I received the following letter from a reader who wanted to know why she was experiencing such a conflict between her religious studies and her yoga practice. I was so taken by her question that I wrote the following essay in response. She wrote:
Dear Sam
I read your website and wonder if you could help me. I have been practicing yoga for several years. I have also learned TM which I thought was not to do with religion but to do with releasing tension.
I recently started a religious studies course and have a book, which says that TM and yoga should not be followed. However, both yoga and TM feels okay to me and the more I practice the calmer I get. This helps with my depression.
Do you know why there is so much conflict? I really can't understand this at all. I am finding this very upsetting. Please help.
Many thanks.
Susan
My response follows:
Dear Susan
I thank you for your question and want you to know that your dilemma regarding the conflict between religion, yoga, and TM is not all that uncommon. Although you practice both yoga and TM, and although you feel better by doing it, there are people of influence in various religious communities who will tell you that what you are doing and feel … is wrong. This essay should help you to better understand why.
Although there might be some parallels between TM (Transcendental Meditation) and yoga, I have not studied TM and I cannot discuss their parallels with certainty. On the other hand, having studied and practiced yoga for over 30 years, I feel I understand why some religious believers say negative things about yoga and why, in effect, they think your personal experience with yoga is wrong.
To answer your query, we must first consider three questions: “What is yoga and why do we feel better when we practice it?” “What is the difference between religion and spirituality?” And the last is: “Why do some religious believers think yoga is wrong and why do they say it should not be practiced.”
What is Yoga and why do we feel better when we practice it?
I’ve written various essays regarding the origins of yoga and why we feel better after practicing. Rather than repeat what I’ve already written regarding its history, I invite you to read (or re-read) The History of Yoga . Understanding yoga’s history is part of the answer to your question.
There are pragmatic and scientific reasons why we feel physically and emotionally better after practicing yoga. To review its mechanics and logic and how and why we feel better when we practice yoga, I invite you to read (or re-read) Part 1 of my website, The Mechanics of Yoga. The fact that you feel better both physically and emotionally is the result of a simple “cause and effect” relationship of your body’s response to natural laws and body mechanics as described in The Mechanics of Yoga.
Although this is not a forum to discuss, compare, or debate non-secular beliefs with the laws of nature and evolution, many people believe our body, and nature in general, is the direct creation of God. On the other hand many others believe evolutionary forces of nature created our body; and that those forces of nature might, or might not have been, the creation of God. To fully respond to the remainder of your question therefore, we need to differentiate between “religion” and “spirituality.”
“Religion” can be defined as a set of common beliefs and practices generally held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law. Religion also includes ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic experience.*
What is Spirituality?
“Spirituality” can be defined as concerning itself with matters of the spirit: Spiritual matters are those involving nature, not merely as material biological organisms, but as beings with a relationship to that which is beyond both time and the material world.*
Is Yoga Religious or Spiritual?
Having Hindu origins, traditional yoga has evolved from a set of beliefs and practices with a history, tradition, and mythology that is without question, religion-based. However, in modern times and in Western culture, many other different styles and approaches to yoga have developed that are entirely secular (non-religious) in their methodology. Even so, it can still be argued that people who practice the physical culture of yoga and who outright reject its Hindu origins, are still invested in a methodology or system that has rituals, laws, and techniques that has a positive effect on and enriches their lives.
The difference between "Intrinsic" and "Extrinsic" wellness:
An “extrinsic” approach to wellness is where we rely primarily on others to take care of our health needs; where we rely on others tell us what is right or wrong, or how we should feel or what we should believe. Most modern approaches to yoga, (including ExTension and Recovery Yoga), are “intrinsic.”
An intrinsic approach to wellness is when we take primary responsibility for ourselves to improve our physical and emotional well being; where we learn how to trust our own inner voice to do the right thing; and in so doing, we feel a deeper connection with people and with the environment around us. When we practice intrinsically, we learn how to trust in ourselves and how to feel a deeper connection with the earth below our feet (feeling “grounded”). And in so doing, we experience a deeper sense of physical balance and inner quietness.
For further reference and discussion, you may refer to the Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Yoga chapter of my website.
Accordingly, by definition, the practice of modern yoga (as contrasted to “traditionally oriented yoga”) is a spiritual practice that enriches the practitioner’s personal relationship with nature; and if a person practicing yoga is religious and believes in God, it enriches the practitioner’s belief in God as an adjunct to the practitioner’s faith.
For further reference and discussion, you may refer to the Spirituality and Yoga and the Meditation and Yoga chapters of my website. *See "Religion" and "Spirituality" in Wikipeida.
Why do some religious believers feel yoga is bad and should not be practiced?
Because yoga has Hindu origins; because yoga has a methodology of its own; because practitioners can find relief (healing) as a result of their own intervention; … and … even though yoga can open spiritual channels that augment God-Consciousness, there are some religious believers who feel their interpretation of the bible is the only way to salvation and that only God has the ability to heal. These are the religious believers who passionately reject yoga or anything else that is not expressly taught by their leaders, or how they interpret their religious texts.
On the other hand, there are believers who feel the work of God is all around us; in the Earth, in all of nature, and in the human body, mind, and soul. These believers trust that God wants us to take personal responsibility for our own well being and health; and that yoga is one of many different methods available to us that fosters self-responsibility.
When you read from your religious texts and when you are confronted by people of religious conviction who tell you your yoga practice is wrong, there is nothing you can say; there is no logic you can offer; nor is there a scientific argument you can make, that will dissuade them from believing their way is the only way to achieve the grace and love of God.
Therefore, my advice to you, as a person of faith, is to ask yourself how you feel after practicing yoga; if the feelings you generate from your own personal practice are good feelings or evil feelings. And based upon your own feelings and intellect, what do you think God would want you to do and feel.
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