Through the influence of celebrities and social media (influencers), yoga has re-entered the western world. Because in the eighties, yoga was also very popular and many people traveled all the way to India to learn and practice yoga. Today, many people practice yoga. They either practice classical yoga or a type of yoga, like hatha yoga, ashtanga yoga, kundalini yoga, Bikram yoga, etc., or a derivative form of yoga, like pilates. Although there are people, who say that pilates isn’t a derivative form of yoga. People practice yoga for various reasons, like physical and mental health benefits; relaxation, stress relief, anxiety relief or pain relief, burn-out recovery, depression, physical exercise, weight loss, etc. According to Forbes (March 2016), 37 million people in the United States practice yoga, and the number of people practicing yoga is only increasing. Yoga may seem safe, innocent, peaceful, relaxing, and beneficial for your body and mind and people may feel good in the beginning and experience the benefits of yoga, but what happens next? What is yoga exactly? What is the origin of yoga? Is yoga a physical practice, is it just stretching, or is there more to it? Is yoga safe and harmless to practice or is yoga dangerous? Or is yoga occult and are there spiritual dangers of yoga? Should Christians practice yoga? Does Christian yoga exist? What does the Bible say about yoga? What happens in the spiritual realm when you practice yoga? What’s the danger of yoga that many people are not aware of?
What is yoga?
The word ‘yoga’ derives from the Sanskrit word ‘Yuj’, and means: ‘yoke’, to (re)unite, to connect.
Yoga is a system of physical postures, breathing techniques, and meditation for attaining physical or mental control and well-being. The main goal is to unite the soul (spirit) with the body and to empty yourself.
Yogis and people, who practice yoga, speak about the spirit and how the spirit must be united with the body. But the truth is, that as long as a person is not born-again in Jesus Christ the spirit is still dead. As long as a person is not born again, the person only has a body and a soul.
The soul, however, possesses great power, which a lot of people consider as spiritual power coming from the spirit. Therefore, when a person practices yoga, the power in the soul is generated. People think it’s the power of the spirit, but in reality, it is the power of the soul.
In the modern world, yoga is often considered a system of physical postures, breathing techniques, and meditation, to obtain and/or improve physical and mental health and relaxation instead of part of a religion or philosophical way of living.
More and more doctors and psychologists refer their patients to yoga institutions or places, where they practice yoga. They don’t see the danger of yoga but consider yoga as a therapy to improve mental and physical health and reduce the level of stress, anxiety, pain, etc. They are not aware of the spiritual danger of yoga and don’t know that their patients will not be healed at all but will open themselves to the dangers of yoga.
If they would only know the truth about yoga and knew the danger of yoga, then they would stop immediately referring their patients to yoga institutions.
What are types of yoga?
There are many types of yoga. There is classical yoga, hatha yoga, Laya yoga, Jnana yoga, bhakti yoga, Bikram yoga, Sivananda yoga, karma yoga, viniyoga, Ashtanga yoga, kundalini yoga, restorative yoga, Jivamukti yoga, tantric yoga, Kripalu yoga, Ananda yoga, cardiac yoga, Anusara yoga, bahaya yoga, white lotus yoga, dream yoga, laughter yoga, integral yoga, anti-gravity yoga, Iyengar yoga, naked yoga (yoga gymnosophy, power yoga, svaroopa yoga, yin yoga, zen yoga, etc.
What people don’t know about yoga
Yoga has its roots in Hinduism. The physical postures are (or derived from) worship poses to gods. Hinduism has hundreds of gods. Every exercise worships a Hindu god. Almost every yoga session starts by worshipping the sun-god Surya.
As a Christian, you know, that there is only one God; the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, You should worship Him alone and no other god. Because the other gods are no gods.
Behind the Hindu gods are demons. Therefore every time, when you practice a yoga pose you worship a demon.
When you worship a demon you give the demon access to your life.
Because you yield yourself to the demon. By bowing down for him you acknowledge him as a god; as lord.
You can’t separate yoga from religion, despite what people say. Because many people say, “yoga is just stretching'”. But yoga is not just stretching, yoga is not just an exercise, yoga is part of a religion.
You can’t separate yoga from Hinduism, because yoga has its roots in Hinduism. Yoga has its origin in Hinduism. Even when people give other designations. Yoga is and will always remain a Hindu theistic philosophy that teaches the suppression of all activity of body, mind, and will, in order that the ‘self’ may realize its distinction from them and attain liberation (Merriam-Webster).
Although there are many types of yoga and derivatives of yoga, they all derive from Hinduism.
What are the seven chakras of yoga?
When you practice yoga, there are several levels you can reach. There are 7 levels in total. These levels are called chakras. Every time when you do and control a certain amount of physical postures and breathing techniques, you unlock a chakra.
For example, you start with your belly. When you practice breathing exercises and do certain physical postures, you will unlock the first chakra.
When you unlock the first chakra, you will experience some kind of physical energy. After you have unlocked the first chakra, you will continue with the second chakra and then the third chakra, fourth chakra, etc. until you have unlocked all seven chakras.
The last chakra is the crown chakra; your head, that will control your tongue. When you’ve opened the seventh chakra, you will be able to communicate in the spiritual realm and will speak in other tongues.
This speaking in other tongues originates from the devil and not from God. The devil always copies God, because the devil wants to be like God.
Speaking in other tongues is caused by demonic powers, who use your tongue to speak. When you have opened all 7 chakras of your body, you have emptied yourself completely.
By this time, you think that you control your body and your mind. But the truth is, by opening the last chakra, you have given your soul and body to the devil. You have given your life completely to him and his demons.
What you must know before entering the spiritual realm
It can be very dangerous when you enter the spiritual realm from your soul (flesh) in your own authority. Because you don’t have any authority by yourself in the spiritual realm. You enter illegally and therefore you have no protection at all.
When you enter the spiritual realm from your soul, you will open yourself to evil spirits (demons), who will enter and attack you in the flesh; your soul and body.
This could happen immediately, but it doesn’t have to.
In many cases, it will take a while, before these evil spirits will manifest themselves in your life.
The more you open yourself to the spiritual realm and these evil spirits, the worse the attacks will become.
When you practice yoga, you enter the spiritual realm in your own authority, and slowly, depending on the exercises and the level you are operating in, you will open yourself to evil spirits, who will enter your life and take you captive.
The danger of yoga:
demons invited through ignorance
The truth is, that by practicing breathing exercises (breathing through the belly), physical postures, and meditation, you will invite the Hindu gods, who are in reality demons (devils), into your life. You will bow down and worship them and identify and devote yourself to them.
The danger of yoga is, that when you unlock the chakras and eventually reach the seventh chakra, you will be taken captive by demons, whether you want to or not. You have invited them yourself and have given them access to your life and they accepted your invitation. Now that they have entered your life, they will take over and control your life.
Maybe you don’t like this truth and this hidden danger of yoga and say: “But I didn’t know that”. Well, unfortunately, the devil and his demons don’t care whether you knew this or not.
The fact is, you have worshipped them, by bowing down to them. You are the one, who has given them access to your life. Through your ignorance and lack of knowledge, they have taken possession of your mind (soul) and your body (Read also: ‘Can you separate the spiritual from Eastern philosophies and practices?‘).
Should Christians practice yoga?
God says in His Word, that by a lack of knowledge, His people are being destroyed. And that is absolutely true! God is very clear in His Word. When God says, that you shouldn’t bow down to other gods and worship them, nor become a partaker of other religions or philosophies, you should listen to God and obey Him, instead of being disobedient and rejecting the truth of His Word.
Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them, for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God (Exodus 20:4-5)
It is already bad enough that people, who don’t know God are misled by all these lies to practice yoga for health benefits to reduce the level of stress and anxiety, for relaxation, to find inner peace, improve posture, improve breathing, improve physical and mental health, muscle flexibility, weight loss, to get rid of insomnia, etc. They are carnal and not spiritual, therefore they can’t see the spiritual danger of yoga.
But the fact, that Christians also believe these lies and don’t see the spiritual danger of yoga but succumb to this yoga trend and practice yoga is unbelievable!
The reason why many Christians don’t see the danger of yoga and succumb to yoga and think it’s alright to practice yoga, is all because they are not truly born again and don’t know the true Word, Jesus Christ (Read also: ‘A counterfeit Jesus produces counterfeit Christians‘).
Because how can you confess Jesus Christ with your mouth and at the same time participate in Hinduism by practicing yoga and bowing down before Hindu gods (demons) and worshiping them? It’s impossible!
If you are born again and your spirit is raised from the dead, how can you not see the spiritual danger of yoga?
Many Christians do their best to justify yoga and Christianize yoga
A lot of so-called Christians, who don’t see the spiritual danger of yoga but practice yoga and consider yoga as a set of harmless physical exercises, try to justify yoga by Christianizing yoga.
They say that they worship the Son (Jesus) instead of the sun. They say that they use their yoga time for meditation on the scriptures. And during the yoga exercises and meditation, they pray to Jesus. What nonsense!
It’s the same nonsense as when a group of young people goes to clubs every weekend, dancing and drinking, and say (lie) that they go to the clubs to evangelize and convert people.
When you enter the territory of the devil, the devil takes possession of you. Whether you want to or not. It is the same with yoga (all types of yoga and derivates of yoga, including power yoga, pilates, etc.). Behind all the Hindu gods is the devil. You sit upon the devil’s yoga mat and worship his minions (demons).
Wat are negative side effects of yoga?
What will be the fruit of yoga? At first, you will feel different and experience a change. This can be a positive change or a negative change. After yoga, you may feel a little bit better and feel relaxed. You may experience some physical and mental health improvements, but this will only be temporary.
After some time of practicing yoga, you will experience the negative side effects of yoga. You will experience a change in your physical and mental state; in your body, mind (the way you think), behavior, and character. You may experience the following things:
- You may become less tolerant, easily irritated, selfish, and experience more negative feelings, like jealousy, hate, anger, etc towards others, which you can’t control.
- You may be overwhelmed with negative thoughts about yourself and see yourself in a negative way.
- You’ll become fearful, insecure, anxious and suddenly start to have panic attacks.
- You start hearing inner voices or voices in your head, telling you what to do.
- You have difficulty sleeping and experience insomnia.
- You’ll become overwhelmed by negative feelings, like feelings of depression and suicidal thoughts
- When you are happily married, suddenly you begin to see your spouse in a different negative way, you will become annoyed and irritated by her. You will have more arguments and fights, causing your marriage to end up in a divorce.
- You used to be energetic, but after practicing yoga you feel constantly tired
- You used to be healthy, but now you are often sick or are diagnosed with a (deathly) disease like cancer
- …
Does Christian yoga exist?
Christian yoga doesn’t exist! The truth is that Christian yoga is the same as yoga. You may try to Christianize yoga, by putting the word ‘Christian’ before it, speaking a few religious words, meditating on scriptures, and praying in your mind during a yoga session, but the breathing and physical exercises remain the same and therefore you will still worship the Hindu gods; demons.
Putting the word ‘Christian’ in front of something and Christianizing it, doesn’t make it alright, approved, and justified to God.
The truth is, when a so-called Christian wants to practice yoga, it shows that (s)he is still carnal and still loves the world and the things of the world. Therefore (s)he wants to live like the world, doing the same things like the people, who belong to the world. The person is carnal and doesn’t discern the spiritual realm.
What does the Bible say about yoga and idolatry?
But the Word says: Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch no unclean thing; And I will receive you, And will be to you a Father, And ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)
The Lord says, that you should not get involved with idolatry. Because, there is no concord between Jesus and Belial, or in this case between Jesus and the Hindu gods.
Jesus Christ is the only God that you serve. When you bow down to other gods, you reject Jesus Christ and actually say, that Jesus is not good enough for you. Because if Jesus was good enough for you, then you wouldn’t look elsewhere and participate in other religions and philosophies (Read also: ‘If you have found the Truth, why are you still searching?’).
Jesus Christ is your Healer
Jesus Christ is Jehovah Rapha, He is your Healer. If Jesus is your Healer, then why do you practice yoga to feel better? Jesus is Jehovah Shalom, the God your Peace, but you practice yoga to get inner peace, relax, and experience peace.
If yoga is so important to you and you want to continue with yoga, what does Jesus mean to you?
It is written: ‘and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Jehovah thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven’ (Deuteronomy 4:19 (read also: Deuteronomy 17:3, and 2 Kings 23:5)).
The Word says, that you should separate, consecrate and sanctify yourself from the world (system), instead of following the world.
The Word has revealed to you, who the god of this world is and what the final destination of those, who belong to the world, is.
Jesus has called you to holiness. He has made you holy and righteous, by His sacrifice; by His blood.
Jesus says: come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30)
You have been given free will, to make choices in life. You can choose to take the yoke of Jesus Christ upon you or you can choose to take the yoke of the devil upon you, because yoga means yoke (Read also: ‘Is the yoke of Jesus easy and His burden light?‘).
Every person needs Jesus Christ
Jesus came to redeem mankind from the power and authority of the devil, who is the god of this world. Therefore every person needs Jesus Christ. Everyone may come to Jesus, there is no one, who is not allowed to come to Him and receive redemption.
It doesn’t matter, what you have done in the past or what kind of person you are. Jesus has carried your sins and iniquities at the cross and took the punishment for your sins, which is death upon Himself.
Jesus carried it all for you. So that you won’t have to carry it anymore and live under the oppression of sin and guilt and under the authority of death, but live in freedom in Christ instead (Read also: ‘The true meaning of the cross‘)
How to get peace for your soul?
If you are heavy-laden or feel exhausted, restless, depressed, anxious, stressed, chaotic, worried, sad, depressed, etc. then there is only one place to get peace for your soul and that is in Jesus Christ. Jesus alone can give you peace and the rest you need. The methods of the world may seem like they can solve your problems, but in reality, they can’t and will only make your problems worse. Because the methods of the world originate from the same source that caused your problems, namely the source of the kingdom of darkness.
When you draw from the right source; the Source of life (Jesus Christ), only then will you find, what you’ve been looking for.
If you want to find out the truth and want to draw from the right Source, then open your Bible, the Word of God (Jesus).
When you study and renew your mind with the word, meditate upon the Word, and become a doer of the Word, you shall get real peace.
The peace, which Jesus promised you to have, is not the peace of the world, but it’s the peace of God that passes all understanding.
A peace that isn’t dependent upon circumstances and situations, but it’s a constant peace inside of you.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7)
If you want to find out more about the spiritual dangers in your everyday life, you may also want to read: ‘The danger of Buddha statues’, ‘The danger of mindfulness’, ‘The danger of meditation’ or ‘the danger of …‘
‘Be the salt of the earth’
