Source: " http://www.praisemoves.com/ChristianAlternative.htm "

Dear all Vegetarian Vision Members,


I am glad I found this article. I have learned a significant amount
about the connections between yoga and the Hindu religon from this
article, even though this was written by someone who may not know
much about this subject, in spite of having explored the subject for
many years. Thanks to the writer, whoever he or she is....

Why A Christian ALTERNATIVE to Yoga?
Those who think yoga is little more than a series of stress-
relieving stretching exercises may be surprised to learn about true
foundation of the multi-billion dollar yoga craze in North America.


There are an estimated 15-20 million people practicing yoga in the
U.S., and estimates of 50,000 to 100,000 yoga instructors offering
classes at 20,000+ locations

Did you know that yoga postures are offerings to the 330 million
Hindu gods?

I call yoga "the missionary arm of Hinduism and the New Age
movement." We don't often think of other religions having
missionaries, but the philosophy and practice of yoga have been
primary tools of Hindu "missionaries" to America since "Indian
priest and mystic" Swami Vivekananda introduced yoga to the West at
the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago.[i]

Another Hindu missionary welcomed into elite circles was Paramahansa
Yogananda who started the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los
Angeles. He cleverly chose to demonstrate that yoga was completely
compatible with Christianity. Wearing a cross, he came to America in
the 1920s with the Hindu religious text, the Bhagavad Gita, in one
hand and the Bible in the other. He reasoned that yoga was the
binding force that could connect all religions.

From experience I can say that yoga is a dangerous practice for the
Christian and leads seekers away from God rather than to Him. You
may say, "Well, I'm not doing any of the meditation stuff. I'm just
following the exercises." It is impossible, however, to separate the
subtleties of yoga the technique from yoga the religion. I know
because I taught and practiced hatha yoga for years. Hatha yoga is
the most popular yoga style available on store-bought videos and in
most gyms. For an eye-opening account of the background and meaning
of "hatha yoga," please see my notes at the bottom of this page

"The term Hatha Yoga has been commonly used to describe the practice
of asana (postures). The syllable 'ha' denotes the pranic (vital)
force governing the physical body and 'tha' denotes the chitta
(mental) force thus making Hatha Yoga a catalyst to an awakening of
the two energies that govern our lives. More correctly the
techniques described in Hatha Yoga harmonize and purify the body
systems and focus the mind in preparation for more advanced chakra
and kundalini practices.


"Let us see the meaning of word Hatha, it is made up of Ha +
Tha. "Ha" means Ida nadi, (moon principle) or left nostril and "tha"
means Pingala Nadi (sun principle) or right nostril. Nadi means
psychic passage of energy which can be compared with nerves in
physical body. Hatha means balance of Ida and Pingala Nadis, or
balancing of mental energy of Ida and Vital energy of Pingala Nadi.
Ida Nadi can be compared with Parasympathetic Nervous system and
Pingala nadi can be compared with Sympathetic Nervous System. So
Hatha Yoga practices results in balancing the entire nervous system.
The basic purpose of Hatha Yoga is to purify the Ida and Pingala
Nadis and then uniting these 2 forces with the third Psychic Nadi
Sushumna, which carries Kundalini at Ajna Chakra (eyebrow center)."

- Yogacharya Vishwas Mandlik, Vice Chancellor of Yoga at Vidya
Gurukul (Yoga University).