As many of you may already be aware, there are good reasons for Christians to be concerned about Yoga. For those who are interested in learning more about how Yoga and Hinduism are intertwined, here is an article, written by a friend of my wife. Also, could you please pray for us, as my wife has recently emailed the principal of the public school which our 3 kids are attending, to express concern over the widespread inclusion of Yoga in Phys Ed classrooms in the school ?

In Jesus,
John

A Great Disguise
Religious Training in the Classroom

Yoga has become one of the hippest, most popular forms of exercise in the Western world. It promises to make you feel fitter, more energetic, happier and peaceful. Stores are selling Yoga gear in truck loads. You can find it offered at most gyms, and it is even becoming popular in public schools for young children. Is there a downside to what pledges to be the ultimate fix for good health and happiness? Have educator’s unknowingly allowed a form of religious training to creep into their classrooms?

What is Yoga?
Yoga began more than 3,000 years ago in India. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, Yoga (coming from an east Indian Sanskrit word which means “union with god” or “to yoke”) is “a mystic and ascetic Hindu discipline for achieving union with the supreme spirit through meditation, prescribed postures, controlled breathing, etc.” Yoga is made up of a number of Hindu disciplines that are designed to aid the soul’s merging with Hinduism’s highest god, Brahma (the creator).

It is a form of exercise, but also encourages participants to empty their minds in pursuit of connecting with their spirituality, coming to a point of enlightenment. Enlightenment is to enliven and awaken the true potential that lies dormant in every person. The purpose of Yoga is 'self-realization ' -- to look deeply within to discover the alleged 'true self' or 'higher self' and declare self to be god. There are four paths that Hindu’s follow to move closer to moksha, or salvation, one of which is Yoga.

Is Yoga a religion?
The words Yoga and religion have an identical meaning. Yoga comes from the Sanskrit Yuj which means "to yoke" to the spirit. Religion comes from the Latin Religio which means "to link-back" to the spirit. Religion is also about ethical rules, regulations and religious rituals which are also found in the many aspects of Yoga. Religion like Yoga has a well organized system of spiritual beliefs and practices. There are countless organized groups that gather together to practice various aspects of Yoga. The many aspects of Yoga constitute the religion of Hinduism. In the book Hatha Yogao by Swami Sivananda Radha, it states that nine out of ten Hindus agree that “Yoga is Hinduism.”
In Sri Swami Chidananda’s article --What is Yoga? he explains, “Yoga is the practical aspect of the inner side of man’s religion. The outer side of religion in its institutionalized and organized social aspect in its traditional form, made up of the periodical common or collective worship, be it in church, synagogue, mosque, temple or prayer house; its sacraments, ceremonial, ritual, etc. Whereas the inner side of religion in its deeply personal aspect of the individual’s effort to spiritually progress towards God and obtain vital religious experience, is termed Yoga.”
Can Yoga “the exercise” be separated from Hindu Spiritualism?
The primary argument is that the Yoga used in schools doesn’t include meditation, so therefore is just a form of exercise that provides many health benefits including stress relief. The type of Yoga offered is most likely called Hatha Yoga which is the least spiritual form of Yoga that can be found on store-bought videos and in most gyms. There are many misconceptions that Hatha Yoga, one of the ten forms of Yoga that lead to self-realization, is not religious or mystical in nature. Laurette Willis, a former Yoga instructor, explains why even Hatha Yoga is spiritual. “Even if you are not meditating and just following the exercises, she says it is impossible to completely separate the subtleties of Yoga, and the technique, from Yoga the religion.”

Johanna Michaelsen in her book Like Lambs to the Slaughter (pp. 93-95) explains that Westerners mistakenly believe that one can practice Hatha Yoga apart from the philosophical and religious beliefs that undergird it. “This is an absolutely false belief. ... You cannot separate the exercises from the philosophy. ... The movements themselves become a form of meditation.” The Yoga student (or Yogi) must go through eight stages on their way to union with absolute reality. The first are Hatha, which traditionally include more than 840,000 postures which are all designed to prepare us to awaken a divine, powerful force within us.

All of the Yoga postures (known as asanas), breathing techniques (known as pranayama), and the chants (known as mantras) have spiritual meanings and specific goals. For example, the Hindu greeting, Namaste when used with Yoga according to the encyclopedia means…”I salute the god in you, my higher energy salutes your higher energy, the god in me sees and honors the god in you, the divine within me sees and honors the divine within you.” The sound "om," chanted in most Yoga classes, is meant to bring students into a trance so they can join with the universal mind. It is a symbol of god as the absolute that is recited at the beginning of prayers, blessings and readings from sacred books and used during meditation. The mantra SOHAM means “I Am that I Am”, signifying that the divine has no limits.

The "salute to the sun" posture, used at the beginning of most classes, pays reverence to the Hindu sun god. Another pose that is highly religious is called Utthita Trikonasana or the Triangle. Hatha Yoga (The Hidden Language) by Radha explains that this pose symbolizes the Siva, the lord of Yoga, holding the three-pronged scepter, representing the state of truth, bliss and consciousness to those who worship him. It explains that to worship with this pose is to dedicate your body as a spiritual tool and the mind as a bridge to another world. There is also the corpse pose which is meant to allow the participant to fully understand death and the need for full surrender. The purpose is to achieve new life, to make a dedication of the spirit that wants to be born again. In this state one can perceive a vision of the light that is present in both life and death.

What about the Yoga in our Schools?
It looks like simple stretching exercises and most (if not all) the children are oblivious to the true intent of these exercises. Regardless, the poses and the words spoken have spiritual meanings. Whether the children understand what they are doing or not is irrelevant. When our children do these poses and mantras they are practicing an exercise that is at the heart of Hindu religion. Although the exercises may appear innocent enough, participation in Yoga, even in its least spiritual form, is the first step towards another religion. Is this not similar to taking communion or praying? Can we take another religion’s practice and say it has no religious intent?

Let’s look at two scenarios to illustrate this point further. Right now the children are told they are going to participate in a form of exercise called Yoga. Every few days they have a 15 minute session that includes Yoga poses, exercises, breathing techniques and a few Hindu words (including Namaste, which means I honor the god in you). How does this differ from telling the children that they are going to participate in something called communion every month? With no further explanation, the children would simply enjoy bread and grape juice together and as they did they would simply say “In Christ”. Stretching or enjoying some bread and juice together may look innocent on the surface, but in this context, would you agree that both are highly religious activities?


A Call to Action
Many have fought hard for a spiritually neutral training ground for their children. In 1988 the Lord’s Prayer was removed from public schools in Canada as it was deemed inconsistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees the freedom of conscience and the freedom of religion. The Gideon’s are no longer permitted to distribute bibles in our schools. In the Quesnel school district of British Columbia, Yoga was added as a program to help fight childhood obesity. Given the strong connection between Yoga and Hindu religious training, a group of parents banned to have Yoga removed from their schools. At this time, Yoga is no longer practiced at schools in this region. According to an American report found on the World Wide Web, four states have secured statewide bans on Yoga in public schools for the same reason.

The bottom line is that Yoga, even in its most innocent form, is inherently spiritual in nature. There is no doubt that every parent and educator wants their children to have healthy minds and bodies. Physical exercise is an important part of their experience at school. Is there anything wrong with sticking to the basics – playing outside, aerobics, soccer, gymnastics, challenging games or stretching?

The purpose of this paper is to expose the truth about Yoga, so parents and educators become aware of Yoga’s highly spiritual aspects and remove it from our public schools. Please pass this information on to others.