Religion News Service
VIRGINIA, U.S.A., July 14, 2003: Marylyn Mandeville sits crossed-legged on a mat in front of her students. Her hands are folded as if in prayer, framed by the slogan on her T-shirt: “Know Yoga, Know Peace.” A gold cross rests on the Om symbol emblazoned on her shirt. Mandeville is part of a growing movement to reformulate yoga, a 5,000 year-old Hindu practice, in a Christian context. While some argue that taking up a yoga practice might lead Christians down the “dangerous” path of New Age mysticism, Mandeville says she considers it part of her ministry to teach other Christians how to look after their bodies. As yoga becomes increasingly popular, with an estimated 15 million practitioners in the United States, alternative forms of yoga are steadily grabbing more adherents. At least half of those people are coming to yoga from a Christian background, says the Rev. Thomas Ryan, a Catholic priest. “There are an enormous number of people engaging in Eastern practices like yoga and meditation who need assistance making the points of connection with their Christian faith,” says Ryan, who will lead a yoga retreat at the Kripalu Yoga center in Western Massachusetts this August. “There is a sense among some that this comes from Hinduism, but when one looks at yoga, it really belongs to world spirituality,” he added.
But while fans marvel at the growing success of the movement, others say Christianity and yoga shouldn’t be mixed. Daniel Akin, dean of the school of theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, said Christians who are drawn to the physical benefits of yoga should avoid its spiritual and psychological underpinnings. “Yoga is rooted in Eastern mysticism, and Eastern mysticism is incompatible with Christianity,” he said. Others say it’s impossible to extract the physical benefits of yoga from its spiritual roots. Laurette Willis of Tulsa, Oklahoma, who developed her own stretching exercises set to Christian Scriptures, argues that yoga’s emphasis on cultivating divine energy within oneself conflicts with Christianity’s goal of finding salvation through Christ.