Is it good for Christians to practice Yoga?

Question:

What do you think about yoga? Is this a good practice for the body? I often had proposals to try to practice yoga, but I hesitated … Will it be pleasing God?

Yoga draws its origins from the religious practices of Hinduism and later it was also taken over in Buddhism, Jainism and even Sufism of Islam practices it in some forms.

The term “yoga” in Sanskrit means “control”, “abstinence” or “unity.”Yoga is one of the six basic schools of Hinduism, and is a complex system based on transcendental meditation. Meditation is nothing but the concentration of one’s thinking and it is not bad up to a certain level.Moreover, all of us need to focus our thinking on certain tasks, either at work or at home or when we study the Scriptures or pray.The problem with Yoga meditation is that it is transcendental, that means it is a meditation through which one concentrates his thinking to divinity, to what exceeds the limits of creation. And if it does not worship the true God, then this meditation becomes idolatry, when people create idols for themselves in their mind or take them from other people, or religious systems, etc. When I was in Nepal where Hinduism is the religion of the majority, from what I was told, I was counting that for every citizen of the country were 15 gods, or idols. And the most widespread idols are meditating in yoga position …

The branch of Yoga, that is widespread in the western world is Hatha Yoga and it is based on breathing exercises, asanas (i.e those different positions) and transcendental meditation.Although most people are passionate about physical exercises in Yoga, there is a great danger of slipping down the slope of transcendental meditation which in essence is to worship idols.

I recommend in this regard to get the book of Rabi Maharaj “The death of a Guru”.

Translated by Felicia Rotaru