Of Yoga and The Snake

Everyone has their believes and religion and everyone is entitled to practise those believes but no one has the right to judge another religion. Look, before I continue any further, I want to say I do not intend to offend anybody and start something and if you think this post offends you, speak out by commenting and I will remove it if there are more than 5 different people are offended. I'm writing this because I just read an e-mail sent to me by one of my friend about yoga and want to give my opinion on that, its a forwarded e-mail. Long story short, it says yoga is a form of spiritual exercise aimed to arouse the Hindu spirit of the snake and open the third eye which lets a person see into another world. In the e-mail, this is made a reason why Christians should avoid it. 1st of all, I'd like to say I am not christian but I do know a thing or two bout the religion. In Christianity, the snake is viewed as evil but not every religion says so. Yoga need not be a spiritual exercise , it can be just exercise. That is if you view it to be so. Okay, I know some reading this will be thinking its none of my business and yeah , I guess it really is none of my business but I'm gonna write about it anyways.

The thing is, everyone is allowed to do anything they like as long as it is well within the confines of the law. Here's what I think about Christians practising yoga - it is perfectly OK. I mean c'mon, if you're a stout believer in Christianity, I don't think doing a few poses will make you bad or evil, right? Besides if you think that a christian doing yoga makes the person deviate from Christianity, then let me ask you this- what do you think of those who actually believe in the spiritual power of yoga? Do you feel that the devil already has them, that they no longer have hope? If not, then how can a Christian be corrupted simply by doing a few movement and poses.

Yes, those poses are symbolic of animals but only if you view them to be so, if you don't then they are no more than movement and poses that helps one's health. Ever heard of Chinese martial art or wushu? The movements in wushu are largely based on the movements animals - the mantis, the tiger, the monkey and even the snake. When a person practises the movements in these forms of wushu, they in a way become one with the animal they are mimicking and make every strike, every kick more than just a strike and a kick. For example, a person that fights in the tiger style will move in a way symbolic of the power and aggression of the tiger and a person fighting in the style of the snake will move as if he is flowing and his strikes will be fast and accurate like that of a snake striking prey. So if you think yoga is bad because it supposed to summon a snake spirit, then do you think the same for the snake fighting style of wushu?

In the e-mail, there are supposed instances of people losing their mind because practising yoga opened their third eye and let them see in to the world of demons. Well here's another word to describe the "Seeing into the demon world" - HALLUCINATION. If you practise yoga and you see things, do not go blaming yoga without thinking. If something like this really happens to a person, he is in need of immediate medical attention because hallucination is one of the tell tale symptoms of schizophrenia which is a form of mental illness that we normally view as craziness.
Chances are that the things the person see is not real and are just figments of his imagination caused by stress or substance abuse rather than some evil spirit.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if a person wants to do yoga, Christian or not, just let him do it for its his choice and its not our place to judge another religion's believe no matter what we think of it. So if you think yoga will somehow make you bad, then don't do it and if you feel that its good for your health, the just go for it. Remember this, a belief is powerful only if you believe. That is why its called a belief and not something else.