Does yoga cause demonic possession? That would explain the The Exorcist, which, little-known fact, features an obscure asana called the ‘spinning wheel.’ Beware that Hindoo voodoo (thanks, RC):
“… [yoga is] aimed at transforming human consciousness to experience the Hindu god, which is a false god.” … She also… instructed her students in astral projection, or “stepping outside” of the body, which Laurette says poses a serious spiritual danger. “If there’s nothing in your mind, you’re open to all kinds of deception… I wondered who–or what–came into my body when I ‘stepped out.’ “
Next up: PraiseFu, drunken master style:
She’s developed a prominent presence on the Internet, largely due to her new exercise program, PraiseMoves, which she calls “a Christian alternative to yoga.”
My name is Laurette and I’m a recovering New Ager. This is like abstinence videos from the 1950s:
… her family never suspected this seemingly innocent exercise would open the door to a New Age lifestyle that would affect Laurette for the next 22 years… As an adult, Laurette immersed herself in every New Age and metaphysical practice she came across: chanting, crystals, tarot cards, psychics, channeling spirits.
Let The Eagle soar:
There’s “The Eagle” stretch, where the arms are pulled back to resemble a bird in flight. While students hold this stretch, Laurette reads Isaiah 40:31: “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles”…
Yes, let’s eliminate all New Age fuzzy-mindedness by concluding that the Holy Spirit is a gym teacher:
When investigating a Christian yoga class, be on the lookout for:Sanskrit language. Many words commonly used in yoga pay homage to Hindu deities…
Feelings of discomfort… this may be the Holy Spirit’s way of letting you know the class isn’t for you.
Did you know that when Hindus say whazzup, they’re actually trying to convert you?
… the word “namaste,” often said at the close of yoga classes, means, “I bow to the god within you.”
Oh dear, WWJD with his cool yoga pants? Nobody said salvation was easy, babe.
It’s a hard decision for those who’ve invested many years and many dollars into the practice…. ‘But I’ve already paid for these yoga classes,’ or ‘But I just bought these cool yoga pants and a yoga DVD…’
So, after learning a bad ripoff of a practice intertwined with religion, it took 22 years for Laurette to figure out that the religion is Hinduism. That’s as good an indictment of New Age as I’ve ever heard:
… be on the lookout for… [m]etaphysical jargon. Phrases such as “breathing in positive energy and breathing out negative energy,” “focusing on the third eye,” and “getting in touch with the divinity within you” have New Age implications… After giving her life to God, Laurette… burned her New Age books…
You go, girl. In all seriousness, she gives one of the most lucid theological breakdowns I’ve ever heard:
“… if there’s no sin, then you don’t need a Savior.”
Stay back, succubus, with the yoga mat and tights! I’ve found my calling. Because when I think of the Old Testament, the first word that comes to mind is ‘flexible.’
Anyhow, forget emptying your mind, beware emptying your wallet. Laurette is now selling what are essentially, uh, yoga videos. Having seen the light, I’m going to sell Hindu versions of these funky eight-armed candlesticks.
As the article says: “Beware being told to empty your mind or to step outside your body.” Hilarious stuff.
Im a christian and i dont think stretching and breathing and saying thankyou is blasphemy. I mean, Im aware that cults often have hidden meaning that the participants may not be aware of, but I figure if the exercise came from India and namaste is a greeting of respect than saying it isnt going to invite in evil. Some christians are so afraid of other cultures, just like other cultures are so afraid of Jesus. God seared the knowledge of good and evil in all our souls so if your heart is pure then stop worrying about the details. My personal choice is to thank Jesus, and if I want to say praise Jesus instead of Namaste I will but Im not going to live in fear of the word Namaste. Really.
When I went to India last Christmas, I was amazed at the number of Indian Muslims who have taken up Yoga there and they were almost fanatical in defending the benefits which come out from Yoga. In the new India with dozens of cable channels, there is atleast one channel which constantly ( or almost all day) airs Yoga from some ‘rishi’ or ‘baba’. It was almost comical seeing ultra religious Muslims, getting down on their mats in the morning and practicing Yoga exactly the way the ‘baba’ instructor on tv guided them. (instuctor being an ostensibly orthodox Hindu) It seems to me that atleast in India, people have now stopped relating Yoga to a religious Hindu practice.
The people who have a problem with it are those who believe that there is a Hindu God which is wrong and different from the Christian God.
The people who don’t have a problem with it are those who have the common sense to realize that there is only one God who we tend to give different names and approach in different ways.
This stuff just makes me feel sick, Christian Yoga? WTF?!?!? So they want all the benefits from the practice yet none of the true inner essence of it.
And to think that I used to like reading Christianity Today, due to their penchant to be non-fundamentalist and include articles that make sense to anyone who calls themselves Christian. I guess that was Christianity Yesterday.
This comes out of an evangelical/fundamentalist “Christ against culture” brand of Christianity that sees Christians (and grudgingly, Jews) as worshiping the same God, but everyone else worships demons who say they are God instead. It’s a theology I once followed, but couldn’t continue believing with integrity. The ideal goal is to only read Christian books, watch Christian TV, listen to Christian music, socialize with other Christians (unless they are witnessing), and apparently… do Christian yoga. But don’t call it that!
Don’t think this article reflects the entirety of Christianity, of course. Many traditions believe in meditation as a tool to clear the mind of mundane thoughts and worries and to let God in. They don’t believe it’s “mind numbing” at all. In fact, this is the first time in years that I’ve heard that argument against meditation – “keep your mind busy or demons will get in.”
And of course they don’t want the ‘inner essence’ of it, because they believe that it comes from demons/satan/the enemy and not from God. Just a little bit of dualism that Christianity picked up from Zoroastrianism back in the day.
The whole thing makes a lot more sense to me if I substitute the word “TV” for “yoga”, and “American” for “Hindu”. Try it.
“… [TV is] aimed at transforming human consciousness to experience the American god, which is a false god.”
or
Many words commonly used on TV pay homage to American deitiesÂ…
or
TV wants to get students to the point of complete numbness in their minds.
True that.
But does Praise Moves combine the grace of ballet, the balance of yoga, and the thunderosity of my booty ?
Dunno. How thunderous is your booty?
AM…Islam in India is thorougly enmeshed in Indian culture. Fundamentalists like to create neat little boxes which clearly define religion but its false…religious experience doesn’t really work that way. Look at the Chistis and sufis and whatnot. Islam in India has elements from its surroundings just like Christianity in India does. There is nothing un-Muslim about practicing yoga because learned Muslims have done it for centuries.
From the article:
Translation: I was depressed, drunk, and no man would like me. They all say,”You’re tooo far out”
More:
Translation: Well, if no one likes me, I guess the Lord WILL! Now, I have a purpose and KNOW someone likes me, loves me, and looks after me. If God will love me, why won’t any sane man? Hummm, lemme try that Nazi trick of burning books and stuff. Since I have been tainted by this unbelievers ideas, only way to cleanse the soul would be burning these books.
I have transformed myself. I am a better woman and must crusade to protect every unsuspecting Christian woman out there in the clutches of such sinful ideas.
Conclusion: This lady is bat shit crazy.
Wow!!
Looks like the (christian) Lord is out to reclaim what was his with a vengeance!!! (sorry for this unseemly-for-a-Hindu comment, but I just had to)
Again this whole thing about worshipping false Gods. When will people stop judging others like that? And to attack core beliefs of others? Who asked this woman to ‘follow Hinduism’ or Yoga? And her ignorance is somehow Hinduism’s fault? Oh yeah, and lets not bow to any divinity in anyone, since a)how dare we bow to anyone but the Saviour b)there’s no divinity in anything but ‘the’ Saviour and c)if we think stuff outside the Saviour has any divinity that would surely be a sign of the devil!
Sheesh! I wish Christianity provided a better framework for people to go ahead with their ‘original’ analysis to the confronting worldview.
And I’d like to check out her ‘certifications’. Can you do Yoga in English, and quote from the Bible?
There’s an error in Andrea’s comment: This article wasn’t published in Christianity Today; but in Today’s Christian Woman magazine.
I grew up in heavily Christian area, I even went to Catholic school (not unusual for Sikh kids to do so for the education). I distinctly remember that in my public middle school (ie grades 6-9) the PE dept. suspended yoga due to protesting evangelical parents. In protest of this, I took the video and did my own lesson in a corner of the gym. I had to show solidarity to and for culture (even if it was watered down yoga). In high school, where religion was a constant topic, I had the privelege of debunking many myths on the orientalism that many Christians tend to practice when viewing Indian religions. I actually snorted when my enlish teacher proclaimed: “we’ll be studying transcendentalism. Not Indian transcendentalism which only consists of meditating”. This was senior year and thus in the obligatory “thank you” letter I wrote for my most memorable of teachers, I gave Dr. Rhody a list of what Emerson lifted directly out of Hinduism (Oversoul=brahman, circles of connection=karma). He appreciated my candor and bravery enough to request my email to correspond with me. I will never forget what it was like defending my culture, breaking stereotypes and just plain being indignant. The best part was when my “world religions” teacher said: “in Hinduism, everything is divine! You, Kyle, are divine. Your toe nail is divine!” (to be fair, he was trying to relay the idea of monism). I definitely let him have it for that one. Ah, Orientalism. As for yoga, most people do not know the origin of the practice or what it means to Hindus. The sort of culture that prevaded the mainstream in the 60s definitely hijacked Hinduism and molded it into a confusing array of polytheism and idolatry (Indiana Jones, anyone?) What exactly happened to this lady does require some criticism of what Hinduism has become, through the past few decades, to represent. We need to acknowledge that there was something wrong with the idiots who decided that Hinduism was synonymous with drugs, sex and the opposition of Christianity. This is not Hinduism’s fault. It’s the brainwashing of fourty odd years that’s really helped Christians demonize and blame a religion for the problems of the “cultural revolution”. bah, indophiles.
Agnieszka: Today’s Christian Woman is a subsection of Christianity Today… the link is on http://www.christianitytoday.com
Manpriya: I really enjoyed what you had to say. I’ve always been very skeptical of new-age beliefs because they do just what you say: pick and choose from various religions what they like best (particularly Hinduism) to make a self-congratulatory spirituality that doesn’t actually require any self improvement or sacrifice.
There is something to be said for traditions lasting thousands of years. That in itself is not enough to justify anything (or degrade newer thoughts and beliefs), but it does show that belief systems IN THEIR ENTIRETY that have survived through the ages have something wise and lasting about them.
The tagline on my blog translates roughly to “context is more important than concept” … a motto I live by. You can’t just cut an Idea out of its context like you would with the KnockOut plugin for Photoshop. You always get these little white pixels around the edges of said Idea that remind you constantly that you are missing out on something.
Today’s Christian Woman is owned by CTI, which also owns Christianity Today. There was no editorial collaboration on this article between the two mags. I know because I’m an associate editor of CT. I also do yoga. More about that tomorrow at http://www.christianitytoday.com.
Manpriya, Where did you go to school, if you don’t mind my asking? I too went to a catholic school, in India, in a region where christians were a minority, I never came across any such agitation. I remember we used to have a ‘moral science’ period where catholics (and perhaps other Christians) would go to a chapel which was on the premises. The rest – about 80-90% of the class would be taught by a Father on spiritual but non-denominational topics. Quite a few of the fathers were white europeans, who I remember as steller human beings. Only during my last few years there we all began to see new ‘brothers’ from tribal areas, and I began to believe the long-standing allegations of the school channeling proceeds to pushing Christianity in interior lands.
My school years were passed in an ignorant bliss of the religious friction and conflict. I don’t know how would I have reacted to such protests or disparaging ignorance of my teachers. Probably my kid won’t enjoy such ease in the school as she’s likely to have to fend of soft and hard attacks on her beliefs throughout.
This phenomenon of appropriating Indic traditions while at the same time demonizing the original source as “primitive”, “superstitious”, “anti-progress” has been going on for some time now. For instance, Carl Jung got many of his ideas (particularly “sub-conscious”, “archetypes”) from Yogic texts. After initially acknowledging Indic sources, he later distanced himself from them and went on to caution Europeans from practising yoga!
See Rajiv Malhotra’s articles (esp http://sulekha.com/expressions/column.asp?cid=218625) for more on this topic. You can also read more on this at yogapsychology egroups (you will have to search the archives)
Congrats on maintaining such a nice blog!
Yoga is the most refreshing thing I have ever done.
Here is a copy of an email I sent to the magazine:
I would like to write about how disgusted I am about your portrayal of yoga in this article. Guess what, you don’t like yoga? Don’t do it! There is no need to go bashing Hinduism using terms like “false” gods. If a person did not know that Yoga was Hinduism that is their fault. It only reflects their ignorance that they did not find out the background of the activity they were choosing to pursue. Hinduism is the most peaceful religon on this earth. You consider us to be barabarians and false? At least we didnt ravage the world by keeping slaves and slaughtering people for the past 2000 years.
By the way, many aspects of what you consider “daily life” are actually from Hinduism. Did you know that algebra, trigonometry, and differential calculus are all from Hinduism? Yes, the very same mathematics that are taught in US and European high schools. The decimal number system originated in India. The number 0 is from India. The term infinity is from India. The value of pi ( 3.1415) is from India. The ancient Hindu language of Sanskrit is the origin for Latin. The word pajama is an Indian word.
I am quite sure that either you or a family member has used one of these things in the past. You are in essence following Hinduism even if you don’t wish to admit it. Please use a little more restraint in expressing your views instead of bashing others who don’t necessarily agree with you.
“Did you know that algebra……all from Hinduism”
Some corrections:
Algebra, Algorithm (starting from “al”) are from Islam/ Arab.
Calculus – concepts were developed in many places at different times, including India. From Archimedes to Japan to Newton. Same with zero.
Hinduism has a great tradition in science, especially in astronomy and mathematics but let us not take sole authorship of everything.
I’ve been interested, but trying to be neutral, as one teetering on the edge on this issue. I find the discussion on this post, and also on that earlier one ( http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/001561.html ) to be quite informative. I wanted to continue the discussion with the question reframed just a bit. I would like to encourage you to consider visiting a post I wrote recently about this subject ( http://www.andrewsw.com/news/?p=1094 ) and offer comments ( and rants are welcome ). This is just an issue that I really want to have a diversity of views represented on, and to that end, I’m actively soliciting your comments – even if they just be repeats of what is here.
[ too went to a catholic school, in India]
that is actually the case of most indians in india, they go to christian schools ( a legacy of the belief thats nuns make excellent teachers) and do not feel their own beliefs the least bit threatened by the teachers or environment.
the christian/muslim/jain/sikh/buddhist population are ALL very indian. we have all adopted aspects of hinduism as our own. like the mangalsutra/thali or belief in astrology, and a lot of people of other religions are those who have converted from hinduism. they have all been accepted becuz hinduism is in essence an EXTREMELY tolerant religion. all the christian denominations in india acknowledge that, and are far more liberal than the western ones. they do not EVER say that other religions are sinful.
i remember hearing james dobson during justice sunday call india the most religious country in the world. how very far our definition of religious is from his. most folks i know in india dont even think about religious differences other than for marriage (a tradition that is not at all a slight towards other religions) that is also slowly, but surely breaking down.
[The sort of culture that prevaded the mainstream in the 60s definitely hijacked Hinduism and molded it into a confusing array of polytheism and idolatry (Indiana Jones, anyone?)… a self-congratulatory spirituality that doesn’t actually require any self improvement or sacrifice.]
i completely agree. this is my fear of desi culture going mainstream. the idea the shallow, laguna beach-watching white girls i now will go around wearing dupattas and bindis without truly understanding or appreciating our culture. it has, to a certain extent, already begun happening. while i know there are wonderful gori girls who understand and respect what they are doing/wearing, the majority have no idea. that scares me to no extent.
when someone insults hindu traditions it is like insulting all of india becuz they are a critical part of indian life and the traditions of all indian religions.
Bindis became very fashionable for a while amongst white girls here in the UK just a couple of years ago. I’m not kidding.
I can see why Christians are worried about the ‘Christian Yoga’ and other aspects of spiritual practices such as meditation. Their concern is that once people experience for themselves the spiritual beauty in their lives, they would not be ‘Christian’ in the old traditional way.
For any monolithic Christian, Jew or Muslim, if they are really believers in monolithism, there should be no fear if people see God in Christ or Krishna, or they believe in Mother Mary (mother of Lord Jesus) or mother Kali of India. If there is only one God, (God is just a name given to the ultimate intelligence, and God’s language is not English), then why fear? The cause of the fear is that people want to preserve their faith for the coming generations. They are not interested in ‘seeking the truth’, or ‘experiencing spiritual beauty’ that is within each one of us. They feel happy in seeing the number of people grow who can call themselves ‘Christians’ or ‘Muslims’ and so on. I would suggest, fear not. Seek the truth from all the sources. If you feel, stay with your religion,but do not hesitate getting help in spiritual matters from other religions. Ultimately, people must strive to reach and experience that One God during this life time. God bless all who would read this message.
I don’t see anything wrong with blending Christian spirituality with yoga, but I do get a sneaking suspicion that this woman is more interested in her own pocket book than anything else… Just a hunch…
As a yoga teacher myself, I agree with April S. As with anything, there are purists who do not think yoga can be separated from its Hindu roots, or Hindis who resent when we do that. But I find this very silly. I am a Christian, and find yoga a great tool for health and relaxation. But I also use it as a form of bodyprayer leading to meditation from the contemplative tradition (a la Thomas Merton). I think we all need to open our minds and stop the fear and other-bashing. Yoga means unity. We are all seeking unity with God. How can that be a bad thing?
You louts have minds made of wax.
Keep holding the world back, lowering the bar, and putting the masses to sleep with poison. Stop fearing the shadow which is your own reflection and Rise, Awake, or be forever Fallen.
I’m not a teacher or an expert on yoga but it all makes sense to me. By opening your mind to god knows what you don’t know what kind of evil spirit enters your mind. If someone wants to come in communication with god it shouldn’t be by doing YOGA. Get on your knees and pray he will hear you and you can communicate with him.
Yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj (“to yoke”) – is generally translated as “union” or “integration” and may be understood as union with the Divine, or integration of body, mind, and spirit.
When attempting to initiate yogic practices remember that these are Ancient Methods of Purifying the polluted miasma of Mind and Heart, and an unskilled or beginner must understand that they are fairly well-polluted. The mere act of cleansing, purifying, and opening the channels of the mind can be a bit overwhelming to someone clouded with guilt, delusions, and bound to the chains and mental prisons of any religion, not the least of which being the Western corruption of Christ.
This whole antiquated perspective of “demons” and boogeymen is the fear based drivel we have been inbred to believe since conception. What you fear is Self-Awareness, progression and the unknown, and this is a disease. Yogic Practice, at root, is one of the purest forms of conditioning your body/mind to be under YOUR control. What pollutes this is FEAR, the moment you think “demons” and satanic entities controlling you through meditations, you have ceased to apply your Mind and have failed to progress and have descended into the abject and nescient puerility and obsequious to the disease and subversive methods that control us.
What this displays is the utter lack of True Religion. But in truth, YOU are all there is, because ALL religions are mind prisons. Keep your mind in control through the manipulation of your Breathing patterns. Fear is your only demon/god.
We are all the center of the Universe. Do not be afraid, this is silly. Wake up.
wow, i knew the majority of people would think Christian yoga is a bad thing—I really believe Satan is blinding you all..there is a veil over your eyes, that you don’t even know about, so you cannot admit this..for if you knew the TRUE GOD, The ONE & ONLY GOD, then you would understand how yoga is truely a demonic experience. I did yoga as well for a while, and even after I became a Christian, I too did not even deem yoga as bad, I do agree it is very relaxing and has many health benefits! but i believe that to be a lure of Satan, the God of Lies, he comes to us as an angel of light..when i went to yoga after i became a Christian, it wasn’t the same, i did not feel good at all! not physically, but spiritually, I had a bad feeling inside, some would say thats the conscious speaking-which i believe to be the Holy Spirit. I left and have no desire to go back-there are plenty of other exercises out there–I can’t even believe I didn’t know yoga was religious, that didnt even come to me until the 3rd time i did yoga..people dont realize this, but my question is, if people were very aware of the ultimate purpose of the practice of yoga with the spirituality involvement, would those people who are not Hindu of Buddhist still want to engage in a practice not cohenciding w/ their faith, or if they have no faith? I do know some of you Christians find no fault in yoga and think the Christians like me who find it demonic are crazy! but please come to realize, and let me leave you with this-although u may think it doesn’t matter if u only use it for health benefits and think about God during the yoga-know you are taking part in something that does not glorify God-and yes, to the comment above, TV doesnt really either, haha, but that’s different. This is a bigger issue, people all believe their religion is spiritual, and there have been witnesses to that-so why take part in another religion, the poses worshipping other Gods? If you don’t believe me Christians, at least try to witness to the yoga practicers…that is all i have to say. God Bless
No, seriously this has got to stop. Christianity is the Demonic source of POWER in this world and if you cannot see that, than you shouldn’t mess with Yoga, because your not ready to progress.
give me a freakin break. Jesus. The shallowness of people and the extreme nescience is beginning to become embarassing and intolerable.
Oh puh-lease. Christian Yoga?!? What a joke!
I think it’s the evangelising Christians who find the devil everywhere that are actually the devils themselves. (Watch out! The devil’s in your corn flakes… no.. now he’s in your coffee … no… now he’s in your underwear!!)
Wake me up when all this nonesense is over.
Om Shanti
Get on your knees and subjugate yourself to something you don’t understand. Be a slave to a Slave-God. Who cares about Truth and spiritual progression, we have people who are afraid of Yoga and see a “practice”, a systematic technique for attaining self-awareness as demonic?
Haha! I cannot help but feel both humiliated, and amused that we are still stuck in the mire of “get on your knees and pray” instead of Stand on your feet and KNOW that you are God.
Most people are really frightened of Freedom, without governments or religions to them them what is right or wrong, they think everything would slide in all directions and mere anarchy would be loosed upon the world. That is propaganda from the very religions that enlsave us. We are perfectly capable of self-government and self-awareness. My advice is to get off your bleeding knees and start participating in the creation, as a Creator.
Know that ye are Gods.
I sense a lot of hostility and anger from most of you people posting messages on this wall.
I do find it quite sad that we continue to fight and become hostile over these arguments, as Jesus’s number one commandment was to love one another. Take a scroll up and look and see if you are speaking to one another with love. Why do we continue to argue with one another with such hate?
What you know is inside of you. For me, Jesus is alive, and I would rather die then deny or turn from him. I have seen miracles, experienced his love, and that is all I can share with you. Of course there are a million and one different logical explanations as to why God and his son Jesus do not exist, but the truth lies with the ones who believe…to the one’s with Faith, to the ones with the inner knowing that Jesus is all they need. No logic can explain it, no text book can prove it.
Do you think that you are so smart as to know all the answers? Well if you cannot answer how you got here, then how can you answer questions dealing with such a higher power?
Lets not cut each other and our beliefs down. Think of how much better our world would be if we could all learn to live in peace. Share your beliefs, but listen to others, and respect theirs too.
Jesus loves you so much, and thats the truth. There will come a day when ever knee will bow and every heart will know that he is Lord… but until that day lets get along shall we?
Wow, talk about mixing Light and Darkness, Truth and Error, Good and Evil. If you are practicing anything that has to do with the occult, something strictly forbidden by the bible to avoid deception, the demonic hosts are not at all put off that you are peppering in scripture here and there. They just want to gain entry into your mind/being so as to deceive you and change your worldview. It is not something the bible endorses in any way, Jesus himself case demons out of people and that is what you can look forward to happening if you play with something God has said “Do not do.” People would be surprised to fish around and find the articles written from numerous people both Christian and not, who have encountered something odd called the dangers of Kundalini or dangers of Qigong. It all has to do with invitation of spiritual experiences and beings into your person as you tap occultic means to access “god”/ force/ oneness whatever, but instead of getting Jesus, you find Satanic fallen spirit beings. Do some research. Do not willingly marry light to darkness and then experience the horrors of doing so, as though you were not warned throughout scripture
Love is not the blending of false deceptive and dangerous spiritual practices involving the occult to interface with spirit beings and concepts that the bible and God (Jesus) do not endorse, with truth. To suggest somethow that endorsing all things as valid and true, as some of the posters have done, is to lie and cause great harm to those who are ignorant and in danger of missing their salvation at the cross with Jesus, for a deception with fallen angels that ends in judgment; Not really loving at all is it?