practiced by Christians—even when they are
trying to keep their minds on God, which is hard to do anyway when one is
focusing on an activity such as breathing or on an object such as a candle.
Mentally focusing on activities or objects until the very concepts of them fade
away, which is the standard objective of Eastern meditation, creates a mental
void that gives the Devil an opening to influence one’s thoughts. This is one reason why God’s
Word never instructs us to use yogic techniques to hear His voice. Again, such
mind-altering techniques are not necessary for someone in whom His Spirit
dwells. Boon’s endorsement of Eastern methods of meditation may stem from
something else she has uncritically absorbed from her background in yoga: an
exaltation of experience and intuition at the expense of Scripture and reason.
She writes that so much of God is a mystery, existing outside of anything we
can understand. People throughout history have devised ways to delve into that
mystery, to try to experience it even if they could not grasp it.
Instinctually, people have known that there are ways to experience God that
defy logic and reason. We value our minds above all else. If we can think it
and know it intellectually, then it must exist. But we have to remind ourselves
that God exists far outside this capacity to think. That’s why disciplines such
as prayer, fasting, and meditation have been developed over the centuries by
devoted Christ followers. They take us beyond what we can think into a realm of
experience that is of the heart and body and soul. These disciplines draw us
closer to God through means that are more mysterious than simply reading the
Bible or praying.32 Does much of God exist beyond our ability to understand?
Yes. Does that mean we leave our understanding behind and trust our feelings to
experience God more? No! Boon’s prose here contains a subtle denigrating of
Bible study and prayer, yet these are the most critical means we have at our
disposal to know and experience God. Unlike the God of yoga, who exists beyond
the dualities of logic and morality, the God of the Bible is rational and
volitional as well as capable of feeling. He created us in His image and He
expects us to employ all of our faculties whenever we approach Him. Boon was
right to quote Mark 12:30 at the beginning of her book, but she needs to
meditate on the fact that Jesus tells us to worship God not only with all of
our heart, soul, and strength, but also with all of our mind. Presuming to Be
Teachers I am taking Boon and Bordenkircher to task for promoting serious error
in the body of Christ, but I don’t want to convey that they are necessarily
wolves in sheep’s clothing. They both may be committed Christian women who sincerely
believe that they are bringing glory to God and doing a service to His people.
The kind of error they are perpetrating is the kind in which any Christian
could become ensnared if she (or he) launches into a ministry based on her
enthusiasm for some activity before properly submitting it to scrutiny by the
body of Christ. Boon is aware of CRI, as she quotes twice from Hank
Hanegraaff’s The Prayer of Jesus. It’s too bad she (apparently) didn’t consult
with a qualified discernment ministry before going public with Holy Yoga, and
it’s too bad that neither did Bordenkircher, or their publishers. Boon admits,
“I am not a theologian, a pastor, an elder, or even a seminary student.…I’m
still learning— about Christ as well as about yoga. I hope we can be on this
learning journey together.”33 Why then did she take a practice that is
extremely controversial and launch a public ministry promoting it just a few
years after her conversion? Since yoga is a spiritual practice, yoga teachers
naturally assume the role of guru or teacher, especially if they go beyond
teaching asanas and expound on spiritual matters, which Christian yoga teachers
do. Boone and Bordenkircher are teaching on Christian doctrine, practice, and
the spiritual life, despite Scripture’s warning, “Not many of you should
presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be
judged more strictly” (James 3:1 NIV). Not only that—they are proposing a
revolutionary approach to spirituality. As we have seen, what they call “body worship”
cannot be substantiated from Scripture. The most they can cite to back such
teaching are a few isolated teachers within church history, and that largely
from the medieval Catholic mystical period. They do not seem to realize that
much of the medieval mystical tradition, including the book Cloud of Unknowing,
on which Roth relies,34 was heavily influenced by Pseudo-Dionysius the
Areopagite, whose sixth-century A.D. writings were infused with the pantheistic
Greek philosophy known as NeoPlatonism. Much of Christian mysticism is suspect
from an evangelical, biblical perspective, yet Christian yoga authors turn to
it again and again to substantiate the Christian nature of their approach to
yoga. 9 Bordenkircher
and Boon took Roth’s interfaith experiments and the dubious sources she cites,
combined those with their own subjective experience of mixing yoga with
Christian worship and what they felt the Lord was showing them through it, and
launched an international movement. How does the body of Christ respond? In
Bordenkircher’s case, a respectable evangelical publisher, W Publishing Group,
publishes her book, and Max Lucado writes an endorsement! In the postmodern,
religiously pluralistic culture in which Christians now live, the need for
discernment is at an all-time high, yet the exercise of discernment evident in
the church seems to be at an all-time low.
The yoga boom is a
Trojan horse in which Eastern religion has infiltrated
Western secular culture largely under the pretext of a physical exercise
regime. Now firmly established, it is working to transform Western society into
a postsecular, mystical culture. Furthermore, the Christian subculture is not
off limits to the advances of yoga, and its successes on that front have also
been stunning. There are many other Eastern and occult spiritual influences
besides yoga contributing to this cultural change, but yoga is an essential
element and far and away the most influential, as the numbers of its followers
and its establishment within the institutions of secular culture indicate. Will
the West one day look like the East? No, there are too many cultural
differences for that to occur. Will it look substantially different than it did
as a secular culture and previously as a Christian culture? It already does,
and it will do so more as the yoga leaven continues to spread. So far, most
Christians have blithely sat by as this invasion has advanced, and if they have
done anything at all, it has been to raise the white flag and join the yoga
movement themselves. The Christian community needs to wake up and meet this
enormous challenge with a measured, thoughtful, and biblically consistent
response. Finding Biblically Acceptable Alternatives Despite potential negative
physical and psychological effects that were noted in part two, it can hardly
be denied that yoga has many physical benefits. It also should be acknowledged
that it can be challenging to find the same benefits through some other means.
It is not a yearning for apostasy or idolatry that has attracted many
Christians to hatha yoga; but if Christians are going to wage a successful
counteroffensive to this Hindu missionary thrust in the West, they need to
start with themselves and stop practicing yoga. This can be done without giving
up the physical benefits of stretch exercises. There is an intriguing Christian
alternative to yoga developed by former yoga teacher/New Ager Laurette Willis,
who converted to Christ in 1987. She recalls that in 2001, after working out
with a popular exercise diva, she thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if there were
a kinder, gentler form of exercise without all this jumping around…gentle
stretches and strengthening exercises, sort of like yoga, but without the Hindu
and New Age influence…?” She proceeded to conceive of “a form of exercise that
would move us physically to better health and flexibility while moving us
spiritually to praise the Lord…PraiseMoves!” (ellipses in original)35
PraiseMoves is designed to approximate all of the benefits associated with
yoga, including relaxation and reduction of stress, within a consistently
Christian context. I have thoroughly examined PraiseMoves and find nothing
spiritually dangerous about it. Its deep-breathing exercises do not resemble
any of the spiritually troubling pranayama exercises I have witnessed and
researched. Its “Walkin’ Wisdom Warmup” exercises, during which scriptural
affirmations or promises are repeated, bear no resemblance to yoga. Its postures
all have biblical themes. Some of them are similar to yoga postures (“I’ve
discovered there’s not an infinite number of ways the human body can move,”
says Willis36), while others are of her own creation, such as the twenty-two
that correspond to the Hebrew alphabet. She has not used any traditional yoga
postures or gestures that have clear-cut associations with Hinduism, such as
the “praying hands” gesture. Her concluding relaxation and meditation time
involves laying on one’s back and consciously relaxing each part of one’s body
and then meditating on one or more of the Scriptures that were recited earlier.
It does not involve the yogic meditation techniques employed in Christian yoga such as repeating
a word or focusing on an object. The participant is finally encouraged to
“fellowship with the Lord. If you have any cares, unconfessed sin, or
unforgiveness, now is a good time to get rid of them. Rest in His presence and
let Him love you.”37 The only potential snare I can foresee in PraiseMoves
would be if the Christian considered its devotional aspects to be sufficient
for, rather than supplemental to, her daily devotions. Some Christians will not
be interested in the complete physical and spiritual package that PraiseMoves
offers—they will merely be looking for good stretch exercises. Christian
Research Journal contributor Marcia Montenegro cites one such alternative to
yoga on her Web site.38 There are additional alternatives to yoga that do not
have Eastern religious or occult connections, including Pilates (when not mixed
with yoga), but I am not qualified to speak to their physical efficacy or
safety and the interested person should consult with her doctor and do her own
research. Removing Yoga from Public Institutions Getting yoga established in
the public school system has been the most strategic front in this spiritual
invasion. As we have seen, it has already achieved breathtaking success. Here’s
the problem with the defense of yoga’s presence in the public schools that the
American Yoga Association (AYA; see part two) offers: the way religion is being
defined lets Eastern pantheistic religions into the schools but keeps Western
theistic religions out. If one were to examine any college textbook on world
religions, one would find chapters on Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism included
along with Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. One would also find yoga mentioned
as a system of salvation developed within Hinduism and utilized in other Eastern
religions as well. It is the height of ignorance or else deliberate deception
for the AYA to argue that yoga is not religious because “the core of Yoga’s
philosophy is that everything is supplied from within the individual. Thus,
there is no dependence on an external figure, either in the sense of a person
or god figure, or a religious organization.”39 As we saw in part one’s
examination of the philosophy behind yoga, God is believed to be within the
individual, who alone can work out his (or her) own bad karma—it is strictly an
autosoteric (i.e., salvation by self effort) system. So, yes, he would look
within and not depend on anyone—but what is the yogi looking within and
depending on himself for? Salvation! He is seeking salvation from the wheel of
rebirth—a decidedly religious concept—and he is seeking union (remember that
yoga means union) with God. In all probability, if students were taught to use
PraiseMoves instead of yoga, similar beneficial effects would be observed and
quantified as have been with yoga. But because Praise Moves includes references
to God, Bible verses, and prayer, it would never be allowed in the public
schools. PraiseMoves’ offense would boil down to being an exoteric expression
of faith; that is, being open and honest about its religious character. Eastern
mysticism, on the other hand, is by its very nature esoteric; that is, it is
secretive about its true nature. Exoteric faiths provide creeds or statements
about God and salvation that adherents must believe and confess, whereas
esoteric faiths provide rites of initiation and methods for achieving the
mystical realization of one’s own divinity that adherents must experience.
Esoteric traditions typically employ code words so that only initiates will
recognize the religious beliefs, practices, and experiences that they
reference. Calling meditation “time in” and pranayama “bunny breathing,” as the
Yoga Ed. program is doing in schools across the country (see part two), does
not in any way eliminate the spiritual purpose and effects of these
historically religious practices—nor does any psychological, behavioral, or
physical benefits the practices may yield in addition to their spiritual
effects. Imagine if Laurette Willis or one of her certified PraiseMoves
instructors argued that the religious elements in PraiseMoves should be
overlooked due to its many beneficial physical and psychological effects on
children. That argument would be laughed out of the schools and the courtroom,
as should the same kind of argument that is now being accepted on behalf of
yoga. It seems that school administrators and teachers are taking the attitude,
“Let’s just eliminate obvious religious trappings and overlook anything deeper
because—look at all the good it’s doing!” The only reason they are getting away
with this
inconsistent application of logic and the law is that the matter has not been
pressed hard and persuasively enough. Removing yoga from public schools is
possible. For example, in early 1982 five concerned parents from the ABC School
District in Cerritos, California, enlisted my help in their effort to convince
the school board to reverse its decision to allow yoga to be incorporated into
the school curriculum. The parents did their homework and made a compelling
case to the board, and I added my expert testimony. In response, according to
the Long Beach Press Telegram, “School Board President Homer Lewis said the
program ‘bordered on a thin line’ between exercise and religion. He also said
that since the district has taken such a strong stand on separation of church
and state with reference to Western religions, it should ‘also take great pains
to exclude religions other than those common in this country.’”40 The board
voted four to two to kill the program. It was satisfying to win that battle,
but it is hollow consolation now, as I see that we are losing the war.
Government is not only “establishing” yoga in the schools, but it is beginning
to do so in other public institutions as well, such as the military,41
prisons,42 and the criminal court system.43 Yet the arguments that prevailed
with the ABC School District board remain just as sound today. We need a
comprehensive and consistent definition of religion for use in the public arena.
To achieve this we also need an army of concerned, conscientious, and committed
citizens who will press this matter from the school boards and other public
institutions all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. With its present
composition, the Supreme Court is probably more disposed to listen to reason on
this matter than it has been for a long time, but that could change as current
justices retire and are replaced. Now is the time to act. As for mandatory yoga
in the work place, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would be a
particularly useful basis for a Christian’s objection. The Equal Employment
Opportunities Commission clarifies that the law prohibits employers from
discriminating against individuals because of their religion in hiring, firing,
and other terms and conditions of employment.… Mandatory
“new age” training programs, designed to improve employee motivation,
cooperation or productivity through meditation, yoga, biofeedback or other
practices, may conflict with the non-discriminatory provisions of Title VII.
Employers must accommodate any employee who gives notice that these programs
are inconsistent with the employee’s religious beliefs, whether or not the
employer believes there is a religious basis for the employee’s objection.44 A
nightmare scenario for Christians in any culture would be to see expressions of
their own faith prohibited in public venues while equivalent expressions of
other faiths not only are permitted but required. While that nightmare scenario
is a reality in large portions of the world (e.g., many of the Arab nations),
and is beginning to unfold even in some of the other Western “Christian”
nations,45 in America the number of Christians is large enough, and the legal
foundations for religious freedom are firm enough, that it is possible to turn
such a trend around. This is why the time is now for Christians to snap out of
their complacency and work together to present a comprehensive Christian
response. If Christians themselves succumb to the seductive temptation of yoga,
then the crisis we court might not be persecution but rather subversion. The
biblical reasons for saying no to yoga were forgotten long ago by the Western
world at large. May the tragic day never arrive when it could also be said that
they were forgotten by the church.
NOTES 1. Yoga Academy, “Hatha Yoga, Pregnancy and
Restorative,” http://www.yoga.co.nz/ hatha.asp.
2. Fernando Pagés
Ruiz, “Spiritual Support Group,” Yoga Journal, May/June 2003, 167. 3. Religious
syncretists fuse elements of differing systems of religious belief and practice
into a single (arguably inconsistent) system of belief and practice.
4. Svatmarama, The
Hatha Yoga Pradipika, The Sacred Books of the Hindus, ed. Major Basu, I.M.S.
(retired) (Bahadurganj, Allahabad: Sudhindranatah Vasu, 1915), http://www.geocities.com/kriyadc/hatha_yoga_pradipika_chapter1.html.
5. Mark Forstater
and Jo Manuel, “Beyond the Body,” Body and Soul, September/October 2002, 34.
6. Alan Reder,
“Take a Seat: If You’re Not Meditating, Are You Really Doing Yoga?” Yoga
Journal, January/February 2001, 111 (http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/143?page=5).
7. Dru Sefton, “Is
Yoga Debased by Secular Practice?” Newhouse News, July 15, 2005, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/freligion/1445950/posts.
8. Phil Catalfo,
“Pranayama: The Other Yoga Practice: An Interview with Richard Rosen,” a “New
Title” promotion for The Yoga of Breath by Richard Rosen, found in 2002 but no
longer accessible at the Shambhala Publications Web site. Hard copy on file.
9. Ibid. 10. Ibid.
11. See Paul
Tullis, “Ev’rybody’s Doin’ a Brand New Pose Now, C’mon Baby, Do the Yoga
Motion” (cover title: “When Do You Stop Calling It Yoga?”), Los Angeles Times
Magazine, September 21, 2003, 10–14.
12. Sefton.
13. Quoted in
Darryl E. Owens, “A New Wave of Christian Yoga,” Knight Ridder News Service,
June 1, 2006, http://www.religionnewsblog.com/14838/a-new-wave-of-christian-yoga.
14. Brooke Boon,
Holy Yoga: Exercise for the Christian Body and Soul (New York: Faith Words,
2007), 117.
15. Ibid., 7.
16. Ibid., 8.
17. Ibid.
18. Hilary De
Vries, “Yoga’s Great Teacher Draws Crowds on Final U.S. Tour,” New York Times,
October 13, 2005, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/13/arts/13yoga.html.
19. Quoted in
“Ashtanga Yoga Background,” S.F.A. Yoga, http://www.sfayoga.com/.
20. Susan
Bordenkircher, Yoga for Christians (Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2006), 2.
21. All Bible quotations are from the New American Standard Bible except where
otherwise noted.
22. Bordenkircher,
2.
23. Ibid., 2–3.
24. Boon, 8–9.
25. Ibid., 8.
26. Ibid., 36.
27. Ibid., 32.
28. Ibid., 19.
29. Ibid., 85.
30. Ibid., 89.
31. Ibid., 28.
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid., xii.
34. Nancy Roth, An
Invitation to Christian Yoga (New York: Seabury Books, 1989), 67. 35. Laurette
Willis, Basic Steps to Godly Fitness: Strengthening Your Body and Soul in
Christ (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2005), 147–48.
36. Laurette
Willis, “Why a Christian Alternative to Yoga?” http://www.praisemoves.com/
ChristianAlternative.htm.
37. Willis, Basic
Steps, 167.
38. Marcia
Montenegro, “Yoga: Yokes, Snakes, and Gods,” CANA: Christian Answers for the
New Age, http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_Yoga.html.
39. American Yoga
Association, “Yoga and Religion,” General Yoga Information, AYA, http://www.americanyogaassociation.org/general.html#YogaandReligion.
40. Toni Cordero,
“Yoga Ruled ‘Too Religious’ for ABC Schools,” Long Beach Press Telegram,
February 18, 1982, A1.
41. See, e.g.,
Sharon Steffensen, “The Healing Effect of Yoga on PTSD,” http:// www.yogachicago.com/mar07/yoganidra.shtml.
42. See, e.g.,
Elizabeth Duncombe, “Training Resouces [sic]: A Guidebook for Teaching in
Prisons,” International Association of Yoga Therapists,
http://www.iayt.org/publications/ ytip/sep05/duncombe.htm.
43. See Andrew
Tilghman, “Man Ordered to Take Yoga Class as Part of Probation,” Houston
Chronicle, January 21, 2004, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1062562/posts.
44. “Facts about
Religious Discrimination,” The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-relig.html.
45. See, e.g., the
latter two of four examples offered on p. 14 of Joe Dallas, “Speaking of
Homosexuality: A Christian Response to the Arguments of the Gay Rights
Movement,” Christian Research Journal 29, 6 (2006).