Yoga Anyone?

by dobby 27 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  dobby

  I just read with interest an article entitled Yoga - Just an Exercise or Something More? in the August 1, 2002 Watchtower.

  I know that growing up a witness I had always been told that Yoga was related to spiritism and the occult. However, with the popularity of Yoga among the mainstream in recent years as a means to keep fit not as a means to find spiritual enlightment, I thought the society may have lightened up a bit. I couldn't have been more wrong! Ignorance and demon hysteria still reign in regard to Yoga.

  Check out some of the more ridiculous comments made in the article:

  "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....Artifacts from both areas portray a man, representing a deity, crowned with animal horns and surrounded by animals, reminiscent of Nimrod, the "mighty hunter".

  (Nimrod-the first guy to try transcendental meditation?)

  "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?"

  (Hmmm, could it be Satan?)

  "Hindu philosophers admit that the practice of yoga can give supernatural powers...a Christian must ask, Of what are these feats an indication? Are they from Jehovah God...or are they from some other source?

  (They were bit by a radioactive mutated spider that gave them amazing superpowers!)

  "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...one is quoted as saying "I made superhman efforts to hold my breath...One day at high noon, I thought I saw a bright moon...Another time I imagined myself enveloped in thick darkness at midday...the second man relates...He (his instructor) obliged me to stare at the sky every day without blinking...sometimes I thought I saw sparks of fire in the air.

  (Gee, didn't your mother ever tell you not to look directly at the sun?)
• 

  Marilyn

  Usual clap trap.

  Marilyn
• 

  MrMoe

  Ok, I am spiritual, everybody by now knows this. I do yoga type stuff for 2 reasons:

  1) To meditate - yes and it can be highly "pagan" or non-jw

  2) To exercise - which is not pagan

  Usually when I do mediate for spiritual purposes, I do a lot more than yogo and we will leave it at that.

  But, mind you there is even a Yoga magazine I get that discusses karma and spirituality, they are very closely linked. Not tryin' to play devil's advocate, but I do more than "dabble" into the "occult sciences" and am fully aware of what yoga can be used for. The optimal word here, tho, is CAN.

  The problem here is, a devout JW is NOT going to use Yoga to reach spirits and the like, so the WT needs to give it a rest. THE END

  Kisses,

  Moe

  P.S. - they are jsut afraid a dub may find this life-style more enlightening and do an about face and ake thier money with them.

  Edited by - MrMoe on 25 June 2002 0:31:27
• 

  Bhagavad

  The WT claims that Yoga is a meditation technique whereby one "empties the mind, and of course that's when the demons can get in." Sheer nonsense. Yoga helps one to STILL the mind and calm the body. Yoga does not teach people to EMPTY the mind or put the body into a trance. So they slander a meditation technique that works because they don't want any of their puppets to derive any benefit from sources other than the WT. That might cause some of them to THINK. They slander hypnotism in a similar way.
• 

  bad_associashun

  I too noticed this little magazine info nugget on yoga, however the classes I attend provide no 'supernatural light'- excellent for balance, flexibility & breathing- the room is 105 degrees. Quite a rush.
• 

  Mimilly

  I do yoga as a means of relaxing and stretching the tension out. It's a great way to relax and get in shape. I'm a spiritual person, but doing yoga has nothing to do with that. Oh the nonsense they spew! Deminz indeed.... humbug!

  Mimilly
• 

  Siddhashunyata

  The WTBTS is an ego centered religion and as such everything it recommends strengthens the ego. Even their application of self sacrifice is worn on their sleeve and strengthens the very thing that stands in the way of liberation. How could they ever understand "transformation"? To them , the way to salvation is through "imitation". Thus they are a collection of individual egos imitating a collection of egoless individuals. That's why their love is false and their compassion is sectarian. As stated in another thread, an enlightened individual cannot be manipulated by the powers of this world and any technique that leads to enlightenment , that technique is a threat to those powers. Anything that threatens the WTBTS will be demonized by them. Its their style . Look how long it took them to accept the existence of the subconscious.(approximatly 1988 ). ( Not to mention the theological rat's nest they cunningly avoided by never discussing the relationship between "sin" and the subconscious.) For decades they demonized psychology and the sources of aberrant behavior in abused individuals. Now that Eastern spiritual practices are part of the mainstream they arrogantly dismiss them as from Satan.
• 

  Sirona

  OK this really p**sses me off. Why?

  My 50 odd year old JW mother has numerous health problems, including angina. She attended a really good yoga class with a highly qualified Yoga instructor. I attended once too. Basically it was purely excersize - only a very simple relaxation excersize was done at the end and that was not meditation. They would stretch their body (pure and simple). My mother was enjoying it and it was the only real excersize she was getting.

  Enter jealous, craggy old strict JW woman. She approaches my mother with old mag, showing that Yoga is devil worship. My mother was really upset. I tried to say that the type of Yoga that is religious is practiced by some, but that what she was doing was stretching. Would she listen? NO because of a bloody magazine. OK so now my mum doesn't excersize at all because cardio stuff is too tiring and dangerous for her. She walks the dog, thats about it.

  My sister and I were really annoyed at all of this. She was not practicing false worship! she was excersizing.

  What I want to know is if Yoga is so bad, are JWs going to eliminate all Yoga moves from their excersize routine? I don't know of any routine that doesn't involve, say, touching your toes. Or stretching up to the sky. Or stretching calf muscles. Yoga postures are found everywhere....under the guise of a warm up, or gentle stretching.
• 

  Francois

  MrMoe:

  I, too, am an adept at various eastern techniques and modes of non-thinking and non-doing. I wonder if you're referring to the technique of raising the Kundalini Fire by a most efficacious technique? I have found that works very acceptably, but sometimes it is difficult to find a willing partner. I take it you don't have that problem?

  Francois
• 

  HomebutHiding

  In skimming over the info from the watchtower article, I was struck by the constant use of vague and leading questions. My husband, a scholar and college professor, told me long ago how unscholarly such writing is. I find it as annoying as he does. HbH