Yoga and Christianity

[Gingerbear]

I was chatting with a colleague at work today and enquired about the health of his wife who is 36 weeks PG. He told me they are concerned that the baby is still breech. I advised him not to worry as there is plenty of time for the baby to turn and mentioned the old wives'tale about scrubbing the kitchen floor on your hands and knees (her not him!!)
I then mentioned that some yoga may be good for encouraging the baby to turn. At which point in the conversation he snapped 'Yoga is against our beliefs' and walked off!!

He and his wife are devout christians, but I wonder what it is about Yoga that upset him so much?

Not sure, but I once made the mistake of giving a colleague a mug with a star sign on for a birthday present. It got returned to me, with "astrology is against my religion" as the excuse. She didn't get any more birthday presents from me!

Lots of christians feel that the meditation part of yoga is problematic. It is because it is linked to spiritual stuff in Hinduism (i think, maybe it's buddhism, maybe both...) TBH I don't really know as I have never investigated it, but as a christian, have known many people who don't feel comfotable with the idea of using yoga.
Christians generally disagree with astrology because we believe that God who created both us and the stars, is in control of everything, and so to read astrological predictions is to mock and demean him. HTH

Might I add Tissy that, being a Christian doesn't give you an excuse to be rude when people give you a gift... that was pretty mean.
We had a wedding present returned to us as the gift at our wedding IYKWIM and that was quite hurtful to us, so I know how you feel.

Hmm, it explains a bit, xoz, but doesn't excuse frank rudeness! A gift of a mug with a picture on it doesn't say, "I believe in this and expect you to as well". It seemed rather ungrateful to me.

As a Christian myself, my attitude to astrology has been "mumbojumbo"- of course I don't believe it. I sometimes read horoscopes to see what they say, but wouldn't dream of acting on them.

As for Yoga, I've been keen to try it, if only I could find a class that's convenient. Meditation isn't exclusively eastern, and I'm sure they don't say, "you must believe this". I expect it's rather a way of clearing the mind and relaxing- not an unchristian thing at all.

Any Yoga practitioners out there on Mumsnet care to enlighten us?

cross-posted, thanks for your second comment, xoz!

My (basic) understanding of yoga is that, while it offers a whole lifestyle, we are also at liberty to take the pick 'n' mix approach. I am currently going to ante-natal yoga classes which give me safe, good and extremely useful exercises to do. Not only can I now do stuff to relieve my back pain, that will help me in labour etc etc, I am not asked to believe a thing. From the outside looking in, you would simply see me attend a very simple exercise class, that's all.

I can see how the whole lifestyle might conflict with other belief systems, but I have to say I don't see how a basic suggestion to get a baby to turn 'round could be threatening?

There have been instances of vicars and the like not allowing yoga to take place in their church halls. I'm a christian and have practised yoga - not very deeply to be fair but I guess you can leave out the bits that you feel may interfere with your religion, not that I felt in did in the slightest. I did ante-natal yoga with DS1 which was fantastic!

thanks for your messages folk, it has really been bugging me so I did some googling. It looks as though it is the spiritual side of Yoga that is at odds with Christian philosophy. IMO I would do yoga for the physical and relaxation benefits, not the spiritual ones.

Why devout Christians can't accept the exercise for it's own sake has me baffled.

I used to know some pentecostal christians and anything that involved energy which did not attribute the energy received or given to the Christian God was demonic i.e. Yoga, oestopath, reflexology.

Gingerbear - don't say "devout" christians - some of us are devout and openminded!!!

I think the main argument is that Yoga is itself a form of Hindu worship. Each individual pose and exercise represents an animal to be revered and worshipped or a Hindu deity. Therefore a Christian taking part in Yoga, even without the meditation side of things would be performing an act of worship to a god of another religion. For a committed Christian that would be wrong. It could be compared to a committed Jew taking part in an exercise which involved stating that Jesus is Lord. It really is anathema to Christianity full stop.

Tommy,
sorry if I offended you . I didn't mean to. My ignorance of Christian beliefs prompted this question, nothing more than curiosity.

Hello Gingerbear. I'm a Christian who practises yoga, to quite an advanced level. When I got more into the yoga, I was concerned about whether it conflicted with Christianity & spoke to my vicar about it. Obviously some priests & denominationa have different views, and I have heard of a vicar banning it in his church hall, but our vicar certainly didn't have a problem with it. In fact the yoga philosophy, while similar to Hindu and Buddhism from my limited knowledge of these, is, as far as I can tell, also broadly in line with Christian principles too - suppressing the ego, seeking calm..the aim is to make you a kinder, more peaceful person, and I can't see how that conflicts with Christianity. Much of it would come down to the teacher - most yoga teachers stick to the asanas (poses) without delving too deeply into meditation or the philosophy.