When is yoga NOT yoga (and spiritually "safe" for Christians)?

By Gustav Niebuhr

My good colleague at "Under God," David Waters, wrote a nice piece a couple of weeks back, discussing an online column by R. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who warned evangelical Christians away from practicing yoga.

Mohler, a leading evangelical intellectual who helped shape what some Baptists call "the conservative resurgence" in his denomination, concluded that Christians who practice yoga were "embracing, or at a minimum flirting with" a form of spirituality that could send them spiralling into a dangerous, unbliblical gray zone well outside Christianity.

Even as he acknowledged he was hardly the first evangelical to make such a critique, Mohler saw his comments go viral. In a more recent column, he reported getting a raft of criticism from practicing Christians who practice yoga, telling him to back off.

Yoga is an ancient, multifacted discipline with roots in India and a deep, historic tie to Hinduism. As exported to the United States by various teachers a century ago, the American version has focused mainly on one varietyhatha yoga, a series of postures and body positions that emphasize physical exertion. And, boy, has it become popular, especially in last three decades; millions of Americans practice. But how many think of it in its pre-American context? Sports stores sell yoga mats in many colors; athletic clubs offer a full schedule of classes and--take note--any number of churches (outside worship times) host yoga teachers, just as they do AA groups, Boy Scout troops and secular, cultural events.

Which leads us to that second column of his, in which Mohler makes an interesting argument: many of his critics, he reported, swore their practices involved no meditation, no guru-guided thought processes--nothing but stretching (and, quite possibly, sweating). In that case, he said, they aren't actually practicing yoga; they're exercising, plain and simple.

Or are they?

Because no one holds a copyright on "yoga" per se, teachers offer it in variously packaged forms coast to coast. Forgive the analogy, but American-style yoga is consumed a bit like pizza. Thin crust, thick crust, Greek, Italian, plain cheese or toppings--few would argue it's not pizza.

Because you can get yoga with meditation or without, with spiritual discussion or almost complete silence, with recorded music that thumps to a rock beat or resounds with chants or soothes with flutes--well, that's what helps make it popular. Something for everyone, an idea as American as 50 flavors of ice cream--emphasis on variety, have it your way.

Not every yoga form works for everyone. A former colleague of mine, an atheist, once told me she felt odd attending a yoga class whose instructor invoked the name of a Hindu deity and (apparently) encouraged others to do the same. Likewise, a friend who believes that yoga ought to contain some meditation recently described attending a class in which the teacher taught a vigorous form of physical exercises, pretty much shorn of any sort of meditative warm-up or cool-down.

Of course, nothing stops anyone from seeking another class, in some cases literally down the street.

It's a free market out there. And for those who practice, it goes under a single, indisputable label--it's called yoga.

Dear Readers, in your opinions, just what does make yoga yoga?

Posted by: Sajanas | October 11, 2010 3:43 PM
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Posted by: Secular | October 11, 2010 4:47 PM
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