disclaimer: the opinions presented below are my own. They do not reflect the views of any other person, studio or organization that blah. . .blah. . .blah.
God help me, I can't believe I'm actually going to say this.
I may not make it through this post without slamming my head penitently into the wall, a la Dobby the elf.
About the thing that jackass said?
He's not entirely wrong.
(Hang on a sec. I've just got to punish my fingers for typing that by singeing them on the red-hot burner of our glass top range.)
His concern is that yoga puts good Christians at risk of praying to Hindu Gods Krishna and Vishnu without even knowing it.
Firstoff, let me say that I'm not convinced that it's possible to pray inadvertently. Does worship really involve so little of our hearts and minds that we could do it accidentally? No. At worst, if we're chanting something that we don't know the meaning of we're just sort of skating along the surface of the experience. That's no more spooky or ominous than this is. It's hardly something to aspire to but not exactly tantamount to skating in Satan's roller derby either.
But let's be straight, okay? Is it really true to claim that Yoga isn't a religion? Are Yoga and Hinduism not entwined? Can one really be so easily disentangled from the other? Isn't that a little disingenuous? Do they not derive from the same source? What about Buddhism? Jainism? Come on, now. Let's credit people with having a little intelligence.
Does it mean that you're a Hindu if you chant Om Namah Shivaya in your yoga class? Does it mean that you're not a good Christian, if you are, in fact, a Christian?
Of course not, Pat. Dumbass.
Here's the part he's not wrong about:
(Bad tongue! Impale thyself upon this rusty fishhook. Quickly now!)
it would thimply be untrue to say that yoga can't be practiced as a religion.
Do some yoga teachers sometimes downplay the religious aspects of yoga to make it more palatable to more students? You betcha. It's kind of a pet peeve and I'm not so good with it. It bugs me when people lie.
I have zero interest in tricking people into praying. I start my classes with the Sanskrit invocation, "Om Namah Shivayah Gurave." Shiva is a Hindu deity. He's the Lord of Yoga, actually. For starters.
Please feel free to chant or not. Please feel free to interpret the chant mythically or literally. Please feel free to participate in opening up the chant to mean more than one thing. Just don't deny meaning that's actually meaningful to millions of people, okay? Because that? That would be disrespectful. And factually? It would just be wrong. Either of those things would be enough to piss me off.
But about that accidental prayer thing?
If it were to happen unwittingly? Despite your intentions?
Honestly?
Do you really think Jesus would mind?
