Should Christians practice yoga? Group of churches call for Christians to refrain from yoga in India

A group of 13 Christian churches in Mizoram, India has called for church members to refrain from practising yoga since it is rooted mainly on Hinduism.

"Yoga exercises may be able to heal some illness, but Christians cannot use it to replace the eternal healing of Christ," said Reverend Lalramliana Pachuau, the leader of the Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitute Committee, as quoted by Newsgram.

According to the report, the issue was discussed during an MKHC meeting on June 2. Pachuau, who is also the senior executive secretary of the Mizoram Synod of Presbyterian Church, asked that members of MKHC churches be informed of what the church believes -- that yoga can "dilute" Christian teachings, and it can be used to convert Christians. 

"MKHC looks at yoga as being against the teachings and beliefs of Christianity," The Hindu quotes Pachuau as saying. 

Yoga is a physical, spiritual, and mental discipline, speculated to have started in the sixth or fifth century BCE in India. There are different schools of yoga apart from Hinduism, including Buddhism, Jainism, and Tantra, although it can be found mainly in Hindu texts such as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Mahabharata, the Katha Upanishad, and the Bhagavad Gita. The Indian government has been propagating yoga officially.

Unlike the common western view that yoga is for a person's physical well-being, the practice in India is spiritual and a way of life. It is more than physical exercise, explained Kamna Muddagouni, a Hindu writer based in Melbourne, Australia, on Daily Life in April.

Muddagouni said that yoga is "a multifaceted philosophy, medicine system and way of life," and that the asanas or poses are just one part of several practices, including "mediation, abstention and liberation – that are considered as a philosophical school in Hinduism."

Several Christian organizations have been promoting the practice of yoga amalgamated with their faith. Holy Yoga, for instance, claims that it is "an experiential worship created to deepen people's connection to Christ." Praise Moves, on the other hand, acknowledges that the practice is of Hindu roots and refuses to use the term "Christian yoga"; instead, they call what they do as "the Christian alternative to yoga." Meanwhile, the group Christians Practising Yoga claims that "yoga and meditation deepens our Christian faith."