HAVING a slim and healthy body is very much on people's minds today. This has caused many to turn to gymnasiums and health clubs for help. For the same reason, thousands of people in the Western world have turned to the Eastern art of yoga.
People suffering from stress, depression, and frustration have also turned to yoga for solace and solutions. Particularly since the 1960's, the decade of hippies and flower children, has interest in Eastern religions and their mystic practices spread throughout the West. Transcendental meditation, a close adjunct of yoga, has been popularized by film stars and rock musicians. In view of the growing interest in yoga, we might ask: 'Is yoga simply an exercise routine that will give the practitioner a healthy, slim body and some peace of mind? Can yoga be practiced without any religious overtones? Is yoga suitable for Christians?'

HAVING a slim and healthy body is very much on people's minds today. This has caused many to turn to gymnasiums and health clubs for help. For the same reason, thousands of people in the Western world have turned to the Eastern art of yoga.
People suffering from stress, depression, and frustration have also turned to yoga for solace and solutions. Particularly since the 1960's, the decade of hippies and flower children, has interest in Eastern religions and their mystic practices spread throughout the West. Transcendental meditation, a close adjunct of yoga, has been popularized by film stars and rock musicians. In view of the growing interest in yoga, we might ask: 'Is yoga simply an exercise routine that will give the practitioner a healthy, slim body and some peace of mind? Can yoga be practiced without any religious overtones? Is yoga suitable for Christians?'
The Background of Yoga
The origin of the word "yoga" is related to that of the English word "yoke." It can mean to join or yoke together or to bring under a yoke, to harness or control. To a Hindu, yoga is a technique or a discipline that leads to union with a great supernatural force or spirit. It has been described as "the yoking of all the powers of body, mind and soul to God."
How far back in history can yoga be traced? Figures of people seated in various yoga positions appear on seals found in the Indus Valley, in present-day Pakistan. The Indus Valley civilization is dated by archaeologists to between the third and the second millenniums B.C.E., very close in time to the Mesopotamian culture. Artifacts from both areas portray a man, representing a deity, crowned with animal horns and surrounded by animals, reminiscent of Nimrod, the "mighty hunter." (Genesis 10:8, 9) The Hindus claim that the figures sitting in yoga positions are images of the god Siva, lord of the animals and lord of yoga, who is often worshiped through the lingam, a phallic symbol. Thus, the book Hindu World calls yoga "a code of ascetic practices, mainly pre-Aryan in origin, containing relics of many primitive conceptions and observances."
The methods of yoga were at first handed down orally. Then they were put into detailed, written form by the Indian yogic sage Patañjali as the Yoga Sutra, which remains the basic instruction book of yoga. According to Patañjali, yoga is "a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical." From its inception until the present time, yoga has been an integral part of Eastern religions, now particularly Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. Some practicers of yoga believe that it will lead them to attain moksha, or liberation, through a merging with an all-pervading spirit.
So once again we ask: 'Can yoga be practiced simply as a physical exercise to develop a healthy body and a relaxed mind, without any involvement with religion?' In view of its background, the answer would have to be no.
Where Can Yoga Take You?
The objective of yoga as a discipline is to lead a person to the spiritual experience of being "yoked" to or merged with a superhuman spirit. But which spirit would that be?
In Hindu World, author Benjamin Walker says of yoga: "It may have been an early system of magical ritualism, and yoga still retains in its meaning an overtone of occultism and sorcery." Hindu philosophers admit that the practice of yoga can give supernatural powers, even though they usually claim that this is not the ultimate goal of yoga. For example, in the book Indian Philosophy, former president of India, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, says of the yogi that "control of the body through postures results in an indifference to the extremes of heat and cold. . . . The yogin can see and hear at a distance . . . Transmission of thought from one individual to another without the intervention of the normal communicating mechanisms is quite possible. . . . The yogi can make his body invisible."
The image of a yogi sleeping on a bed of nails or walking on hot coals may appear to be a hoax to some and a joke to others. But these are common occurrences in India, as is the practice of standing on one leg while staring directly at the sun for hours and breath control that allows a person to be buried in sand for long periods of time. In June 1995, The Times of India reported that a three-and-a-half-year-old girl lay in a trance as a car weighing more than 1,600 pounds [750 kg] was allowed to run over her abdomen. To the amazement of the crowd, when she awoke she was totally unharmed. The report added: "It was sheer yogic power."
Without a doubt, no normal human is capable of performing any of these tasks. Hence, a Christian must ask: Of what are these feats an indication? Are they from Jehovah God, "the Most High over all the earth," or are they from some other source? (Psalm 83:18) The Bible is clear on this point. When the Israelites were on the verge of entering the Promised Land, which was occupied by the Canaanites, Jehovah told the sons of Israel through Moses: "You must not learn to do according to the detestable things of those nations." What "detestable things"? Moses warned against "anyone who employs divination, a practicer of magic or anyone who looks for omens or a sorcerer." (Deuteronomy 18:9, 10) These things are detestable to God because they are works of the demons and of the fallen flesh.—Galatians 5:19-21.
Not a Choice for Christians
Whatever health instructors may say to the contrary, yoga does not stop with physical exercises. The book Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies relates the experiences of two yoga novitiates who were under the guidance of a guru. One is quoted as saying: "I made superhuman efforts to hold my breath as long as possible, and only breathed when I was on the point of fainting. . . . One day, at high noon, I thought I saw a bright moon, which seemed to move and sway from side to side. Another time I imagined myself enveloped in thick darkness at midday. My director . . . was greatly pleased when I mentioned these visions to him. . . . The time was not far distant, he assured me, when I should experience much more surprising results from my penance." The second man relates: "He obliged me to stare at the sky every day without blinking my eyes or changing my position. . . . Sometimes I thought I saw sparks of fire in the air; at others I seemed to see fiery globes and other meteors. My teacher was much pleased with the success of my efforts."
The strange sights were evidently what the gurus felt were proper results along the way to the true aim of yogic exercises. Yes, the ultimate goal of yoga is moksha, explained as the merging with some impersonal great spirit. It is described as "the (intentional) stopping of the spontaneous activity of the mind stuff." This is clearly contrary to the goal set out for Christians, who are given the admonition: "Present your bodies a sacrifice living, holy, acceptable to God, a sacred service with your power of reason. And quit being fashioned after this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over, that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and perfect will of God."—Romans 12:1, 2.

AMERICA’S #1 Health Problem.” So reads the headline of an article published by the American Institute of Stress that claims the biggest threat to health today is neither cancer nor AIDS. The report says: “It has been estimated that 75-90 percent of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress related problems.”
It is no exaggeration to say that people today are being assaulted by stress. According to the National Consumers League, “work is the top source of stress for adults who have problems and stress in their lives (39%), followed by family (30%). Other sources include health (10%), concern about the economy (9%) and concern about international conflict and terrorism (4%).”
However, stress is hardly unique to the United States. A British survey in 2002 estimated that “over half a million individuals in Britain believed in 2001/2 that they were experiencing work-related stress at a level that was making them ill.” As a result of “work-related stress, depression or anxiety,” there are “an estimated thirteen and a half million reported lost working days per year in Britain.”

WHAT is stress? According to one expert, stress may be defined as “any physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension.” Does this mean that stress is inherently harmful? No. As Dr. Melissa C. Stöppler observes, “a mild degree of stress and tension can sometimes be beneficial. Feeling mildly stressed when carrying out a project or assignment often compels us to do a good job and to work energetically.”
So when is stress a problem? Says Stöppler: “It is only when stress is overwhelming, or poorly managed, that its negative effects appear.” Consider some common sources of stress.
The Stress of Making a Living
King Solomon said: “With a man there is nothing better than that he should eat and indeed drink and cause his soul to see good because of his hard work.” (Ecclesiastes 2:24) However, for many employees, the workplace is a caldron of pressures.
A report from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work stated that workers are often stressed on their jobs because, among other things, there is poor communication between management and employees, management gives workers little say in decisions that affect them, there are conflicts with fellow workers, or there is job insecurity and/or inadequate pay. Whatever the reasons, coping with the strains of the workplace may leave working parents with little energy to deal with the demands of their families. And those demands can be enormous. In the United States, for example, during a one-year period, some 50 million people provided care for an ill or elderly family member. Financial problems can also be a potent source of family stress. Rita, a mother of two, faced financial distress when her husband, Leandro, had an automobile accident, leaving him in a wheelchair. Rita admits: “Financial problems cause tension. When you do not have the money to cover all the expenses in the home, it affects your mood.”

The Price of Stress
Whether you are young or old or the stress in your life comes from work or school, chronic stress can take a heavy toll on your health. One medical writer explains: “The stress response of the body is somewhat like an airplane readying for take-off.” Yes, when you feel stress, your heart rate and blood pressure soar. Your levels of blood sugar rise. Hormones are released. “If stress becomes persistent,” the same writer continues, “all parts of the body’s stress apparatus (the brain, heart, lungs, vessels, and muscles) become chronically over- or under-activated. This may produce physical or psychologic damage over time.” The list of illnesses in which stress may play a role is alarmingly long: heart disease, stroke, immune disorders, cancer, musculoskeletal disorders, and diabetes, to name just a few.
“The pressure can build up so much that I feel as though I will explode”
Of particular concern is the unhealthy way in which many—especially young ones—try to cope with stress. Dr. Bettie B. Youngs laments: “It is very depressing to find out that in their desire to escape from pain, teenagers take routes such as alcohol and drug abuse, truancy, delinquency, sexual promiscuity, aggression and violence, and running away from home—routes that lead them into problems more overwhelming than those they were trying to escape.”
Stress is a fact of modern living; it cannot be avoided entirely. But as the next article will show, there is much we can do to manage stress!