Good question. This is something that has been hotly debated over the past several years. Here's a clip of two pastors discussing the issue:
You'll see in the video that one pastor, John MacArthur, does not believe Christianity and yoga practice are compatible. He says:
That doesn’t sound anything like Christianity. If you want a whole life, if you want your life to be what it should be, you don’t put yourself in some weird physical position, empty your mind, center on yourself and try to relieve your stress. You go to the word of God, to the gospel of Jesus Christ, you embrace in faith the sacrifice of Christ in his death and resurrection as your savior and redeemer. God comes, regenerates you, transforms your life, makes you a new creation, and you’re saved and you’re on your way to heaven, and you can live a life of peace and joy. That’s the promise of the gospel. There is no contribution made to that by any physical position or any kind of meditation.
The idea of Christianity is to fill your mind with biblical truth and focus on the God who is above you. That’s Christian worship. The idea of yoga is to fill your mind with nothing except to focus on yourself and try to find the god that is inside of you. From a Christian viewpoint, that’s a false religion. Exercise is a different issue.
The other pastor, Doug Pagitt, disagrees and he says:
Yoga, it’s really hard to hold these postures, to hold these positions. And I’ll tell you that from my own experience, and the many, many people that I know who participate in yoga, none of them have ever found themselves to be opened up to something negative or something demonic or something evil. In fact, many of us find the high benefit that comes from body mind connection, and from knowing that we are pushing, that we are stretching, that we are sending our body into an exercise. And that exercise is not wholly disconnected from our will or from our mind or from our spirit; it’s a complete practice. And I’ve never known anybody who has had anything detrimental come into their spirit because of their practice of yoga.
Now, I myself have never participated in yoga, but have consulted others who have. Here's what they said:
"1. Yoga is a form of meditation that originates and is steeped in idol worship - the positions are actually postures that allow yourself to lose yourself completely and open yourself out for spirits to speak to you. You are supposed to completely abandon your thoughts and when that is the case you can allow anything to come in.
2. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." - Eph. 6:12 I think yoga can appear harmless because Christians can say, well when people meditate I can pray to Jesus instead. But I think it's a dangerous thing when you put yourself in those situations where you open yourself to anything to come into you. Our struggle is against a dark spiritual world and although we are already victors in Christ we shouldn't go play with fire either.
3. So my personal convictions are this, from my own experience, is that I've tried to do yoga while focusing on the Lord..but at the end of the day, the whole environment doesn't give me peace. So, I quit the gym and I haven't done it since."
Another wrote this:
"After thinking about it a bit, I think yoga fits into the category with lots of other things: kinda like, this "bad origins / commonly abused" category of activities. I'd put playing cards there, along with investing in stocks, watching Harry Potter movies, etc. They can be used positively when used carefully; but if you are just enjoying/using them status quo, and not being vigilant, you could be easily led astray as you buy into that culture. I understand the argument for abstaining from yoga; and I think I understand what McArthur is trying to say; it can promote this idea that self is god. And therefore we should take the attitude of humility and keep ourselves away from these situations if possible.
However, you can go against the culture of yoga and deny this idea that self is god. You can do the motions of yoga yet still profess the name of Jesus. I think lots of Christians understand that if they were attending a friend's party or going out to a club with friends, that they would need to be vigilant; they understand that at these parties, the culture there promotes lots of "bad stuff", and they need to actively resist that culture. I think most Christians don't view yoga or playing cards or Harry Potter movies in that same way, when they ought to. They just sort of assume that it's all pretty harmless, and proceed to do these things running downstream with the culture of these activities, when these activities indeed have a negative culture attached to using them (whether that be the origins, or the common usage).
Is abstaining from yoga right? Well, it's pretty wise. You should be able to appreciate the wisdom behind staying out of temptation's way whenever possible. But one can also do yoga and glorify God; it is a narrow road though."
If you have a chance, I'd also read these articles about yoga. In conclusion, there are more detrimental effects to practicing yoga than physical (or spiritual) benefits. For these reasons, I'd abstain from it.
[Answered by Pastor HM, with help from a few good friends]
