Can Christians Practice Yoga? 7 Biblical Truths to Help you Answer this Question (Part I)

This is a follow-up to my previous post, Can Christians practice yoga? A Christian yoga teacher’s exploration of this question. It is not my intention to convince you to share my conviction. Here, I simply share my research and my experience as a yoga teacher who is also a follower of Christ. I encourage you to seek God’s Word and godly counsel on the subject of practicing yoga as a Christian. While not an exhaustive list, here are seven Biblical principles and Truths that have helped me answer the question, “Can Christians practice yoga?”

Let us begin our exploration of yoga and Christianity…

*** Throughout this post I will be using the term “Christian” yoga to describe the practice of yoga from a Christian perspective. Yoga is not merely a form of exercise but is meant to be a spiritual discipline. I firmly believe that yoga is a spiritual practice for all, regardless of faith tradition.  Much like prayer and fasting, yoga can be practiced by Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, or atheists. (For more see the course, Defining Yoga: through history, philosophy, and worldview.) Though yoga was birthed through a culture steeped in Hindu and Buddhist philosophies, the practice has much to offer followers of Christ. Here, for purposes of clarification, not appropriation, I will differentiate yoga practiced from a Christian perspective with the term “Christian” yoga.  

1 “Christian” yoga can help us to live more fully and wholly who God created us to be

God is worthy of our complete devotion. When asked which was the greatest commandment, Jesus responded “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Jesus is pointing out the fact that we are meant to love God with ALL of who we are and with every aspect of our being. This command highlights the importance of loving God fully and wholly.

The beauty of a traditional yoga practice is that it engages the student holistically: body, mind, and spirit. Yoga, as a practice, leads to yoga as a state of being. This “state of yoga” points to our ability, as humans, to gather all aspects of ourselves together in order to connect and commune with our Creator.

When practicing from a Christian perspective, yoga helps us to gather the fullness of who we were created to be: heart, soul, mind, and strength in order to love God with our whole being and to live the life that we were created to live. (For more see, What is yoga?) 

2 It can help us to embody worship and prayer

If we look closely, the Scriptures teach us how to worship and to pray with our whole being. Kneeling, standing, lying down, and sitting are just some of the postures of prayer that we find in the Bible. Engaging our body can be a powerful way to help cultivate, and also to reflect, the inward state of our heart and mind.

Throughout Scripture, we find embodied worship and prayer: the woman bent over seeking healing, the woman sitting at Jesus’ feet listening attentively, and the psalmist lying in bed examining his own heart and meditating on God. (Luke 13: 10–13; Luke 10:38–42; Psalm 4:4 & 63:6) These examples demonstrate that the posture of our body can enrich our prayer-life and help us to be more fully engaged in worship. 

Likewise, the physical practices of yoga can help us be intentional about coming home, back into our own bodies in prayerful ways. Yoga postures, like those mentioned above, give us a creative opportunity to explore what it means to embody our prayers as followers of Christ. 

Even simple practices, such as bringing awareness to our breath, can usher us into a time of prayer. When we inhale and exhale mindfully, we are awakened to the gift of our breath. We are reminded that God is breathing this Breath of Life into our lungs both physically and spiritually. In this way, our breath itself can become a prayer to God. 

Likewise, simple gestures can help us to enter into a state of worship.  When we place our hands over our heart, we are awakened to the miracle of life. As we sense our heartbeat, and feel the blood pumping through our body, we are reminded that life is a gift from God. In this way, our gestures can become an act of worship.

3 It helps us to view our body as a gift from God

Many people have a complex relationship with their body. Body image, the way we view ourselves and our body, is influenced by a variety of factors. The practices of yoga can improve our body image by helping us to view our body as a gift from God. Each muscle, ligament, organ, and appendage of our body is a wondrous and creative work of God. His very own artwork and masterpiece!

Yoga practices such as breathwork, posture, and drawing inward help us to experience ourselves from the inside out (rather than from the outside in). This allows us to look beyond what we see in the mirror and recognize our true identity- a child of God, created by God, and made in his image.

During a yoga practice, we are reminded that our body is God’s creation. Scripture says that we are God’s handi-work. He knit us together in our mother’s womb. As we explore our body through various postures and embodiment practices, we learn to appreciate the architecture of our body as God’s artwork and his masterpiece. When we find places in our body that seem more tightly “knit” together than others, we can experience these sensations with appreciation and curiosity rather than frustration and disappointment. (Ephesians 2:10; Psalm 139:13-14)

4 “Christian” yoga helps us to awaken to the indwelling presence of God

Our bodies are God’s temple. God’s people, both individually and collectively, are the dwelling place of God on earth. Paul, in his letter to Corinth, teaches that we no longer need to go to the temple in order to encounter the presence of God. Under the new covenant, followers of Christ can now experience the presence of God in their own body.

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Yoga helps us to set aside all distractions with the intention of drawing near to the indwelling presence of God.  The practice of yoga teaches us how to be an observer in our body. Practices such as drawing inward, breath-work, posture, and meditation help us to awaken to our inner landscapes- which so often go unnoticed. These practices help Christians to enter into our own inner sanctuaries in order to awaken to the ever-present Holy Spirit dwelling within. 

In our next blog post, 7 Biblical truths about yoga and Christianity (part II) we will explore the final 3 Biblical Truths and  principles that might help you to answer the, Can Christians practice Yoga?

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