The Yoga Debate

ABOUT A YEAR ago, I started experiencing muscular pain in my upper back. I had suffered similar discomfort on previous occasions since I had been in a car accident in the early 1990s, but usually the pain would go away after a week of applying ointment and of relaxing the muscle.
This time, however, the pain did not go away and continued for almost two months. It frequently prevented me from sleeping and from biking to work, something I very much enjoy. In fact, I started to worry that this pain might be with me forever. I finally went to a clinic, had a back X-ray, and was given anti-inflammatory medication that did relieve the pain, but that left me thinking I needed to do something more.

Advantages of yoga

Within a week or two, I heard that a Hatha Yoga course would be offered in my workplace during the lunch hour and, after doing some preliminary research, I decided to try the course to see if it would make a difference. It helped tremendously.
There were several aspects of this course that I found particularly reassuring. Each participant was told that yoga is not a contest, and that you do not have to do the postures that you do not feel comfortable doing.
In fact, I was able to do most of the exercises, but I was a bit apprehensive, thinking that I might be asked to do head stands or other positions that might lead to further injury. Knowing that I was free helped considerably. We were also told that if we were experiencing pain while doing a certain position, we should stop doing whatever we were doing.
Finally, I felt comfortable with the course approach. I was looking for exercise and strength training. This course provided that, and I did not feel that the teacher was trying to sell me on yoga as a religion or as a way or life. The focus was on relieving stress, and on increasing strength and flexibility, and I liked that.
What I find most helpful about yoga is the deep breathing participants are encouraged to practice throughout the exercises. This breathing is very relaxing and beneficial. The participants in our class were also encouraged to direct our breathing into parts of our body that were experiencing muscle tension or stress, and this was also very effective. For example, if your shoulders, neck or stomach are tense, the deep breathing can help you relieve this tension. Breathing deeply tends to slow your pace, so that when you are exercising a muscle, you are probably less likely to injure it than if you are in a more rapid exercise environment. Another exercise I found very helpful was to scan my body for tightness, and my mind for distractions.
Yoga encourages you to notice what is happening in your body and in your mind, so that tension and stress can be dealt with in a gentle way. Both this scanning and the deep breathing have helped me sleep better and improve the way I deal with stress at home and at work.
In his book, Yoga for men: a workout for the body, mind and spirit, Bruce Eric Van Horn includes a table comparing the advantages of yoga to traditional exercise.
In yoga, the relaxation response dominates, whereas in traditional exercise, the flight or fight response (stress) does. Yoga involves slow, dynamic movements, with a low risk of injuring muscles and ligaments. Traditional exercise involves rapid, forceful movements, and a higher risk of injury. In yoga, breathing is kept natural or controlled; in other forms of exercise, it is taxed and fatiguing. Yoga involves balanced activity of opposing muscle groups, instead of imbalanced activity (for example, you may be working on the legs, but not the arms). Yoga is non-competitive, process-oriented, and promotes internal awareness. Other exercises are often competitive, goal-oriented and promote external awareness. Van Horn's book also includes a chapter on improving prostate health and sexual performance, and there are many yoga books that are specifically addressed to women and their health concerns as well.

Incompatibility?

It is important to note, however, that many yoga practices present yoga as the union of body, mind and spirit, and that yoga is not just about exercise. Are there aspects of yoga then that are incompatible with Catholicism or the Christian faith? This is a question that has caused considerable debate.
Although Internet search engines indicate that the Catechism of the Catholic Church does not specifically address the issue of yoga, a search engine for the Catholic Encyclopaedia brought up an entry on theosophy. 'Theosophy' is a term used in general to designate the knowledge of God supposed to be obtained by the direct intuition of the Divine essence. In method it differs from theology, which is the knowledge of God obtained by revelation, and from philosophy, which is the knowledge of Divine things acquired by human reasoning. (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14626a.htm).
  Other Catholic experts and writers have addressed the issue of yoga as well. In 1984, His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila, prepared a pastoral statement on doctrinal aspects of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field, noting that the Maharishi's doctrine and teaching on (1) God, (2) man, (3) the way to go to God, (4) pain and suffering and (5) sin, was in open contradiction to Christian doctrine. Although the Cardinal's statement was directed to a particular Maharishi, it does contain arguments that are applicable to various forms of meditation including yoga.
Although official Church sources stop short of telling Catholics not to practice yoga, some writers such as Father John Hardon, a Jesuit priest, are categorical about Catholicism's incompatibility with yoga (http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0275.html). Is there some form of alternative then for those who are interested in yoga's physical or even spiritual benefits, without compromising their faith?
In his book Yoga for Men, Van Horn encourages readers to integrate yoga into their faith life and to meditate using mantras that are Hebrew, Moslem, Christian, Buddhist or Hindu. (He suggests Amazing grace, open my heart for Christians.) However, Van Horn then goes on to discuss various beliefs such as reincarnation - which is incompatible with the Christian faith - as though it is a given. Will Catholics and Christians know the difference between what can be helpful and what is contrary to their faith?
Father Thomas Ryan, a Paulist priest, is among those who believe that Catholics and Christians can benefit from yoga. He is the author of Prayer of Heart and Body: Meditation and Yoga as a Christian Spiritual Practice, published in 1994 by Paulist Press.
The Yoga Journal recently estimated that 15 million people in the United States practice yoga. [These people] need assistance making the points of connection with their Christian faith, said Ryan, who has trained and taught at the Kripalu Yoga Centre in Western Massachusetts, USA.
Other Christians such as Susan Bordenkircher, a United Methodist, have worked to develop 'Christian Yoga'. Her Outstretched in Worship video has been sold around the world. Others still have preferred to separate the exercise from yoga, calling it stretching or Christian stretching.
With yoga's growing popularity, it appears that further discussion in this area will be required.