Quote:
Originally Posted by 33girl
Oh, and yoga is not a religion. That's like saying walking back and forth is a religion because you walk up to the communion rail.
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No, not really. Yoga, as widely practiced in the West has become pretty detached from religious underpinnings, but that just the Americanization of yoga. (McYoga, maybe?) I can tell you that when my wife was getting training as a yoga teacher, she had to read quite a few Hindi religious texts.
Per the ever-helpful Wiki:
Yoga (Devanagari: योग) is a family of ancient spiritual practices dating back more than 5000 years from India. It is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy. In India, Yoga is seen as a means to both physiological and spiritual mastery. Outside India, Yoga has become primarily associated with the practice of asanas (postures) of Hatha Yoga (see Yoga as exercise).
Yoga as a means of spiritual attainment is central to Hinduism (including Vedanta), Buddhism and Jainism and has influenced other religious and spiritual practices throughout the world. Hindu texts establishing the basis for yoga include the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and many others.
Don't get me wrong -- I don't have a problem at all with yoga, and I think these parents took a great big gulp of overreaction. (Although I tend to agree with shinerbock -- is this something for schools to get into?) But these parents are not kooky just for acknowledging that yoga can be a religious practice rooted in concepts that many conservative Christians might find problematic.
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