Part One of Four

It’s highly popular among our culture. We have studios devoted to teaching its practices, and there are new developments incorporating animals, drinks, and even the Holy scriptures into its practices.

But is yoga, in any form, permissible for followers of Jesus Christ? Is it just exercise? Is it just stretching? Does ones motive for participating in yoga matter? What if one participates in “Christian” yoga or “Holy” yoga, repeating God’s Word rather than the traditional mantras?

I seek to help answer these questions for my fellow believers.

Speaking to God’s Children

First and foremost, I seek not to condemn my fellow believers. In fact, I have such a love for people, in the body of Christ and those still trying to find Him, that I do not want you to be ignorant [1 Corinthians 12:1] of spiritual truths, nor do I want you to be deceived [James 1:16] of false doctrine.

As was the foundation of my blog, Transparency in Love, I believe the Church (those with the mind and spirit of Christ) are to “preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage, with great patience and careful instructions.” [1 Timothy 4:2]

As 2 Timothy 4:3-5 continues, there will come a time when the Church will no longer endure sound doctrine, but according to its own desires, because they have itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Writing is the gift I use for teaching, correcting, encouraging, and rebuking fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. While I cannot control how you perceive my words, I pray that through the convictions of God’s Holy Spirit, the truths of His Word would prevail. [Philippians 3:15]

Careful Attention to Truth

Secondly, this writing has been formulated over the course of several month, as I sought to respond to the outpouring of remarks I received about a Facebook post I made back in April 2024.

The feedback I received was varied, but all greatly appreciated as it ignited conversations with many different individuals, opening opportunities to discuss deeper truths about God’s Word. There were, however, also friendships that were deeply affected by my statements and today still hinder those friendships I once had.

I don’t know how the Spirit worked in the lives of those I had conversations with, but I am hopeful He has been working in their lives as He has in mine since.

One remark I heard repeatedly was, “I didn’t even know this [about yoga]!”

And that, my brothers and sisters, is why I seek to answer the questions about whether or not yoga is permissible for followers of Jesus Christ.

To best do this, we need to go to the root, the beginning…

What is Yoga?

Yoga, in Sanskrit, in its purest, original form is an ancient mental and spiritual practice where practitioners yoke, or unite, themselves with higher power(s). There are many different styles of yoga, each focusing on various methods for achieving “universal consciousness” through breathing, postures, relaxations, chanting, and other techniques.

Where Does Yoga Come From?

Yoga and its spiritual practices date back thousands of years to ancient India. As stated on the Himalayan Yoga Institute website, and several others like it, “yoga is deeply rooted in spirituality and many postures have deeper objectives that go beyond simple stretching and strengthening of muscles…”

Many institutes whose primary focus is to train up yogis in the ancient traditions of the practice admit “yoga (or yogis) help develop integration of the inner being as well as oneness with the Supreme Consciousness.”

The postures taught are admittedly derived from adoration of animals, plants, and worship of other deities; and each having deeper and hidden meaning.

According to the Himalayan Yoga Institute, ALPHA Yoga School, and more like them, good yoga practice allows practitioners “to achieve peace.”

Furthermore, yogis “acknowledge that the end purpose is transformation and awakening of our true Inner Self.”

How is Yoga’s Peace Achieved?

Let’s take a look at the postures, mantras, and their connections to “deeper meanings” as quoted above.

Yoga, as I have mentioned, literally means “to yoke or unite” oneself to something higher (spoiler alert: for my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, no yoga instructional institute states their intentions are to unite us to Christ). In this particular practice, this higher being is called Brahman.

Who is Brahman? Or rather, what is Brahman? It is an unknowable, non-personal force believed to offer you power over existence. Brahman, essentially, is believed to be the “absolute”, while “supreme consciousness is the manifested reality of that absolute.”

In addition to Brahman, yoga practices also aids practitioners to “channel” or “manifest” other forces through their postures and mantras.

The list is extensive, but I am only pointing out eight additional common “forces”, or deities, yoga essentially pays homage to with the intent to “channel”, “manifest”, or “unite to”.

• Shiva
• Vishnu
• Shakti
• Durga
• Lakshmi
• Saraswati
• Hanuman
• Ganesha

These may be perceived like fables and folktale, but as the ALPHA Yoga School blatantly states on their website, “each deity personifies particular energies we can channel through various practices such as chanting or visualization [postures].”

May I remind you, these statements regarding the purpose and practices of yoga are coming directly from teaching institutions who know yoga and teach yoga to thousands.

Furthermore, these institutes admit that “through chanting or visualizing to deities that embody righteous qualities, we subconsciously create positive neurological patterns associated with them…the energies you tune into will ultimately manifest in your life one way or another…”

“…we subconsciously create positive neurological patterns…the energies you tune into will ultimately manifest in your life one way or another…”

Yoga’s sequential movements and repeated mantras are retelling stories and/or victories of these deities, invoking or appealing to their “gifts” or energies.

Motive Doesn’t Matter…

The problem with Christ followers participating in yoga is whether you realize it or not, you are subconsciously calling upon these deities and their demonic power to manifest in your life.

To claim that your motive for participating in yoga is just to exercise is ignorant. To say you consciously disregard the traditional worship of Hindu deities while participating in yoga is foolishness.

By participating in any kind of yoga, the sequential movements, postures, or visualizations, retell the stories of deities, or little “g” gods. This is worship! To show reverence for and to call upon a higher power is worship.

Mantras, often associated with different yoga sequences, are meditative repetitive words or sounds, chanted aloud or silently to invoke spiritual qualities.

In Sankrist, the root words for mantras are “manas” and “tra”. Manas is the mind, tra is an instrument or toon; an instrument of the mind.

Did you know “Om” is believed to have magical powers for healing, protection, and prosperity?
Every Yoga practice is intentional and meaningful.

The idea that your motive has to be attached to your participation in yoga for it to be sin or not is false teaching. Scripture doesn’t talk about motive being necessary for sin to be sin. There are just some practices forbidden for followers of Christ.

Ignorance is No Longer Excusable

Ignorance is no longer excusable. I understand the Word of God is “foolishness” to the man or woman who has not yet received Christ [1 Corinthians 2:14-16]. I also understand that as Christ followers, we are maturing differently, and only as the Spirit of God grants it, deeper understanding of His Word will be given. But you must be born again in Christ Jesus our Savior first before your heart and soul can receive understanding on His Word.

The Bible refers to our growth as Christians like this:

We begin as newborn babies, requiring nourishing spiritual milk for growth and development. This allows new believers to grow up in their salvation and see that the Lord is good.

[1 Peter 2:2-3].

Once we have grown in our salvation, understanding the principles and righteousness of faith, our diet changes (just like a newborn baby) to more solid food. Scripture refers to it like this, “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

[Hebrews 5:12-14]

Then, as fully mature men and women of faith, we strive for perfection and we foster growth and maturity in new converts of faith; nourishing them with spiritual milk (the Word of God) for their own growth and development in Christ.

2 Peter 1:3-11 says, "For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

I want to reiterate, I seek not to condemn, rather enlighten you, through the Holy Spirit as He gave me utterance, to share the Truth of God’s Word about yoga. If we look at this whole idea through our own perspective instead of the lens of God’s Word, we’re going to have many different justifications. But if you believe God’s Word is absolute Truth, we must test all things through the lens of what scripture says.

Then You Will Know the Truth…

If you’re reading this and you believe in God the Father, Jesus Christ your Savior, and the power of the Holy Spirit, you are no longer ignorant of the deeper meanings of yoga. You must seek God for wisdom as His Spirit gives you direction about whether or not yoga of any form, is permissible for you as a child of God.

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Next week I will release Part 2 of 4 in this series. We’re going to look at the questions- is Yoga just exercise? What’s the difference between Calisthenics and Yoga? If a yoga class is focused around God’s Word is it an acceptable alternative to traditional yoga?

I hope you’ll come back next week! I look forward to continuing this study of God’s Word and what the practice of yoga looks like through its lens.