The Truth About the Dangers of doing Yoga

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The truth about the dangers of doing Yoga

Listen to someone who used to be involved in yoga like activites

I was deeply involved in the New Age before I became a Christian. Trances, channeling spirits, and past-life regression were normal practices for me back then. So was yoga.

Like Laurette Willis, whose story is featured in "The Truth About Yoga," I was raised in a Christian home. I accepted Jesus as a child, was baptized, attended a Christian school, and participated in Bible quizzing. When I headed off to college, I thought my faith was rock solid.

A Ouija board game in college started my journey into the New Age. It seemed so innocent at the time—a plastic pointer on top of a piece of cardboard printed with the alphabet. It seemed like Monopoly or Scrabble. Though I'd been warned about Ouija boards by church youth leaders, this didn't look like anything that could hurt me.

It took many years and many prayers for me to let go of my New Age practices and to be healed from the pain they caused me. Until last fall, when I met Laurette Willis, I'd never met another Christian who'd come out of the New Age. (To be fair, I've kept pretty quiet about my experience.) Laurette told me she hadn't met any before, either. (And she's been extremely vocal about her experience.)

Both Laurette and I have met quite a few New Agers who'd grown up in Christian households, attended church, or even been professing believers.

Just before I wrote "The Truth About Yoga," I was looking for a stretching routine that would offer an alternative to yoga. I'd practiced yoga for years and loved the feel of stretching and relaxing from a day's stresses. But after I became a Christian, I sensed something spiritual about yoga that made me uneasy. (I later discovered yoga's Hindu origins and understood why I'd felt uneasy—New Age beliefs and practices are largely derived from Hinduism.)

So when I heard about a new exercise program dubbed "Christian yoga," I thought I'd found my alternative. And I figured TCW readers would love to learn about it, too.

I interviewed two Christian yoga instructors along with Laurette and had contacted others when I began putting the story together. As I was working on it, I felt troubled by some of the statements made by Christian yoga instructors and characteristics of their programs. At first, I ignored it, thinking I was hypersensitive and being too nitpicky because of my own New Age past. I became deeply concerned again when I discovered one of my interviewees—a Christian yoga instructor who'd been featured prominently in articles by several Christian publications—had links to a New Age website on her Christian yoga site. I prayed about it, began deeply researching more than a dozen Christian yoga programs, and prayed some more. Finally, I contacted Today's Christian Woman editor Jane Johnson Struck. We agreed it was best to stick to a profile on Laurette Willis.

Laurette never contacted me about her PraiseMoves program, nor did she send promotional material to TCW. I didn't even know she was working on a book for Harvest House. I found her website through a search engine, and it was my decision (with support from the TCW editors) to focus on her story.

The big difference
I've found that yoga practitioners—both Christians and those who are not believers—are extremely defensive of yoga. I can understand why. Stretching feels fabulous, and there's a dearth of stretching programs out there. That was yet another reason it seemed helpful to highlight PraiseMoves, a stretching program created by a Christian, for Christians.

Agnieszka seems to believe PraiseMoves is yoga with Christian terminology thrown in. I'd correct that statement and say Laurette's program is a Christian stretching program that seeks to reflect the physical benefits of yoga while replacing Hindu spiritualism with Christian worship.

Is there really a difference? I've practiced yoga with many different instructors (who all said they taught purely "physical exercise" without any yogic spiritualism), and I've done the PraiseMoves program myself. So I'd offer a resounding "Yes, there's a big difference," along with an illustration.

I have a Buddhist friend who practices ancestor worship—she goes to a temple, lights a stick of incense, and leaves food for her deceased relatives. There are Christians who light candles in remembrance of deceased relatives, or set a place at their holiday table for someone who has passed. The actions are similar, but the intent and settings are different. The Christians aren't worshiping their deceased relatives (intent), or performing a symbolic gesture inside a Buddhist temple or in a uniquely Buddhist way (setting).

For the whole article please click on the link below:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/123/22.0.html (NOTE article no longer there it seems)

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Willis, who used to be a yoga instructor, believes that the practice opened her mind to New Age spirituality and led to her depression and alcoholism. After she was born again, she's remade herself into a PraiseMoves instructor (and skilled marketer). She wouldn't say this, but let's face it: she's still a yoga instructor—thus acknowledging yoga's healthful benefits—but now offers biblical explanations and biblical-sounding names for the poses.

Now, Willis and other Christians may have good reasons to feel uneasy about yoga. With her background in New Age, which was clearly an oppressive force in her life, I could be weary of what yoga reminds me of, too.

Yes To Yoga

Now 46, Christian speaker/author Laurette Willis tells everyone she meets about the dangers of yoga. The Oklahoma resident addresses groups across the country, speaking from personal experience and her knowledge as a certified personal trainer and aerobics instructor. 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." She shares her testimony on the website (www.PraiseMoves.com) in a pull-no-punches style, and responds to numerous e-mails—some curious, others critical of her stance on yoga. Additionally, she posts comments on the message boards of other fitness and religion websites. She's also self-published a book and video about PraiseMoves.

There was one thing Laurette wasn't remotely interested in pursuing: Christianity. "I thought Christians just wanted to give me a bunch of rules and dogma," she says. "I didn't know they were speaking about a relationship with Jesus."

But in Laurette's quest to find herself, she only found a deepening sense of loneliness. "God will use whatever it takes to bring you to your knees," she says. "I'd made a mess of my life. I was an alcoholic. I'd been promiscuous. I tried every form of religion, never coming to any knowledge of the truth."

The Truth About Yoga

Yoga's Hidden Agenda

I did some research before I attended another class. I learned that yoga, practiced predominantly by Buddhists and Hindus, has become one of America's hottest trends. While the variations of yoga are endless, one overriding principle pervades them all: the goal of obtaining oneness with the Universal Soul, known in Hinduism as Brahman, or in Buddhism as Nirvana. Every thought, every muscle movement, every breath I took in that class was designed to bring me to the feet of a false god.

Yoga actually means "union with god" or "to yoke." This union is accomplished by disciplining the flesh through difficult postures and the mind through meditation. Even chanting "Om" during meditation is meant to unite your spirit with the Universal Soul; "Om" is a sacred Hindu sound symbolizing the "Absolute." According to eastern religious thought, once you've mastered these elements, your spirit's no longer bound to your body; it's free to roam the netherworld, guided by a spiritual entity. It's then, according to cult expert Bob Larson, that practitioners believe they "possess all powers, psychic abilities, and sinless perfection." The breathing exercises (pranayamas) are also said to promote psychic abilities.

Is Yoga Really So Bad?

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