Monday, October 15, 2007

Yoga?

Go online to wikipedia and read about the background of Yoga (what it is, where it comes from, etc..) Discuss your findings on your blog post and answer the following question...


Do you believe that Yoga is an acceptable exercise activity for Christian's to participate in?

Explain your answer...

Due 10/19

11 comments:

Chris Maloney said...

This is what i found and i think it pretty much sums it up.....

Yoga is a group of ancient spiritual practices originating in India. As a general term in Hinduism it has been defined as referring to "technologies or disciplines of asceticism and meditation which are thought to lead to spiritual experience and profound understanding or insight into the nature of existence." Yoga is also intimately connected to the religious beliefs and practices of the other Indian religions.

*Outside India, Yoga is mostly associated with the practice of asanas (postures) of Hatha Yoga or as a form of exercise, although it has influenced the entire Indian religions family and other spiritual practices throughout the world.

Yoga when practiced with Hinduist beliefs is I believe definately wrong for Christians. As far as just practicing asanas or postures it is definately okay. yay for yoga

CHRI$

Anonymous said...

yoga is type of excersise, but you don't move very much like other fitnesses. yoga started from India. mostly women, girls are doing for building up softness of thier body. it is like long stretching for each moves.

Janette said...

Yoga can be good or bad depending on what your intentions are and what you’re meditating on. But if you have some Indian friends and your doing alongside them that would be wrong. And if it temps a Christian Indian friend to go back to the Indian cults than we should not participate in it. But if it just is to stretch than it is fine.

Ivy.Jung said...

If Christians look at Yoga as just another exercise, Yoga can help people to be in shape and also its good for our health too.
But Yoga is a group of ancient spiritual practices originating in India so if one of Indian Christians does Yoga and forget the first commenment out of ten, it would be a wrong exercise to do for a christian.

Personally,,,
i tried Yoga but.. it was too hard so i gave up in a couple days.

Nate said...

yoga can be good as long as you don't do it to meditate or commune wuth evil spirits. It can be helpful if you do it as an exercise only.

tee tee said...

Yoga is a Hindu discipline aimed at training the consciousness for a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility that is achieved through the three paths of actions and knowledge and devotion.

I think people now a days that practice yoga dont really practice the hindu religion as a part of it. I think people join most classes to have a time of peace and quiet.
Ive done a couple class of yoga and all you do is focus on your breathing and your thoughts. You can apply YOUR personal religion to it if you want.

Its a very good excercise to reduce stress and increase flexibility and core muscles.

Michelle said...

Yoga originally was used to find your inner self and find deep spiritual insight about yourself. I think that doing the exercises would be okay, but practicing it like a Hindu would be wrong for a Christain.

Cristiane said...

I basically agree with what Chris Maloney said... because there's a lady in my church that has some problems with her muscles or something,,, and the doc told her to do yoga...so i think it all depends on what you think of while you do yoga... i think if you look at it as just excersise its fine, but make sure your yoga teacher looks at it as just a typer of streching and stuff...

Adrienne said...

From what I read, it seems that in India, yoga is used as meditation to obtain "profound understanding insight into the nature of existence." .... But here.. in a gym, I'm pretty sure people aren't trying to reach another spiritual level. It's very relaxing and improves your posture and flexibility. So yes, I think it's fine for Christians to do relaxing part of yoga; just don't start chanting...

yOos said...

I think that there is 2 perspectives to be taken on the topic of yoga. I believe that Yoga can be acceptable if you arejust doing it to stay in shape and relax. But has also been used to replace God with a sort of false idol. Yoga emphasizes Self-empowerment and body control. It's almost like a religion. So i belive Yoga is acceptable as long as you don't take part in the spiritual side of it.

James said...

I believe that Yoga, when practiced with its Hindu beliefs, is wrong for a Christian to participate in. But when practiced strictly as a form of exercise, it can be very healthy. It can build muscles, improve balance, and can have many other benefits as well. But when you add in the spiritual aspect of it, it becomes a problem for believers. So make sure you're just exercising.