The Cracked Acorn: Yoga

You are experiencing lots of stress in your life. The pluses are not balancing out the minuses. An alternative doctor suggests that a yoga class could help you past this difficult time. Friends are already involved in a yoga program and think this is the “high” that brings happiness and completeness with yourself. I would have thought like this until a few weeks ago. A radio talk show asked a woman why she did not believe in or take yoga. She replied that it was not for the Christian and would never let her children become involved with yoga. (Why would a Christian not want to derive the supposed health benefits from yoga?)

Everyone is probably acquainted with Yoga; it has been around for ages. Yoga is a form of religion and its roots are in Hinduism. It is a means of relaxation and is a form of exercise that promotes physical fitness. It is being taught in schools, nursing homes and city recreation programs. It started in India during the Age of Gold, over 26,000 years ago.

Today, you can find yoga in denominational churches that offer many activities outside worship to the young and the old. Used this way, it is often referred to as “Christian Yoga” which is an oxymoron that cannot be true any more than being a “Christian Buddhist.” There are several eastern mystical influences in our society today; yoga is one! It has gained strength and captured the attention of over 18 million in the USA. According to internet sources, yoga is treated like a sports activity. This means that there is a market for clothes,time and place for these exercises. Who would go without the proper yoga pants,shorts, tops, shoes and jacket. Here again is the present trend to be identified through dress,especially if it tells everyone that you believe in the popular fad of spiritual relaxation exercises

The word Yoga means “union” or “yoke” and has deeply entrenched its teaching into the New Age Movement that emphasizes “self.” If we fill ourselves with “self” what is left? “Do not be yoked with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” II Corinthians 6:14; Matthew 11:29 Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Here it would indicate that there is to be only one yoke and that is the one given to us by Christ. Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.” This would go for a Hindu god. The Old Testament still stands for the truth about God and that He is a jealous God. The New Age people are over looking these facts. They are saying that “now is the time to bring relaxation and meditation techniques into the church to help revive a strain of spirituality that has been filtered out of Christianity over the years. This will lead to a healthier congregation.” (from Yoga Stretches Traditional Christian Boundaries)

The bottom line is that we would all agree that there is nothing wrong with exercise and attainting good posture. The method and the activities should be Christian guided and based on the Bible. Be careful that the “it is no longer I that lives but Christ lives in me,” and is perverted through New Age thinking to become “it is no longer Christ that lives but I live in me.”