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.