A christian friend recently told me what a christian doctor of hers said about yoga. The doctor used to practice yoga and meditation, for years actually and felt he received great benefit from it (the benefits were not described) but he also found himself to be loosing his religion (again details not described). He concluded that yoga was the work of the devil and quit immediately and also, evidently, took to advising his clients of its dangers. At the time this little tidbit was shared with me, I sort of chuckled and thought - “well, sure, yoga WILL give you another perspective on religion.” But for some reason it has stuck with me.
I have been through a sort of evolution in my perspective on yoga within the framework of spirituality and religion. In the beginning, I believed it to be non-dogmatic, spiritual but not religious, able to be easily reconciled with the belief systems of all and any religions. Then I started to realize that is does hold a systematic structure of beliefs and principles that define its practice - dogma. So I would describe it as a spiritual philosophy. Maybe it IS a religion - a set of beliefs and values organized into a system of doctrine and practice. Sounds like yoga. In fact a yoga teacher and friend of mine, who came to the yoga practice with an agnosticism that was very resistant to the formal idea of God and religion, has in recent years opened herself up to a new faith and relationship with God. And she greatly attributes this to the yoga practice. The yoga revealed to her the truth of God. I myself, as a young adult, was greatly resistant to what I called at the time “organized religion” and even the word “God” especially with a capital “G”! I believed in a great mystical power that was the source of creation, but I hated the personifications of religion. Through years of the yoga practice I softened and my attitude towards religion. I became more allowing, more compassionate and I found myself saying the word “god” again when talking about my own belief system. But is yoga also potentially a destroyer of religion? What was it about yoga that had this doctor questioning or releasing his faith?
I think it has to do with the primary intention of a yoga practice that is to guide our awareness to the true nature of the self. We begin to see ourselves as perfect expressions of divine nature. As we see ourselves this way, we can’t help but acknowledge others as the same and then also all aspects of nature and the universe as divine manifestation. This is compassion and connection and oneness and includes people’s characterizations of God. As our vision and perception of God becomes all encompassing, how can we fully subscribe to any one specific set of dogma, labels and definitions? How can we limit ourselves to one label, one book of teachings, one name for God when there are so many that reveal the same message, the same truth? It is fear then, fear of abandoning our history, our personal, familial heritage. It is an understanding that falls just short of true oneness and awareness of our human, and preceding divine, heritage. We are all godly in nature, all expression of that are welcome.
I have been through a sort of evolution in my perspective on yoga within the framework of spirituality and religion. In the beginning, I believed it to be non-dogmatic, spiritual but not religious, able to be easily reconciled with the belief systems of all and any religions. Then I started to realize that is does hold a systematic structure of beliefs and principles that define its practice - dogma. So I would describe it as a spiritual philosophy. Maybe it IS a religion - a set of beliefs and values organized into a system of doctrine and practice. Sounds like yoga. In fact a yoga teacher and friend of mine, who came to the yoga practice with an agnosticism that was very resistant to the formal idea of God and religion, has in recent years opened herself up to a new faith and relationship with God. And she greatly attributes this to the yoga practice. The yoga revealed to her the truth of God. I myself, as a young adult, was greatly resistant to what I called at the time “organized religion” and even the word “God” especially with a capital “G”! I believed in a great mystical power that was the source of creation, but I hated the personifications of religion. Through years of the yoga practice I softened and my attitude towards religion. I became more allowing, more compassionate and I found myself saying the word “god” again when talking about my own belief system. But is yoga also potentially a destroyer of religion? What was it about yoga that had this doctor questioning or releasing his faith?
I think it has to do with the primary intention of a yoga practice that is to guide our awareness to the true nature of the self. We begin to see ourselves as perfect expressions of divine nature. As we see ourselves this way, we can’t help but acknowledge others as the same and then also all aspects of nature and the universe as divine manifestation. This is compassion and connection and oneness and includes people’s characterizations of God. As our vision and perception of God becomes all encompassing, how can we fully subscribe to any one specific set of dogma, labels and definitions? How can we limit ourselves to one label, one book of teachings, one name for God when there are so many that reveal the same message, the same truth? It is fear then, fear of abandoning our history, our personal, familial heritage. It is an understanding that falls just short of true oneness and awareness of our human, and preceding divine, heritage. We are all godly in nature, all expression of that are welcome.
