(525) EMERGING TRENDS IN THE CHURCH TODAY: C&MA Online Yoga Classes?

On the Christian & Missionary Alliance main website in the member’s blog section, there is a posting promoting online Yoga classes. I don’t think it represents the official view of the denomination – rather it appears to be a posting on the blog portion of the webpage by a member(s). But, it is still visible on the denomination’s website for all to see. You may say that this is fine if it is only dealing with fitness & exercise, but the instructor of the class is actually promoting this class as an “In-Depth Education on Yoga – Meditation and Breathing….etc. Here is the posting: https://ecommunity.cmalliance.org/blog/481/entry-1802-online-yoga-classes-for-beginners/

Online Yoga Classes For Beginners

As stated above, the first issue someone will bring up is to say this is only for fitness, exercise, stress relief….etc. But, there are several fallacies with that statement and there are concerns about this topic that should be discussed.

(1) First, let’s make this clear – Yoga is an incompatible with Christianity. That isn’t a matter of opinion, but it is a didactic core issue that makes up what Yoga is and where Yoga has originated from. Now, someone can choose to ignore these truths and decide to make up their own definition of what Yoga is – people do this today to a greater frequency across many different types of issues that it doesn’t surprise me that the same approach would be taken here. That said, it doesn’t make it right because someone chooses to do that. People can make up or modify the meaning of any word they want to, but society doesn’t change their meaning because of what you decide to do. 

In actuality, unilaterally coming up with new meanings to an existing word or to a religious practice like Yoga, is a wrong perspective that violates the integrity of our use of language and the common and original usage of the word – not only in our culture but in other cultures around the world.

So, what is Yoga?

Today, our society is hyper-focused on fitness, weight-loss, stress relief, overall health and safe environments…etc. Yoga plays right into that fixation on these issues. It can give the appearance of positively impacting health, fitness, stress…etc. with those who engage in the practice. And for some, it does have an effect in these areas of life. For others, it can have the opposite effect and even more so, there are some who suffer adversely from their participation (more rare).

There are many different forms of Yoga. The word Yoga means “union”. Many people assume that it means the union of body and mind. But that is not what it means. 

It means the union of the Atman, or inner divine self, with Brahman, the supreme Hindu god (or one Hindu god who manifests as many gods). Yoga is also defined as awakening to and union with the “higher self” or “higher consciousness” in New Age terms, which is the realization of the inner divine self. [Marcia Montenegro at https://midwestoutreach.org/2018/03/08/the-basic-spirituality-of-yoga/]

Yoga seeks to attain freedom from a false reality and union with their ultimate reality or god. Hatha Yoga uses the body as a specific tool to be used along this path to its supposed enlightenment where one is more spiritual aware of the true inner divine Self. The sense is the need to be liberated from this life. Hatha Yoga means “Sun” and “Moon” – the union of opposites into one. This is based on the idea that that there are no real distinctions. Rather, all is truly one (non-dual Hinduism). Again, “Hatha” and “Yoga” implies spirituality.

Hatha Yoga is popular in our country today. There are other levels of complexity associated with this practice (e.g. invisible energy called Kundalini). This energy is activated by meditation and certain Yoga practices. Yoga postures were not designed as an exercise. Postures prepared the participant for training the body into submission for deeper meditative states of more advanced Yoga [Marcia Montenegro at https://midwestoutreach.org/2018/03/08/the-basic-spirituality-of-yoga/]

But it doesn’t end there. Comfortable postures are sought to develop inner meditation techniques and also to bring health and energy to the body and mind by these practices. The breath in addition to these poses are meant to open these channels so that the energy of Kundalini can flow through and vitalize the person on all levels of spirituality. The breath in many Eastern spiritual practices is considered to be sacred and a link to a divine source. Some postures themselves honor mythical Hindu gods from the mythical warrior Virabhadra to the monkey god, Hanuman. The invisible energy, “Chakras” for in the base of the spine and each has a specific purpose that needs activated by kundalini. 

Like many of these words, America has inherited them and has integrated them into everyday usage – e.g. “chakras” – once was largely unknown but now it is sprinkled in with typical conversational English. Chakras are assumed to exist – EVEN THOUGH THEY DON’T. ”These concepts are entirely spiritual” [Marcia Montenegro at https://midwestoutreach.org/2018/03/08/the-basic-spirituality-of-yoga/]

It used to be that Yoga was presented as purely an exercise and fitness routine. That has changed somewhat today. Yoga no longer hides its spirituality. Many Hindus were actually angered by the common presentation of Yoga as mere exercise – many called for it to be brought back to its proper spiritual status. You are more likely today to see journals including more spiritual oriented article including changes to Hindu gods.

In addition to the inclusion of yoga related terminology into conversational English, the health and fitness industries thrive on the image of yoga for a health lifestyles. In the health industries, there are usually blanket assumptions associated with yoga and Eastern mysticism that are not always true and in some cases, not true at all. But science gets thrown out of the window in the rush to live a perceived healthy lifestyle. Who hasn’t seen or taken yoga classes as the local gym or community center. Children programs are littered with yoga exercises. 

The worst part of this is that churches have begun including these practices in the church. The blog article on the C&MA denomination website is a blatant appeal to both the exercise aspect of it but even more so to the religious or faith based aspect of it. Regardless of how it is worded or what the Yoga instructor says, Yoga is connected to a large network of Hindu spiritual beliefs. Participating in Yoga involves you participating in these spiritual beliefs. If you choose to ignore that, it doesn’t take away from the simple fact that you are participating in these practices. There is a spiritual dimension to Yoga that doesn’t get covered up by someone applying Christianese language to the exercise.

So, when you hear words like BREATH, BREATHING TECHNIQUES, POSTURE, MEDITATION, CHAKRAS, UNION WITH THE DIVINE, HIGHER SELF, HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS, INNER ENERGY.…etc., do you see how these come right of Eastern Mysticism. 

Read the above blog from the C&MA website one more time and see how many of these words/phrases pop out. Then, think of the Bible and determine how many of these words and practices are found in Scripture. Compare the two. Do you really want to participate in Eastern Mysticism? I don’t know about you, but if we love Jesus, we will obey Jesus. Scripture is clear not to mix other religions, philosophies, beliefs in with the truth of the Bible. It is clear in both the OT and the NT. One may think there is no harmful effect from doing this but ultimately, it usually will have a negative effect on your walk with the Lord. 

There is no reason, no excuse, no innocence,….etc. in a mainline denomination like the C&MA to have this on their main website.