Yoga and Christianity

Yoga and Christianity are being bridged by many people who are trying to integrate Yoga with their roots of Christianity. Yoga is in religion, but religion is not in Yoga. Yoga is in Christianity, but Christianity is not in Yoga.

Yoga and Christianity are compatible: Yoga is increasingly being practiced by Christian people of the world, particularly in the West. While it is easy for critics to argue that the two are incompatible, many people intuitively know that Yoga, which is not a religion, and Christianity can be compatible. Actually, some principles of Yoga are already contained within Christianity and Christian meditation.

To say that Yoga can be compatible with Christianity is not to say that the two are the same. Compatibility and sameness are two very different principles. In addition, it is important to note that there may be individual denominations opposed to Yoga practices of body, breath, mind and philosophy, just as there are individual denominations opposed to medical treatment, modern technology, or a variety of social and cultural activities. However, the fact that some denominations are opposed, and thus incompatible with Yoga in their individual view, does not mean that the whole of Christianity is incompatible.

This paper seeks to provide a bridge for those Christians who are already engaged in Yoga as an additional spiritual practice; that is, who are trying to integrate their roots of Christianity with yoga.

Exoteric religion

Many of the Christians who are practicing Yoga are drawn to the esoteric spectrum, which belongs the domain of mysticism. Throughout human history the esoteric practitioners have been shunned by the more exoteric people. Thus, it is not only Yoga that some Christians are opposed to, but also the mystical practices of their own religion. In such cases, Yoga is a convenient, visible target, while the effort is actually one of attempting to suppress the subtler essence of their own roots.

What Jesus referred to as the "most important" instruction includes the instruction for the follower of Christianity to: 

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.'" (Mark 12:30). Loving God with all you soul implies oneness of the soul with God through the practice of meditation.

The second instruction is to "Love your neighbor as yourself." However, we are only focusing here on the Yoga in the first instruction.

What is clear from the New Testament is that Jesus fully committed his life to do the Father’s work. ‘Not my will, but by thy will be done’. He was in union with God at all times while in the physical body. We ought to live the same way and yoga teaches us how to live a God surrendered life. 

Yoga practitioners can integrate their yoga teachings with the Christian message. Christianity emphasizes primarily the outer way, whereas the focus of yoga is more on the inner way. Through this combination of outer and inner practices, we will have a much greater appreciation for the message of Jesus and can effectively integrate it into our own lives The ultimate message of Jesus is oneness with God. The message of yoga is the same, it is union with the Absolute. This union is experienced as a state of inner Bliss.

On the journey stillness and silence support Christianity: “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10). It is the place where the followers of Christianity can find the door that leads to God realization, “Knock and the door will be opened. seek and ye shall find” It is in the silence where one can hear the Word that was in the beginning, the word that was with God, and is God. The  Yogi meditates on Om (the Word) and becomes one with Om, one with God. We can see, that Yoga (union) does not work in opposition to Christianity, it compliments it.

For a deeper study of the esoteric teachings of Christianity, one may visit, "The second coming of Christ" by Paramahansa Yogananda.