Understanding Yoga

Holy Yoga: Exercise for the Christian Body and Soul
By Brooke Boon

People often equate yoga with Eastern religion, but Brooke Boon sees it as an exercise style that Christians can use to generate patience, strength, and deeper worship.

Author and yoga instructor Brooke Boon combines her passion for Christianity with her commitment to health to introduce yoga as a physical and spiritual discipline that strengthens the body and the soul. Clear explanations and photographs make yoga accessible for any reader, and Brooke offers customized routines for readers struggling with specific issues, such as weight loss and anxiety. Through it all Brooke uses scriptural references to help reinforce the idea that by taking care of our bodies we can also take care of our faith.

Chapter 1

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus.

Romans 15:5

When I first began to practice yoga, I was attending secular yoga classes that incorporated aspects of Eastern or New Age thought. My teachers routinely encouraged their students to "look within" to find their divinity. They whispered promptings for us to seek enlightenment through oneness with the universe. They taught that everything we need is all inside of us - we just have to find it.

I guess it was intended to be a comforting and hopeful message. But when I was told it was "all about me," I wasn't comforted at all. Frankly, it scared me to death. I hadn't met Christ yet but I was searching, and I knew that whatever I needed, it wasn't inside of me. My train wreck of a life had given me clear evidence of that! I would go to those classes and practice the postures, all the while thinking that if it was really all about me, then I had a serious problem. I didn't know much, but one thing was clear: I could not continue to do life all by myself.

When I became a Christian and began learning how to use yoga in my spiritual walk with Jesus, it was such a relief! How comforting to know that living life in peace and joy doesn't depend on me. Thank You, Jesus, for being my Savior, thank You that it's not all up to me!

I went into those secular classes unaware of the history, traditions, philosophies, and spiritual aspects of yoga. Like many Western practitioners of yoga today, I just wanted to get into shape! Being ignorant made me vulnerable to an Eastern spiritual influence, but praise God, it never became something that interested me. It actually never felt right to me. Once I was reborn in Jesus Christ, I finally knew why.

You don't need to know the entire history of yoga to understand what it is and how it can help you. I certainly don't want to bore you with a long history lesson. You can walk into a gym or yoga studio any day of the week and begin practicing yoga right away as I did, without knowing a thing. But there are certain things about yoga that are fascinating, and knowing them will help your practice and your motivation. There are also a few misunderstandings about yoga that we'll need to clear up, so that you're not going into this endeavor with false assumptions. Most importantly, there are distinctions that we'll need to make between Holy Yoga and all other styles.

First, let's get to know the basics about yoga.

What Is Yoga?

The whole system of yoga is built on three main structures: physical postures, breathing, and meditation. The postures (or poses) in yoga are designed to put pressure on the glandular systems of the body, thereby increasing the body's efficiency and total health. The muscles are alternately stretched and contracted, and spaces are made in the joints to increase elasticity and range of motion. Yoga looks upon the body as the primary instrument that enables us to work and evolve in the world, and so a yoga student treats it with great care and respect.

Breathing techniques are based on the concept that breath is the source of life in the body. The yoga student gently increases breath control to improve the health and function of both body and mind. These two systems of poses and breathing then prepare the body and mind for meditation, and the student finds an easy approach to a quiet mind that allows silence and healing from everyday stress. Regular daily practice of all three parts of this structure of yoga produce a clear, bright mind and a strong, capable body.

No one knows exactly when yoga began, but it certainly predates written history. Stone carvings depicting figures in yoga positions have been found in archeological sites in the Indus Valley dating back five thousand years or more.1 There is a common misconception that yoga is rooted in Hinduism; on the contrary, Hinduism's religious structures evolved much later and incorporated some of the physical practices of yoga. Other religions throughout the world have also incorporated physical practices and ideas related to yoga.

The tradition of yoga has always been passed on individually from teacher to student through oral instruction and practical demonstration. The formal techniques that are now known as yoga are, therefore, based on the collective experiences of many individ-uals over centuries. The particular manner in which the techniques are taught and practiced today depends on the approach passed down in the line of teachers supporting the individual practitioner.

The word yoga comes from an ancient Sanskrit word meaning "unity" or "to join." It also connotes discipline or effort. Yoga is about using discipline and effort toward the goal of unity.

Scripture has much to say about unity! Jesus prayed for His disciples and all believers that we would be unified in each other and in Him (John 17:20-24). The apostle Paul urged us repeatedly to be unified in the body of Christ. In Colossians 3:14, Paul reminded us that love is the virtue that "binds them all together in perfect unity."

But is the unity of yoga the same as the unity we pursue as Christians? Traditionally, yoga is the discipline of unifying the body, mind, and spirit. In Holy Yoga, we pursue unity of body, mind, and His Holy Spirit that dwells within us, with the intent of worshiping and serving Christ with our entire beings.

Many of us walk around in a fragmented state, whether or not we realize it. We experience our emotions separate from our thoughts; we experience our bodies as distinct from our minds; we disconnect our spiritual lives from everything else, relating to God only on Sunday mornings or in dedicated times of prayer. In truth, all this compartmentalization is a false way of living. We are integrated beings: our thoughts, feelings, bodily experiences, and spiritual longings are all a part of who we are and are not meant to be experienced as separate.

In order to worship God fully and to experience the lives He has set out for us, we need to be our most authentic, real, whole selves. Holy Yoga is a means to unifying ourselves so that we can open up fully to God's grace and love. Think about how this might play out in your life. You may be mentally willing and seeking the Lord, but your emotions are a mess. Or perhaps you are seeking God with your heart, but your mind can't seem to grasp the reality. You might be desiring closeness with the Lord, but your body is betraying you in some way, through pain or illness, and it causes you to falter on your spiritual path. All these schisms between mind, body, and spirit prevent us from experiencing the fullness of God, which then diminishes our ability to worship Him completely.

As we work to unify our bodies, minds, and spirits with the Lord, we also naturally open up to more genuine union with others around us. This leads directly to one of the goals of our Christian lives: to be "one in the Spirit," or unified in the body of Christ. I like the way Paul put it in his letter to the Ephesians: "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" (4:3-6). The idea of unity is a beautiful, biblical picture of God's perfect desire for His people.

Copyright © by Holy Yoga Living, LLC

About the Author

Brooke Boon lives in Phoenix, Arizona.