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Thoughts on Yoga

by Rachel Lozano on April 22, 2020

In Unbound Ministry our heart is to focus on the person coming for ministry and the Lord's desire to set them free. Our goal is to focus on loving the person and helping them draw near to Christ.

Regarding yoga, we do not endorse it. We recognize that yoga originated in Hindu practices. To a Hindu, yoga is the outward physical expression of a deep spiritual belief. The physical positions assumed in yoga symbolize a spiritual act: worshiping one of the many Hindu gods.  Yoga for some becomes a means of salvation, a way of life. That being said we do not feel that everyone who does yoga is necessarily spiritually bound by it. For many people, yoga is strictly about exercise and they do not enter into any spiritual aspect of the practice. For others, yoga is a gateway to enter into the occult spiritual realm and can cause real bondage. With this in mind, we caution people that if they decide to practice yoga they should be aware of the risks involved. A Christian using yoga positions for exercise needs to keep their heart bound to the Lord.

As with all things, when ministering to a person using the Unbound model, we want the person who is coming for ministry to bring up what they feel bound by and where they need freedom. We do not want to ask questions that do not pertain to the story they are telling and we do not want a person to feel condemned or judged about the choices they have made. If the issue of practicing yoga does arise during an Unbound session, you can gently ask them what their experience has been (e.g. whether the yoga had any “spiritual” components like chanting, energies, or calling on gods or forces) and offer that yoga can sometimes lead to spiritual bondage. A person should not be forced to renounce yoga unless it is something they would like to do.

Tags: freedom, yoga, dignity of a person

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