Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Yoga With a Christian Bent

ABC News: Yoga With a Christian Bent

Bent? Christian??????

*sigh*

{mumbles something slightly incoherent about 'them finding their own friggin' sandbox to play in'}...sorry....

OK - far be it for me (or any Yogi/Yogini) to keep anyone from participating in Yoga. That's not the right thing to do - be exclusive that is; everyone can do Yoga and all should be accepted with lovingkindness. However, removing the Hindu aspect because you don't feel comfy with it??? That's wrong in my book. They need to honour the practice as part of a whole just like the way they expect us to honor and respect their religious views....PERIOD.

I do not teach Yoga as a 'religious' pursuit. I DO consider it a 'spiritual' practice and I do not tone that down for students. I DO talk to my students about the history of Yoga, about what makes Yoga Yoga. We do chant in my Yoga class - but I tell people to chant along with me only if they are comfortable. I don't ram it down anyone's throat and I certainly try to make students as comfortable as possible. When discussing mantra and meditation I tell my students they can use a word that suits them, they do not have to focus on 'OM' or any other Sanskrit term - they can use words like Peace, Love, God, Jesus if they like. But I refuse to make Yoga out to be a 'Christian' thing it simply isn't. That does not mean I do not welcome Christians in my classes - that does not mean I look my nose down on them for being Christian - but it also does not mean that I change the references, the background, the very HISTORY of Yoga to make them feel better.

When I first began teaching, I had a large group of people who came to class (mainly cause I was teaching for free). At one point at the end of one of my sessions, I used the word Namaste. In essence the word Namaste in Sanskrit means 'The divine spirit in me honours/recognises the divine within you' - beautiful sentiment, right?

Wanna make a bet?

When asked for the definition of the word I used I freely gave it to the class not thinking anything about it. The next class I was cornered by 4-5 African American fundamentalist BAPTIST women who decided to get in my face for trying to 'change their religion'. I was stunned and kind of frightened. I apologised profusely to them. One of them kept going on and on about 'how dare I suggest that humans were divine, why was I trying to change their religion, and didn't I like Christians...' and on and on. Needless to say I did not answer how I wanted to by suggesting that since they felt they were made in the 'IMAGE' of their said God and since that same God was considered divine - would it not follow that...ok you people can do the math here, right? Further, if your 'faith' is so weak that the mere utterance of a single foreign word could change your beliefs - well then my dear sistah you are in deeper trouble with your God than you think and it obviously has nothing to do with me...and so on...

Nope I shut up. I wrote a letter of apology to the class and I said I would figure out a new way to end the class. And I did. What was nice was that one of them stood up for me and said that she for one thought they were being ignorant and ridiculous (Amen!) and she felt they should be grateful to me for teaching them for free.

I did take this 'predicament' to my own Yoga teachers. My one teacher, Larry got a bit upset stating in essence that I did not 'owe' them (meaning my teachers) anything and the main thing was to make students feel comfortable and at ease. That I could have used different words instead. Meanwhile Matt told me not to 1/2 step or 'water down' Yoga or teach 'fast-food' Yoga that I needed to teach the Yoga I was taught complete with it's history, and it's premise; if the students felt uncomfortable they could leave, because if they did not find fault with that it would be with something else. So in essence I got two different pieces of advice.

I decided to compromise. I did not use the word Namaste, but I did do an invocation after class:

Asato Ma Sat Gamaya
Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya
Mrityor Maamritam Gamaya

May we be led from the unreal to the real,
From darkness to light,
From fear to love,
From death to immortality.

And, I did chant 'Om, shanti, shanti, shanti' at the end of that 'prayer'.

Now I use the word Namaste to thank my students after our sessions and as a way to let them know how much I love them. I will not stop using this word. I will not change its meaning or back away from the sentiment anymore. To me this is the essence of what I do as a Yogini and teacher and if they indeed want some other type of Yoga, they can go to a local gym...and now, apparently to their local Christian church.

3 Comments:

Blogger Sarah said...

You are fine! There will always be the indignant minority that tries to make everything a huge issue but as a Christian yoga practitioner myself, I really enjoy when my instructors instruct us in chants, chakras and spiritual significance. You are right that if these elements are taken out of yoga, it's no more than stretching. Be confident doing your thing!

11:08 AM  
Blogger Colette said...

Sarah,

Thanks for writing - that means a lot to me to hear that.

Peace and light,
C -

1:20 PM  
Blogger Ken said...

"From death to immortality."

I don't believe in immortality! How dare you try to convert me!

haha, j/k ;)

Guess we can't please all of the people all of the time...

11:35 PM  

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