can yoga be dangerous? some think so

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Rediff.com News Can yoga be dangerous? Some think so

Can yoga be dangerous? Some think so

Last updated on: April 8, 2011 02:46 IST

Yoga's connection with Hinduism is a cause of worry for some, finds Arthur J Pais

"Be still and know that I am God," is the mantra Susan Bordenkircher, who has taught classes

ranging from step and kick boxing to body sculpting, uses while teaching Christian yoga.

Used by hundreds of instructors across America, Christian yoga combines the classic yoga

postures with Christian meditation.

Alabama-based Bordenkircher was not happy with traditional yoga because she knew it was

connected with Hinduism, especially the chanting of Om. She then developed a regime of hatha

yogastretches and poses with Christian meditations. Her students "quiet the mind," she says,

and "come to God with no baggage."

Author of Yoga for Christians, her classes are "taught in an environment that's Christ-centered",

she has often said.

Christian yoga incorporates readings from the Bible, especially from the New Testament,

Christian praise music, and a narrative that is Christ-centered. At the Breath of Life Christian

yoga class, the instructor tells the students to "Open to His grace. Surrender your heart to The

King".

Yahweh Yoga, based out of Chandler, Arizona, has taken the concept of bhakti yoga and

reshaped it by implementing Christian beliefs. It offers certifications to yoga instructors

nationwide in the practice of Christian yoga. There is no Sanskrit chanting here but Christian

music and prayers.

Its mission statement reads, "Yahweh Yoga is passionate about growing, educating and

enabling individuals to improve their physical, mental and emotional health while deepening

their relationship with God."

Danna West, a member of First Methodist Church in Canyon, was quoted as saying in an

interview that yoga 'is a methodology, not a religion. My classes start off with a scripture

reading, and we listen to Christian music. It is very Christ-centered.'

West said Christians can take their faith with them to focus on in any yoga class, Christian-

based or not. "It's what you take with you to the mat," she added.

Christian yoga has been spreading. Last year, many churches in the southern Gulf states

offered Christian yoga to offset the tension and worries caused by the massive oil spill.

But if Christian yoga is so different from traditional yoga, why should it still be called yoga, a

reporter for Christian Broadcasting Newsasked.

"I really think this has the opportunity to be an outreach tool to people to have it in a positive

mode, and a Christian mode, as related to the other. And if we take 'yoga' off it, they won't even

come because that's what they may be looking for," said Randy Wooden, pastor of Kingdom

Life Ministries in Chesapeake, Virginia.


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Lorie Johnson, who has been studying the Christian yoga phenomenon, writes that within the

Christian community there are those who have no problem with the Hindu influence on yoga or

the influence of Eastern religions on the martial arts.

"Then there are those who believe there's simply no problem if you change the focus to be on

Jesus," Johnson writes. "Still, a third group believes it is impossible to separate the Eastern

religions from yoga and/or the martial arts."

The term Christian yoga is an oxymoron, says Laurette Willis, who was introduced to yoga as a

child and practiced it for over two decades before turning to Christianity 23 years ago. Now, she

tours the United States, speaking of "the dangers of yoga", asserting that yoga is a "missionary

arm of Hinduism".

"We don't often think of other religions having missionaries," Willis writes on her website, "but

the philosophy and practice of yoga have been primary tools of Hindu 'missionaries' to America

since 'Indian priest and mystic' Swami Vivekananda introduced yoga to the West at the 1893

World's Fair in Chicago."

She has developed her own exercise regime called PraiseMoves with movements

accompanying to Christian chants.

"Yoga's breathing techniques may seem stress-relieving, yet they can be an open door to the

psychic realms," she warns on her website, and quotes the one of founding theologians of the

Christian faith, St Paul, who referred to Satan, "the prince of the power of the air."

In an interview with Today's Christian Womanmagazine, Willis asserted that surrendering to the

'group mind' in yoga classes could lead to students being oppressed by demonic spirits such as

depression, and fear. She says about 10 years ago, she began praying for an idea for a

Christian alternative to yoga, and "the Lord led her to create PraiseMoves".

She burned her New Age books including the ones on yoga and did not want to think of yoga

for a long time. But in 2001, she suddenly thought, "What if there was an alternative to yoga that

provided exercise while spiritually moving Christians to praise the Lord? Hence, PraiseMoves."

"I am careful to tell people it's not Christian yoga," she writes. 'What would you say about the

woman who says she's a 'Christian Buddhist?' Wouldn't you think she's bit confused?"

"Christian yoga" is an example of syncretism (an attempt to blend conflicting beliefs, religions or

philosophies). Actually, PraiseMoves is a Christ-centered alternative to the practice of yoga,"

Willis writes.

An in-demand motivational speaker, she admits that some of the postures in her exercise

programme resemble yoga postures.

"These are just good, healthy stretches," she said in a talk. "Each posture in PraiseMoves is

named for something in the Bible and has scripture with it that we meditate upon while doing the

posture."

In her videos and classes, there is constant reminder of the Bible with every movement. For

instance, when her legs are straight, and arms extended to the side, you think of a familiar

posture in Jesus's life. Jesus said, she will remind her students quoting from St Mark's Gospel,

"Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."


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Willis, and her husband Paul -- who she says was a New Ager like her but is now a born again

Christian -- live on a 40-acre ranch in the Ozark foothills of northeastern Oklahoma.

She has taken her anti-yoga crusade to more than 50 conservative schools and universities,

and says over 500,000 students have listened to her. She says she found no salvation in yoga

and other Eastern spiritualities.

can yoga be dangerous? some think so

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