Posted by simon (80.1.88.170) on September 30, 2003 at 08:07:51:

In Reply to: Wouldn't practicing religious yoga be like attending church? posted by Dawud on September 30, 2003 at 03:56:01:

Thanks, I hadn't looked at it that way. I would say that I practice yoga for selfish reasons (it makes me feel good) as opposed to wishing to be ecumenical, which I guess has higher motives.

When I really think about it, deep down I am slightly uncomfortable about yoga because it's so great that it leads to a self-centered sort of euphoria where one spends ones quiet minutes considering the inner self / searching for even more euphoria, where as a Bahai I should turn away from the "self" and look outwardly with love to those around me. Somehow it's hard to find room for both.

Perhaps that's the key to why it's viewed as incompatable with our faith or, for example, Christianity (depending on which sect you adhere to, i.e. see the famous book Christian Yoga).

In my defence for the usual various work/family reasons I have no other real hobby/form of release, if I had a more balanced life perhaps there would be room for both ??

Yoga makes you feel good. Jogging makes you feel good too. Should joggers feel guilty about that ? I don't know.

If you read through this posting I have used the pronoun "I" a lot, which I seem to remember will one day be regarded as profanity by Bahais, so there's probably something going wrong somewhere.

Kindest regards

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