yoga is DEMONIC????

[dancingleaf]

No really.

I was chit chatting with L - who fills in for at the studio where I take yoga classes - She's not there all the time but is the back up instructor.

Now L is a wonderful older woman. Almost 60. Tiny thing. about 5 ft tall. Very flexible. - well she's a yoga instructor, right? She can really kick your butt at yoga if she wants to.

She had been approached by the seniors centre in her area in a nearby town to teach a senior's class. Keep in mind that a lot of the population around here is French Canadian, which means Catholic.

So they are negotiating the details and the fact that she's was charging more than their last 'exercise' instructor... it was $5 more. Big deal. They get past that. Then they tell her... okay but you can't call it yoga. Yoga is Demonic and the Catholic Church FORBIDS people to practice yoga. She was more than a little ticked off by this and then they had this release thing they wanted her to sign... and she just finally lost it and said - I'm just not interested in working with you - find someone else if you want to make them jump hoops.

Honestly... I thought this was a whole lot of hooey. But she continued on with a related story... she had a massage therapist in one of her classes. And this woman came to her and said... well I'm taking classes so that I can get married and the priest has told me that I can't attend your class any more, I'm sorry but I have to quit.

Apparently this isn't just some weird thing, I found a whole lot of articles on the web on the subject. I won't link to them because some read like hoaxes and others are just too blasted long without really getting to the point.

I thought people objected to bellydance as too sexualized but... yoga is an open invitation to Demonic Possession.

Yup. There are some weird weird people out there.

Comments

[ishtara.livejournal.com]

I had this conversation a week ago using my other account. Same kinds of issues - is yoga exercise or a religion?

I think that it really varies depending on the teacher. Most people on that message threat seemed to have only gone to non-religious yoga classes and couldn't understand how anyone would have a problem with it.

My personal experience is that I've tried it twice. The first time, I was doing my undergrad. I was expecting to learn stretching and flexibility. Instead, it focused on "emptying our minds" which I thought was ironic considering I was paying thousands of dollars to fill my mind.

The second (about 14 years later) had us chant something in an Indian language. When I asked what exactly we were chanting, the instructor couldn't tell me and I refused to chant something when I didn't know what it meant.

I wish I'd had better experiences, but the two I had are the reason why I am a Pilates girl. Same focus on flexiblity and core stretch and zero percent chance of Eastern spirituality. I do have a ton of friends who do yoga, both inside and outside of Christianity, but I just can't into yoga.

[dancingleaf.livejournal.com]

I attended a meditation class a long time ago, although it was billed as something else. That was a bloody waste of time. I paid for 4 sessions and attended 2.

I do understand the spiritual side of yoga. I don't really get into it but I do see the potential for it there. L, who I mentioned above does chant in sanskrit but she allows you to join in or not as you choose and she repeats the same thing in English after saying it in Sanskrit. Possible your instructor lost hir notes and was too embarrassed to admit it.

I've tried Pilates but the breathing is backwards. I'm used to inhaling/exhaling when Pilates wants you to do the reverse.

I think Christianity started out good but lost its way in about the 2nd -3rd century. Anything after that period is total bs created to manipulate people into being nice little sheep and follow the establishment, whatever that establishment was at the time. Actually anything that misogynist jerk "Paul" had his hand in can go straight into the toilet along with the manipulations of the 'church'.

Whoops my bias is showing.

[ishtara.livejournal.com]

I'm not really anti-yoga, even if it is Hindu philosophy. I just believe (like your meditation class should have been) that things should be labeled correctly. Possibly I had a naive view of yoga at the first one - I thought I was going to learn to eventually be so flexible that I could get my foot behind my ear. :)

I don't doubt that the instructor could translate it because she really didn't know what she was doing. Yoga, like Pilates, and like belly dance have all become so trendy in the last decade that I'm sure quality is all over the board.

I'm not sure what you mean about the breathing being backwards. Probably because I've never really done yoga to have something to compare with. My former Pilates instructor (who stole moves from yoga I'm sure)rarely told us when to breathe, just to remember to do it. My Pilates DVD is more inhale while doing this and exhale while doing that. Most it makes sense to me since it is exhaling on the exersion part. When it doesn't make sense, I just do what feels right any way.

[dancingleaf.livejournal.com]

sorry - I think I flew off the handle a little bit there.

Christianity and I just don't get along. I guess that is the problem when it is the area of history that I focus on the most.