Yoga......JW view

confuzzled777

I needed a place to come vent. I went to a Yoga class last Sunday and LOVED it!! I am going again tonight with my hubby. A JW friend was supposed to "run in to me" at the gym and attend the class with us. I received a text from her today explaining that she had done research on Yoga and decided that she did not want to "take a chance in getting into is because it can be linked to spirits".

I am CRUSHED and OH SO disappointed in her right now. She has NEVER attended a Yoga class, so has NO idea what goes on in it. I am pretty sure that she looked it up in the WT publications or website. Which states specifically that a Christian would NOT want to participate in this type of exercise because "The objective of yoga as a discipline is to lead a person to the spiritual experience of being "yoked" to or merged with a superhuman spirit". So, instead of using her OWN head and deciding for herself on whether it is something that she would be ok with, she takes the WT word for it and misses out on something that would be SO beneficial for her as she suffers from fibromyalgia and arthritis and her dr. suggested that Yoga would be good for her to try.

I am looking forward to going to this class with my hubby tonight. It will be MUCH needed time together and something that will be a common interest for the both of us as we try to get fit together!

Thanks for the vent.......

LostGeneration

Yep, they put the beatdown on Yoga a few years ago, EVIDENTLY its how the demunz get into your brain these days.

I'm sure knitting, recreational basketball, and coin collecting are on the GB's radar for 2011.

TheClarinetist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga

This appears to disagree with you on the subject. Of course, I think the JWs take it much more seriously than the majority of American practitioners, but there is definitely a spiritual element involved with meditation and such.

EDIT: Should probably mention that I think the whole anti-yoga/meditation/hypnosis/anything else stance the JWs take is silly. Have fun at Yoga. ^_^ I wish I could do it, but I am too busy with school.

journey-on

My Yoga practice was one of the things the women in the congregation loved to criticize. Yes, there is a spiritual component to it, but not a connection to spirits. Don't let them discourage you. It's wonderful for all healthy aspects of the whole being: body, mind, emotion, and yes...spirit. You will love it and benefit greatly!

Cadellin

As I was fading, I very much wanted to try yoga--I had heard so many great things about it. And, yeah, I'd read the extended, hyperparanoid view of the WT. It took a lot of coursge to walk into my first yoga class but I'm SO GLAD I DID! First of all, there were no demons lurking in the corners. As any reasonable person knows, spiritual and cultural significances of practices change with time and place. The yoga that is practiced in the average American gym or health club is a far cry from the kind of meditative spiritualized experience that that WT is so worried about. Where I go, we listen to hip-hop music while we do down dog! There's no meditation, though we do close our eyes and engage in deep breathing, which is incredibly relaxing. I absolutely love yoga and find it is fantastic for both strength and flexibility. I think its sad that extremist fear-mongering has closed off this incredibly healthful avenue for your friend.

blondie

I saw a recent mainstream news show where yoga instructors were trying to bring back the spiritual/religious side of it. So it was there originally with yoga and some practitioners have dropped it.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/25/fight-emerges-over-yogas-religious-roots/

Fight emerges over yoga's religious roots

By Wes Little, CNN

Sheetal Shah, an official with the Hindu American Foundation, hears a lot about the physical practice of yoga these days - but not much about its religious roots.

So her group, which seeks to provide what it calls "a progressive voice for American Hindus," recently mounted a "take back yoga" campaign, including appearances at conferences and attempts to raise media awareness of the practice's Hindu origins.

For Shah, who is the Hindu American Foundation's senior director, yoga is primarily a moral and spiritual philosophy, a fact she says has been lost as the popularity of physical yoga has boomed in the West. "There has been a conscious de-linking between Hinduism and yoga," in the United States and elsewhere, she says.

Yoga is mentioned in many of the ancient Indian texts that form the basis of the religion now known as Hinduism, which claims to be the world's oldest religion - and which is the third most-practiced faith on the planet....(continues)

leavingwt

Sorry, I had to check. . .

Yes, you can purchase Smurf yoga attire. "Evidently", then, true Christians would have nothing to do with yoga.

http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/smurfette-yoga-pants-by-junk-food

skeeter1

I love yoga. Cured a really bad tendon problem I had in my foot. It's a very uplifting, in the moment, physical, harder then it looks, and can be relaxing type of experience.

Skeeter

confuzzled777

Attending the class on Sunday, having known NOTHING of the origins of Yoga, I would have only thought it was a low impact stretching/balance class. The 5 minutes at the end where we were still and concentrated on our breathing and relaxing the body was just that, at least for me!

Reading the info on Yoga and the origins of it, I saw/heard nothing in the class itself that would make me feel as if there was any type of spiritual element in it. Maybe because it is at a large health club......where they have to remain neutral in their classes?

All I wanted to do was find something that I could add to improving my body physically AND in the process help me heal in the head. I am NOT the same person that I was before my df'ing. This is my therapy........

highdose

i too have found yoga to be a wonderful therpy both for the body and the mind. And no there are no demons lurking anywhere. Modern yoga practice has nothing to do with religon and everything to do with well being.

i now love yoga and will happily attend class 3-4 times a week, same as i used to for the JW meetings but... difference is i really enjoy it and i come away feeling so good inside:)

Yoga......JW view

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