Nothing seems to get a heated debate started faster than challenging a Christian who practices Yoga on this subject.
“But I only do the stretching part.” I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this. This article is written for the sake of clarification and education on the practice of Yoga.
WHAT IS YOGA?
Yoga (/ˈjoʊɡə/; Sanskrit: योग, Listen) are the physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that aim to transform body and mind. The term denotes a variety of schools, practices and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism (including Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism and Jainism,[ the best-known being Hatha yoga and Raja yoga. The term yoga is derived from the literal meaning of “yoking together” a span of horses or oxes, but came to be applied to the “yoking” of mind and body.- source
Yoga:noun a mystic and ascetic Hindu discipline by which one seeks to achieve liberation of the self and union with the supreme spirit or universal soul through intense concentration, deep meditation, and practices involving prescribed postures, controlled breathing, etc. a system of exercising involving the postures, breathing, etc. practiced in this discipline [2] – source
A Christian who studies the Word of God, should instantly see red flags and discern that Yoga and Christianity are not compatible. We see in the definition “Yoga is the physical, mental and spiritual practices or disciplines that aim to transform body and mind.” What does God say about transforming our minds?
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
Immediately we see a problem between transforming our minds in Yoga, and being transformed by the renewing of our minds according to the Word of God. As Christians, God wants our minds to be renewed, so we will be able to know His will for us. God wants us to be closer to Him. He speaks to us through His Word. He is our perfect Father.
“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3)
We know that the practice of Yoga is rooted in Hinduism and Buddhism. As Christians, do we want to open up our minds to something that will transform us to be more like Hindus or Buddhists? Ok, when we see it in black and white, it seems unthinkable. But this is exactly what practicing Yoga is accomplishing in your life.
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12)
Next we see in the definition – The term yoga is derived from the literal meaning of “yoking together” a span of horses or oxes, but came to be applied to the “yoking”of mind and body.
Another red flag should easily be seen by a student of the Word. Let’s see what God says about being yoked together:
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)
The picture of oxen being yoked together is used by both Yoga and the Word. In Yoga, the goal is for mind and body to be yoked together. It’s a Hindu discipline to bring mind and body into submission – but to what end?
Were you aware that every Yoga pose is a posture of worship to various Hindu gods? In this way, the person is making offerings to millions of Hindu deities! Of course, these details are left off of the “Welcome pamphlet” in Yoga centers. People are coming there to stretch and relax and be energized, right?
THE KUNDALINI SPIRIT
In an interview with Dave Hunt of the Berean Call (Dave is now with our Lord) the subject of the Kundalini Spirit was addressed:
“In spite of the advertisements and talk about health and fitness yoga’s real goal is to awaken Kundalini power, coiled like a serpent at the base of the spine, ready to spring up to manifest itself through the alleged chakras, (centers of universal force) of the body.” Now, what exactly is Kundalini yoga, or Kundalini power, for that matter?”
Dave Hunt:
“Well, to put it bluntly, it’s demonic. There is no way you can explain it physically, it’s a non physical force. There certainly is nothing coiled at the base of the spine, three and one-half times coiled like a serpent that’s going to spring up when you get in the proper state of consciousness, supposedly. This is the same occult power that all the occultists are in touch with, or try to be in touch with.” – source
In yoga, the student is told to empty their minds to prepare for meditation. An empty mind is exactly what Satan likes! Look at what God says about meditation:
“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)
We meditate on His Law and on His Word. We FILL our minds with the goodness of our Father’s perfect and Holy Words. Do you want an empty mind, or a mind filled with God’s Word?
“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” (Psalm 119:11)
We have seen the videos of holy laughter and other aberrant behavior in churches. Do we have to wonder from where the spirits came who wreak such havoc with children of God? Could it be that so many Christians are practicing yoga and are bringing the Kundalini spirit into their services? I have read that Hindus who knowingly seek out the Kundalini spirit, behave in similar ways during their worship. With the uncontrollable laughter and rolling about on the floor, it would be hard to tell the difference between them and a charismatic Christian service!
Over thirty million people in America practice Yoga. In the 1960’s, Transcendental Meditation came on the American scene. It was a time of self realization and finding the meaning to life within oneself. Society pushed God aside, and replaced Him with Self. Secular humanism is the new religion, and it has caused the moral decline of our society. If there is no God, then there are no moral absolutes, right? Unfortunately, this ideology has crept into the Church as well.
CHRISTIANS SHOULD NOT LOOK LIKE THE WORLD
How will we persuade a lost world that they need to repent and trust Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, if we look just like them? God wants us to come out from them and behave and live like His children. When the world looks at us, do they see Jesus? That should be the prayer of each of our hearts – daily.
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1)
If we try to fit into this world, we not only ruin our testimony, but we put ourselves in jeopardy of falling away from God. Do you not know that the devil seeks to destroy you all day long? He is the accuser of the brethren. He is a liar and the father of lies. If we don’t cling to our Father and study His Word, we become prey for the enemy of our souls.
YOGA AND NEW AGE PRACTICES
I have heard Christians talk about the evil of New Age practices, and yet they practice yoga. Somehow our churches have placed a stamp of approval on yoga. A brother or sister in Christ would never think of attending a séance or play with a Ouija board, or see a spiritist for a reading. But these same people will go to their yoga classes and enthusiastically invite others. It’s time for the truth about yoga to be told to your family and friends!
Writing this article will certainly not win me new friends. As a matter of fact, some may choose to ignore the warnings and consider me a bit fanatical. But hopefully others who have wondered about yoga, will be glad that they now know the dangers of it.
Don’t forget that the Evil one – the father of lies – the author of confusion – Satan, wants to take you away from the Lord. Hold fast to what you know is right. Turn away from evil. Cling to Jesus and His Word.
1 Peter 5:8
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
Maranatha!
Thank you for your article . I posted it on my facebook page with a personal testimony about how I gave up yoga and T.M. and other worldy activities many many years ago after I met Jesus. I also spoke of how I was surpised and dismayed how many Spirit-filled Christians do yoga…where has the discernment gone in the Body of Christ? It’s seems like there is a lack of discernment these days what with all the demonic things believers read and watch and do and think nothing of it as if they really do not know what they are doing . But if one is walking with the Lord He is so faithful to show the believer what to stop dabbling in or what to stay away from for His glory and our good….it is disturbing to me but one thing i question is the laughter…laughter is like a medicine and could not the Holy Spirit come upon a believer to anoint them to laugh so there can be healing? Is there not a counterfeit to all that the Holy Spirit does? Just as tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit , it can also be counterfeited and some unbelievers involved in occultic activities will babble like “tongues”…so is it not possible there is Holy Spirit laughter and also demonic laughter and one has to have discernment which is which.? Back to yoga…I did mention this to a mature Christian who was doing yoga and she must brushed me off…I was quite surprised because if I was doing something that was not of the Lord and someone told me in a concerned manner I would try to listen and did just that many years ago when told of these wrong things I had to drop when I was a very new believer. Anyway, I know that we do not loose our salvation over these things but certainly we need to obey the Lord as much as He shows us to because of our love for Him and His for us….
2 Peter 2:1-3 (NASB)
1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;
3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Thanks again for a very “enlightening” article. A long time ago someone recommended I try yoga to calm myself. I wasn’t a Christian at the time. For whatever reason, I never followed though on this. After I became a Christian the HS started whispering in my ear about Yoga. Just recently I learned the evils of it. I’m sure the Lord had no intention of my getting into this. If I had, knowing me, the worst would have happened. One of my friends tried yoga before she became a Christian. She got herself into a deep trance and met evil face to face. She had a difficult time pulling out of it.
Keep up the good work. You have been blessed with the gift of teaching and sharing the Word.
Many blessing to you during the celebration of Christ’s’ birth.
Geri, the public schools (good share of them) have been teaching yoga and trans…meditation to youngsters as young as kindergarten since the 1980’s. The teachers tell The children that they will be able to have a “new friend,” and some of these children…I have read articles where they are so bewildered, and then later become terrified!😥 The churches say yoga is “okay,” because they use “Christian” music. It seems that most of the church, for many years, has had no discernment!!
The church started teaching indian spiritualism and yoga at about the same time.
I hear people say yoga is fine it’s exercise are you kidding me?
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Great article Geri, I have written on this myself. Yoga is dangerous, but many see it as just exercise – it is the gateway to the demonic.
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I’m sorry. What a bunch of bunk. Propaganda from you people knows no bounds.
You are so pompous to interpret the mysteries of life all by yourselves with your little minds lead by people that want to line their pockets. Only God knows the universe. Hypocritical pompous puffed up and arrogantly believing ONLY your interpretation of the bible is the true meaning. Get a life.
You, my friend, need Jesus Christ for Salvation. You are heading towards eternity in a fiery hell. I pray for you.
The root of Christianity is fear and threats of eternal torture, not love. That’s why I am no longer a Christian. Christianity today is defined by what it is afraid of and threats of eternal fiery hell.
Then you were never a Christian to begin with. God is sovereign. He created the Universe. If you do not repent, you will spend eternity in that fiery hell of which you speak. God offered a way of Salvation through the torturous death of His own Son, so that people could spend eternity with Him. He is a gentlemen – He never forces His will on anyone. But His plan of Salvation is free and available to all who repent (agree with Him that they are sinners) and trust the finished work of Christ on that horrid Cross; and his Resurrection 3 days later to prove that He conquered hell and death.
What if…while i am stretching innocently, it happens to also be a yoga posture, which i am unaware of- what then? Many therapeutic stretches may also be included in a yoga class. When i worked with Physical Therapists, i learned that some of their stretches were [coincidentally] also MAYBE from yoga. Where do we draw the line, i ask. If and since YHWH knows each of us, our minds/hearts, and if we are putting on His armor, daily, would that not suffice? It’s what we do ON PURPOSE, isn’t it? My home stretching routine is NOT yoga, yet after reading this article, i am wondering whether any of it may in fact be…? To NOT stretch each body part seems irresponsible and reckless, for what i put my body through w cardio, bicycling, hiking, weight lifting, etc. I am taught that contraction in muscles via exercise needs to balance with expansion = STRETCH!
In my career, i teach this, as well as practice what i ‘preach’…i see too many tense, stiff, injured clients who do NOT take care of themselves via enough stretching [and holding for at least 30 seconds]. Sorry so long winded here. The internal organs also benefit from certain stretch postures. I am not advocating ‘yoga’, but practical common sense muscular expansion! I do not BOW DOWN TO, or worship any false gods. Jesus Christ [Yahshua ha Maschia] is my Savior, Healer, Counselor, Refuge, Protector, and Strength.
Sister – you can stretch your body without being tied to the Hindu practice of Yoga. The Kundalini spirit is a demon, and it’s real and enters the human spine during Yoga. Do me a favor and look up Hindu worship; you will see a frightening likeness between the Hindu service and the Holy Laughter – rolling on the floor, etc, services. These are manifestations of this demon in the lives who let it in – knowingly or unknowingly.
I have presented Truth. Whether you believe it and repent of it or not – God has given us free volition of will. But don’t forget that you have made a conscience choice to take part in Yoga and then to bring the Kundalini spirit into your church. You will have to explain this to Jesus – you have been warned and are now choosing to be rebellious.
Is it simply doing the position inadvertently that is a sin or is it the person’s heart and intent that is the sin or both? Take for example just sitting on floor, on your bottom with your legs criss-crossed. How many times as elementary students did we have to sit during class on the floor with legs crossed. Or, even in my case of teaching sunday school as an adult, sitting down with the kids in that position just to be at their level to keep an eye on them to ensure they are listening to what is being taught. Heck, I’ve sat down in a legs-crossed position to paint my baseboard trim at home because being on my knees hurts too much. My intent isn’t to worship some Hindi deity at those times, and I’m certainly focusing on evil intent. However, often times yoga classes will start out just sitting down on the floor in a legs crossed position, and hands positioned on the knees. Where’s the line as far as legalism here? What about having the holy spirit convict vs. human condemnation?
The Lord will say that we are guilty of this sin if we have been told about it, yet defiantly refuse to stop.
“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).
Oh yeah…..but it’s OK to keep on with Easter and Chritmas that have pagan roots.
Apples and Oranges, my friend.
Why can’t you stretch your body and meditate on scripture? Why throw the baby out with the bath water? In my opinion we can focus too much on satan and not enough on giving Christ the glory.
These are all questions that are asked by Christians who want to do Yoga. As I said to another brother in Christ – if you have been told how dangerous Yoga is (Spiritually) yet continue to do it – God will hold you accountable. This is not something that will take your salvation from you! But you will suffer in your walk with Jesus. If you stretch while listening to Christian or Classical music in your own home, or with other believers – that is a totally different thing. “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).
Geri, I see two errors in man people’s Christianity today that are equally wrong happening in almost opposite directions, and yet I do not feel the answer is to run arbitrarily to the middle for a solution.
One error is to live in sin and presume everything is permitted, and another is to live in superstitious fear and cry out, “Now you’ve been warned that eating bananas with chocolate was done in the satanic rites of ancient smogarians. So now that you have been warned, if you eat bananas and chocolate and millions upon millions are led to hell by your example, God will hold you accountable.”
My friend, Mike, and I have been involved in various evangelistic ministries for many years, and we run into people with some strange ideas now and then. One very real example was when a lady who was considered by some folks to be a respected intercessor expressed concern that my friend Mike’s cane had an evil spirit. His walking cane.
The Bible says, “I have not given you a spirit of fear but of love, power, and sound mind in the Holy Spirit.” Sometimes what is more demonic is the superstition and fear that binds people up with false accusations bearing false testimony and slandering them. That is not to say that the people living in fear have any desire to slander or abuse others, but sometimes people can do exactly that either out of fear or out of arrogance and a starvation for attention or a lust for superiority or for fear of losing that reputation of superior spirituality.
Where we need to be is in the land of truth–not pretending to be there, not insisting, not starting with the presumption that defends ones fears, and not one that excuses and takes a permissive view of sin either.
I don’t believe that people receive demons accidentally but that they bring them in when they invite demons in and when people consider what God has called us to do and choose to disobey Him–that is, when people sin. I do not believe sin is merely a mistake or accident.
In the case of Kundalini, when we see people around laughing wildly out of control or wrigging on the floor or walking and twitching or shaking their head so that their hair flies out like the beads of a 1920s flapper, and when we seek spiritual power through Kundalini Yoga or any other form of the occult, Christian, or non-Christian, when we open ourselves to be filled with strange spirits, then we open ourselves up to be guided and oppressed or inhabited by almost any strange spirit that will have us.
As Christian’s we’re told to heal the sick and cast out demons. We’re not told to entertain them and let them inhabit us. But that does not mean we bring in spirits when we stretch or go through Yoga or Tai Chi movements or practice martial arts. We can. But we can do that making dinner for our children. But that does not mean we must abstain from making dinner for our children lest we become demon filled. It means we must abstain from sin, repent of sin, and not let sin be our lord.
Then abstain from Yoga, now that you know the truth about the Kundalini spirit.
I agree with a lot of what is said in this article and your comments. I am against all forms of yoga and have never participated in it- nor will I knowingly do so. However, as a person who does athletic activities I understand the necessity of doing stretching in keeping each muscle group healthy. It sounds as if you have lumped any and all movement exercises / stretches into the same pot and called them evil. I hope that you will prayerfully reconsider this position. Man looks on the outside, but God sees the heart. If your heart and mind are focused on Christ and filled with His Word then you will want to take care of your health (by what you eat / drink, exercising, etc). Please do not put people under condemnation if Holy Spirit has not convicted them and their heart is pure before Him. As for the remark about “holy laughter”, the Bible has MUCH to say about joy and laughter. As someone else said, laughter is good medicine. Romans 14:17 says ” For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Also, Psalm 32:11 says ” Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” And, again in Jeremiah 15:16 we find “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.” Keep in mind that “the joy of the Lord is our strength.”
I did much research on Yoga before writing the article. If you go to a “Yoga” instructor and said instructor leads you in the various Yoga poses, then you are participating in Hindu rituals. If you continue to do this after being alerted to the dangers, God considers that blatant rebellion. Just exercise in your home or with a group of friends – NOT at a Yoga studio! Stretching out is wonderful exercise. But each Yoga “pose” is submission to one of the many Hindu gods. Sorry you are not receiving this. I’m just the messenger.