Yesterday I wrote about the funny ideas that some people have about yoga and how they associate it with occult rituals, sex and tantra. It is always interesting how people who don’t know something first of all are afraid of it and dismiss it as something negative or even dangerous. Maybe even singing ‘om’ in the beginning of a class could give some narrow-minded people the impression you are summoning the devil.
Think of this one time: Why do people like that Christian blogger then talk bad about something they don’t understand? It is often the first human reaction but he should think of it that there are many positive aspects that he just does not understand yet. He may not know that making this sound from the depth of your body stimulates your nerves, vibrates in the whole body, makes your vocal chords smooth and opens your lungs for more oxygen.
This is not the first time in history that things are rejected and only some people saw its benefits. What about hypnotherapy? This, too, was not accepted in the beginning but nowadays it is widely accepted by western medical practitioners and successful psychologists have used it to help people get over their traumas. Would that be occult practices, too? When I work with psychotherapists all over the world, yoga and meditation practice is everywhere highly appreciated and together with experienced psychotherapists I have seen many people get benefit from these techniques. If you did not call it ‘hypnotherapy’, what other name would you put? Meditation. That’s just what it is in its root.
Again I come back to the question why you have to make people afraid? A person tells that yoga is not compatible with Christianity and people get afraid, afraid they have something against their belief and afraid of some kind of punishment! This fear of punishment in Christians is very bad and the reason why people turn away. They don’t want to be afraid. I can guarantee you, Yoga is not teaching you anything wrong and Jesus won't be angry with you. I also heard he is not usually an angry or short-tempered guy. He, too, believed in love instead of punishment.
Have some trust in your own feelings and experience. If it feels good for you, there is nothing wrong.
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Thank you Swami Ji for this post. I am a yoga teacher and always sing OM in the beginning and end of the class. Now I can tell my students why we sing OM in our Yoga class …
Great article about hypnotherapy and meditation. People who have problems with meditation can learn how scientific it is. World wide medical professionals accept this and their patients get benefits from this.
I find this interesting. Today a person told me Hinduism is just more “BS” and that there is basically no God, Christian, Hindu, Muslim. I then overheard this same person say they are starting Yoga classes soon. I hope that this person will find God through Yoga. Hare KRSNA!!
Jesus was a yogi!!
Sadly fear is something which had been used by the old christian churches over centuries. It doesn`t fit so well to this religion of love to Jesus and Good.And it`s till today enhacing the fear of something people don`t know or don`t understand.
I like this very much! Have you started chanting yet? At the moment I am chanting 15 minutes in the morning and 15 in the evening. It definitely helps. x
No, i dont chant. but i like yoga, i have been practicing it since childhood.
I have practiced yoga and martial arts since childhood too. Chanting is different.