Can Christians 'Reclaim Yoga For Christ'? Or Is Yoga Inherently Hindu?

[Guest guest]

[MY COMMENT: I think most of you can guess my answer to the title

question. ;-) But I wanted to share the article because I think it's

important (a) to know that these "reclamation attempts" (whatever

that means) are being made, and (b) to consider what their

implications (if any) might be. The best thing about this article,

for me, is the terse and utterly accurate statement of Sannyasin

Arumagaswami a few grafs down. I have to agree with him: Statements

like the Christian author's assertion that so-called "Christian

yoga ... shift(s) the focus from self to God" are, at bottom,

distinctions without a difference, and show a lack of understanding

of (and an indifference, and certainly an insensitivity to) the

quintessentially Hindu worldview that lies at the heart of the

practice. I would be interested to hear what other SS members have to

say on the matter! Thanks for reading ... - DB]

 

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ORLANDO, Florida USA (May 15, 2006): In her new book, "Yoga for

Christians," Susan Bordenkircher, a certified group fitness

instructor and a devout Methodist, argues Christians should change

their posture and stretch their concept of worship to embrace yoga.

 

Long controversial in some Christian circles, yoga is fast gaining

adherents through the new wave of "Christian yoga" across the nation.

 

"What we are attempting to do with a Christ-centered practice is fill

the heart and mind with God, becoming 'single-minded' as Scripture

calls it," Bordenkircher says.

 

"With our focus off ourselves and on God, we are creating an

atmosphere in which God can work."

 

Regardless of the spin, Sannyasin Arumugaswami, managing editor of

Hinduism Today, says 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."

 

That yoga would compromise her Christian worldview worried

Bordenkircher when she first explored yoga, but she fast fell in love

with the practice.

 

"My goal has been to demystify the practice and reclaim it for Christ

as just another way he can begin to heal us from the inside out," she

says.

 

Critics contend that with yoga something else is at work. In 2003,

the Roman Catholic Church reaffirmed its stance against Eastern

practices such as yoga, which it had condemned in 1989, warning that

yoga "can degenerate into a cult of the body."

 

Bordenkircher, however, doesn't shrink from the yogic label, noting

that "Christ-centered yoga is definitely not just a repackaging of

traditional yoga. Yes, the postures are the same, the breathing the

same, etcetera, because it is yoga."

 

The difference, she says, lies in the intention: shifting the focus

from self to God with yogic postures ("breathing in" the Holy Spirit,

for instance), integrating health as critical to effective godly

service, and slowing down enough "from our fast-paced lives to

actually hear God's voice."

 

SOURCE: The Post and Courier, Charleston, South Carolina USA

URL (for full story; the above is an excerpt):

http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=87464&section=science

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

And how is this different from Indian yoga???

 

>The difference, she says, lies in the intention: shifting the focus

>from self to God with yogic postures ("breathing in" the Holy Spirit,

>for instance), integrating health as critical to effective godly

>service, and slowing down enough "from our fast-paced lives to

>actually hear God's voice."

 

--

Max Dashu

Suppressed Histories Archives

Women in Global Perspective

http://www.suppressedhistories.net

 

New poster: Our Reproductive Rights!

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