ALL ABOUT YOGA

Many of yoga’s practitioners tout its benefits for strength, flexibility and general health.
But the practice can also cause a range of injuries among beginners and experienced yogis alike, according to a report in the New York Times.
William Broad, author of the Times story and an upcoming book, “The Science of Yoga: Risks and Rewards,” describes gruesome injuries that have happened as a result of the practice – popped ribs, ruptured spinal discs, torn Achilles tendons, even partial paralysis and strokes.
Yoga and sports injury experts say yoga is right for some people, wrong for others and, like any physical activity, carries an inherent risk of injury. But if people approach the practice in the right way, they can do a lot to minimize their risk of injury.
 ”Yoga is a powerful tool and if you misuse it, you’re going to end up in the emergency room,” said Leslie Kaminoff, a New York-based yoga educator and author of the book, “Yoga Anatomy.”
Here are some ways to keep your yoga practice safe:
No. 1 – Know Your Limits
Experts say the chief culprit in yoga injuries is often overzealousness. Most people don’t think of yoga as a competitive sport but, at times, the need to out-perform others in class can seem irresistible.
“Sometimes, we find ourselves being very competitive with fellow students, especially in physically based classes,” said Judi Bar, a yoga therapist at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. “Then, we end up getting ourselves in trouble and hurting ourselves by not realizing our limitations.”
Another path to potential pain comes from taking on classes meant for more experienced yogis. Certain types of practices, such as high-heat bikram yoga, can encourage stretching that’s too aggressive. Beginners should steer clear of classes that are too advanced or strenuous.
Karen Sherman, who studies yoga and other complementary medicine techniques at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, said it’s important to listen to your body and respect its limits.
“One of the basic tenets of yoga is non-injury and self-honesty,” Sherman said. “When you practice with the idea that non-violence to your body is part of the practice, you’re more likely to avoid those injuries.”
No. 2 – Poses Can Aggravate Injuries
Certain poses, too, can be too much for the casual yoga-phile and create problems if done incorrectly or by people with little experience.
Bar said certain seated, stretching poses can aggravate sciatica or injure spinal discs. Headstands can be risky for the nerves, blood vessels and joints in the neck and spine, not to mention the risk of injury from toppling out of the pose. Even certain breathing practices can exacerbate asthma.
For people who are already injured, yoga can be either a useful therapy or can lead to further injury if students overdo it.
“Lots of patients go to yoga because they have herniations of the neck and back, and they go to yoga and those injuries improve. But at the same, time, I see patients who get these injuries from yoga,” said Dr. Jeffrey Goldstein, director of the spine service at New York University’s Langone Medical Center.
Any sore joints, such as the hips, knees, wrists, shoulders, neck and back, can become more painful if tweaked or twisted in even the simplest of poses. For example, downward dog could put too much stress on an injured shoulder; forward- or back-bending might be too much for a strained back. Also, patients with other health concerns, such as high blood pressure, should steer clear of certain poses or yoga practices.
No. 3 - Let Teachers Help
Injuries don’t necessarily put yoga off-limits. Students should let their instructors know if they are injured or have a medical condition so instructors can tailor a yoga routine to their specific physical needs.
Kaminoff said experienced teachers will get to know their students and ask to hear about any physical problems. Then, it’s up to the student to be honest with the teacher.
“The teacher-student relationship is important,” Kaminoff said. “If the student’s not willing to confront a teacher with a difficulty they’re having, the teacher won’t be able to help them avoid further injury.”
No. 4 – Choose the Right Teacher
More people than ever before are toting yoga mats and regularly practicing their asanas. The number of Americans who do yoga has grown from nearly 4 million in 2001 to 20 million in 2011, according to the New York Times.
As interest in yoga has exploded in the last decade, the number of yoga studios and instructors has grown along with it. But not all teachers have the same level of qualifications and experience to safely teach yoga.  
To help choose the right teachers, experts offer this advice:

• Observe a teacher’s class before you participate to see if it’s right for you.
• Be sure a teacher is qualified; the Yoga Alliance certifies instructors as registered yoga teachers at basic, intermediate and advanced levels.
• Avoid teachers that aggressively adjust your poses – they may push your body over its limits.

 

Yoga Asanas

	Seated & Twists Standing Core Backbends Arm Balances Forward Bends Inversions Restorative Meditation Pranayama Mudra & Bandha

8 Tips to Improve Your Yoga Practice

We have unique body structures and levels to which we can bend vary. The good news is that the purpose of including yoga  in your daily schedule is – not to achieve the perfect bend, but – to bring the body, breath, and mind together. Gear up with these simple tips and get on the yoga mat with a yogi’s attitude. 
#1 Respect the limits of your own body. Can you bring your nose to touch your knee in Standing Forward Bend?  Some people can bend more than others can. So you bend to your capacity. Love your body and respect the limits of your own body. You need not compare yourself with your neighbor or someone on TV. You don’t have to do exactly what the other person is doing.
The thumb rule is to remain stable and comfortable in the yoga asanas. Neither push too hard and try to overdo things, nor be lazy. Do as much as you can. Comfortably and stably. 
#2 Use the Yogic smile meter. Do Yoga with a sense of joy. When you overdo a stretch, smile will be the first thing to vanish. If you are not smiling, know that you are not doing something right. Either you are stretching too much or you are not comfortable. Re-adjust your body to get your beautiful smile back. With regular practice, you will find a big improvement. There is no need to be in a hurry, your yoga mat will remain right there. 
#3 Breathe. Take deep long breaths or ujjai breaths. Ujjai breaths or long deep breaths help you relax and maintain the posture. You can even use the breath to stretch further. Rest in the asana and feel the stretch.
#4 Respect and honor your yoga practices. Yoga is not just as an exercise but you can experience a deeper connection to yourself and to others with regular yoga practice. 
#5 Get the Yogic attitude. Go within. While doing yoga asanas, using specific rhythms of the breath links the breath and the body. Keeping the attention on where the stretch is happening; this links the body and mind. The body, breath, and mind come together in harmony during yoga asana. This yogic attitude helps deepen your yoga practice. 
#6 Observe. Which hand do you use more often? On which foot do you tend to lean more when you stand? Observe things about your body, especially do you favor one side more than the other? 
#7 Meditate. Yoga asanas prepare you for meditation and meditation in turn deepen your yoga practices. 
#8 Do Yoga on the Yoga Mat and Live Yoga off the Yoga Mat. Can you stretch your hand to someone new? Can you remain stable and breathe through the pain in difficult situations (just as you use the breath to stabilize difficult asanas)? Reflect on the 23 hours of life, not just the one hour of yoga practice. That is why yoga is a way of life and not just an exercise.

1. Set aside a regular time for yoga. Once you make a decision to do something, you're telling yourself that it is going to happen. If you're new to yoga, it may not be a practical idea to practice yoga  daily, especially while you're getting used to yoga in your life. Instead, aim for at least one practice a week outside your regular class (if you attend a class), and gradually increase the days you're practicing until it becomes daily without you finding this a hurdle. As you become more aware of the philosophy  behind yoga and find yourself more attuned to it, daily practice will soon become part of who you are; there is no point rushing this natural realization – as yoga instructor Christina Brown says: "First, it becomes habit; then it becomes a lifestyle; then it becomes who you are."
   
   
   • Some people find that keeping to a routine of the same time and same place each day is most beneficial. Your mind and your body will associate that time and place with yoga sessions, which can serve as great internal motivation . Be sure to pick a time when you know there will be no interruptions or distractions, such as early in the morning or late at night. The best times to practice yoga are considered to be sunrise and sunset.
2. Be kind to yourself when you practice yoga. Go slowly, especially in the beginning, and listen to your body. It knows what it can do. If it says "stop," then stop. Don't push it. Yoga is not a competitive sport; indeed, if you feel that way about it, you will not progress. If you push too hard, you probably won't enjoy it, and you may hurt yourself.
   
   
   • Whenever possible, work with a teacher, and use books, videos and websites to supplement your classroom instruction. Most of all, stick with it. If you practice, you will improve.
   • Choose routines that work for you now. If you try to do yoga positions before you're ready or keen to do them, it's likely that you'll set yourself up for a fall. Keep in mind that a little done often is always best for you and your body and giving 15 minutes of your time a day soon adds up over a week. Eventually you'll be able to do more difficult routines as time goes on.
3. Be regular, not rigorous. It is far better to practice a little on a regular basis than to push yourself into a long practice on an irregular basis. It doesn't matter if you can't do certain poses  for now. Do the ones you can do; better still, do the poses you enjoy. Perfect those before moving on to the ones you experience more difficulty with. Remind yourself that it is better that you're doing some yoga than none at all.
   
   
   • Avoid adopting a negative mindset  in which you tell yourself you "can't" do certain poses. You can, it just may take some time and you may need to practice a great deal on the build-up poses that lead in to the more difficult ones. Practice does help!
4. Prepare well for each yoga session. Part of the comfort factor of yoga will be derived from how you prepare for it. Ensure that you have comfortable clothing that allows for freedom of movement and leaves the abdominal area and ribcage free to expand; avoid tight clothing. Make the area where you are practicing comfortable as well. Lay down a sticky yoga mat  or a folded blanket and have a cushion handy to support your neck if needed. Ensure that the practice space is warm and quiet but well ventilated.
   
   
   • Practice yoga on an empty stomach. This is the best time for yoga practice, and it is a good idea to allow the digestion of a meal to be done before practicing yoga, so leave 2-4 hours between your meal and yoga practice. Yoga before breakfast is an ideal option.
   • If you feel hungry prior to a yoga practice, drink a little diluted fruit juice or warm milk  with honey.
   • If you feel the cold easily, have a blanket to cover yourself for the relaxation phase of your practice.
5. Study each posture. The practice of yoga exercises or Asanas  can improve your health, increase your resistance strength, and develop your mental awareness. Doing the yoga poses requires you to study each pose and to execute it slowly as you control your body and your mind. Read widely online and in yoga books so that you can understand both the mechanics behind the poses and the philosophical underpinnings of yoga.
   
   
   • Maintain full awareness when practicing poses. It is far better to stay aware and take it slowly during a pose than to hurriedly proceed through a whole group of them without pausing to reflect.
   • When you're starting out in yoga, choose the easier exercises indicated by your yoga book, DVD, or teacher. Find the ones that fit with your physique naturally and perfect the basic instructions before moving on to the more challenging ones.
6. Decide on your best starting position. This may change over time depending on what you're most comfortable with but it is important to have a starting position that grounds you and prepares you for the rest of the yoga session. A starting position is best when it helps you to focus awareness on breathing and the body, helps strengthen your lower back and opens the groin and hips. Here's an example:
   
   
   • Sit cross-legged with hands on knees. Focus on your breath. Keep your spine straight and push the sit bones down into the floor. Allow the knees to gently lower. If the knees rise above your hips, sit on a cushion or block. This will help support your back and hips. Take 5 to 10 slow, deep breaths. On the next inhale, raise your arms over your head. Exhale and bring your arms down slowly. Repeat 5-7 times.
7. Rest between poses. Again, nothing should be rushed in yoga, and resting in between poses gives you time for reflection and your body a chance to take a break. Keep all movements slow and breathe calmly.
   
   
8. Fit yoga into your daily life. As well as dedicated yoga time, practice small elements of yoga throughout the day where possible. There are yoga moves you can practice using your office chair , simply standing, or while waiting. Practice inhalation and exhalation exercises anywhere at anytime. Close your eyes and do a few minutes quiet reflection amid the busyness of everything else going on around you.
   
   
9. Expect gradual improvement, not miracles. Daily practice will start to flow through in evident changes in your life but it won't happen immediately and sometimes you might feel things are not happening at all. Give it time and suddenly you will realize that your daily practice is beneficial and is having a positive impact on the rest of your day. The body is happiest with regular practice and will respond well to your daily efforts.
   
   
10. Balance your routine. As you get more used to yoga and you're into the swing of daily practice, aim for a balance of yoga exercises. Yoga expert Christina Brown recommends including at least one exercise from each of the following categories:
    
    
    • A flowing activity that increases your awareness of breathing
    • A standing posture
    • A side  stretch
    • A forward bend
    • A backbend 
    • A twist
    • An abdominal strengthener
    • A balance
    • An inversion
    • Another forward bend
    • Final relaxation (Pranayama and meditation). You can choose to spend as long as you like in this final step.
11. Remember that time is always on your side in yoga. The more you practice, the better you will get but at your pace, not any pace set by a training manual or coach. Yoga is a journey, not competition or expectation of achievement. The great thing about yoga is that you continue to improve through life, and age has nothing to do with ability in yoga. Indeed, practicing yoga daily into your senior years is a goal to aspire to as it will keep you fit, confident, strong, flexible, mentally and physically balanced, and self-dis ciplined.
    
    
    • Don't make a huge issue out of missing a day here and there. It happens, just pick up from where you left off. Body memory is powerful, so let your body ease back into it without allowing your mind to infect it with anxiety over missed practices!                                            CATHOLIC VIEWS                                                             
      In the last few years yoga, to use Internet lingo, has gone viral. Stores are filled with yoga clothing, equipment, books, and videos; churches and synagogues offer yoga classes to their congregants, with some Christian communities claiming to offer “Christian-based” programs; and even the in secular world paeans to and critiques of yoga fill the bookstore shelves. Many Catholics have been asking if they can use yoga, and they have been given a wide spectrum of answers by clergy and lay Catholic leaders. What exactly is yoga? Are there legitimate concerns about its use by Christians? Have Catholic leaders been fair and accurate in their analysis of the strengths and dangers of yoga?
      What is yoga?
      Classical yoga is a holistic (i.e., “whole body”) discipline originating in Hinduism that seeks enlightenment through a series of exercises that unite the body, mind, and spirit. Enlightenment is the end, and union (yoga, “yoke”) is the means.
      There are various branches of yoga that take complementary paths to enlightenment. Among them are Bhakti, Hatha, Jnana, Karma, Mantra, Raja, and Tantra yoga. The form most familiar to Westerners is Hatha yoga, which seeks to ready the body for enlightenment through bodily postures. Hatha yoga, on which this article will focus, is considered by many of its non-Christian practitioners to be a spiritual path.
      Hatha yoga is not practiced merely by assuming a bodily pose used by practitioners of Hatha yoga, contrary to the claims of some Catholic critics. Susan Brinkmann, a staff writer for the Catholic apostolate Women of Grace, writes, “Even in [yoga] classes where Christians change the names of the postures to more biblical concepts doesn’t negate the source of the [preternatural] power within the postures” (“Yoga,” Women of Grace Study Series, pp. 19–20).
      This assertion shades into superstition, ascribing magical effects to a physical action based solely upon its external performance (cf. CCC 2111). But let’s be clear: The body postures of yoga are in themselves neutral. Moving the body into a certain position does not necessarily engage the person in any particular spiritual activity.
      Look at the classic Christian prayer posture of kneeling: Merely lowering the body to the knees does not engage the person in the worship of God. Depending upon his intent and actions, someone on his knees could be weeding his garden, or proposing marriage, or searching for lost change under the sofa. The posture must be combined with intent and other prayerful action (e.g., folding hands, speaking words) for kneeling to become an act of worship.
      Bodily postures or rhythms of breathing may have various physiological or psychological benefits, provided they are done under the supervision of a doctor or other qualified expert. The disciplines common to Hatha yoga have been used by doctors and therapists for the treatment of various medical ailments, including heart disease, asthma, back pain, and even post-traumatic stress disorder.
      In its 1989 document Some Aspects of Christian Meditation, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (then headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI), acknowledged this, noting, “Some physical exercises automatically produce a feeling of quiet and relaxation, pleasing sensations, perhaps even phenomena of light and of warmth” (28).
      The risk is in the physiological effects of yoga postures being mistaken as spiritual effects: “To take such feelings for the authentic consolations of the Holy Spirit would be a totally erroneous way of conceiving the spiritual life. Giving them a symbolic significance typical of the mystical experience, when the moral condition of the person concerned does not correspond to such an experience, would represent a kind of mental schizophrenia which could also lead to psychic disturbance and, at times, to moral deviations” (Aspects 28).
      In other words, pleasing physical sensations must not be confused with the mystical ecstasies experienced by Christian saints such as Teresa of Avila or John of the Cross. To make such a mistake is not only foolish but could be spiritually and psychologically dangerous.
      Problems with yoga
      The use of yoga as a spiritual path is highly problematic. There are three major areas in which the spiritual practice of yoga is not in line with Catholic spirituality.
      Monism
      Monism is a philosophy that holds that all that exists is one. Rather than the communion that exists between God and his creation that Christians hold to be true, the monist believes that any distinction between God and the universe is illusory and that the enlightened person will become “one” with the divine, without any distinctions between persons.
      The CDF’s Aspects document puts it this way: “A consideration of these truths together brings the wonderful discovery that all the aspirations which the prayer of other religions expresses are fulfilled in the reality of Christianity beyond all measure, without the personal self or the nature of a creature being dissolved or disappearing into the sea of the Absolute” (15).
      Say you are lying on your yoga mat listening to the teacher’s instructions. How can you discern when the instruction is shading off into monism? As one example of what to watch for, be wary of the mantras commonly used in yoga practice. In Yoga for Dummies, authors Georg Feuerstein and Larry Payne offer a classic yoga mantra: “So’ham” (pronounced so-hum). The authors explain that this mantra “means ‘I am He,’ that is, ‘I am the universal Self,’” which they recommend you repeat in time to your breathing—so on the inhale, ham on the exhale (p. 317).
      The translation given of so’ham is classic monism: identification with the divine, to the extent of merging the self into the divine and the divine into the self. So keep in mind that if you’re asked to intone anything in a language you don’t know, it may be expressing a concept that runs contrary to your beliefs.
      Gnosticism
      It may seem strange to say that a spiritual path that incorporates physical postures and techniques into its practice is anti-material. But yoga as a spiritual path stresses the necessity of detachment from the material world, to the extent of affirming that the material world is illusory and that all that matters is the spiritual.
      Although yoga did not spring up within the Christian tradition, this view of the material as the “enemy” of the spiritual resembles the Christian heresy of Gnosticism, wherein salvation (for the yoga practitioner “enlightenment”) is sought by freedom from the material.
      The authors of Yoga for Dummies explain the nature of the enlightenment sought through yoga in this way: They recommend sitting in a warm environment and maintaining stillness. You are asked to focus on the sensations of your body and what separates you from the air around you, with the expectation that you’ll discover that “no sharp boundary really exists.” (One does—it’s called skin.)
      As you do this, the goal they ask you to seek is “a sense of the all-comprising expansiveness of enlightenment, which knows no boundaries” (p. 12). In other words, these yoga instructors are teaching that enlightenment means coming to the understanding that there are no distinctions (i.e., “boundaries”).
      While Christianity stresses the importance of detachment from all that separates the believer from union with God (cf. CCC 2556), the purpose of detachment is relational. It brings us into communion with the Triune God and with the saints in glory. The union is forged by love, which gives and receives—not drowned into an impersonal divine but freely shared between the Persons of God and the persons of his saints. “‘I want to see God’ expresses the true desire of man. Thirst for God is quenched by the water of eternal life” (CCC 2557).
      Technique
      The Church teaches that “Christian prayer . . . flees from impersonal techniques or from concentrating on oneself, which can create a kind of rut, imprisoning the person praying in a spiritual privatism which is incapable of a free openness to the transcendental God” (Aspects, 3).
       
    • Yoga, on the other hand, is all about technique and self-concentration. The various forms of yoga, including the exercise version of Hatha, have as their end enlightenment, attained by various methods of “quieting” the mind and focusing on the self. The forms of yoga are themselves techniques to enlightenment. Yoga for Dummies ticks off a list: “devotion . . . physical discipline . . . wisdom . . . self-transcending action . . . potent sound . . . Royal yoga . . . continuity . . . dedication to a yoga master” (p. 12). Again, these are the means; enlightenment is the end.
      For the Christian, prayer is an unmerited gift. There is effort involved, but no specific technique will ensure us a productive result. “Prayer is both a gift of grace and a determined response on our part. It always presupposes effort. The great figures of prayer of the Old Covenant before Christ, as well as the Mother of God, the saints, and he himself, all teach us this: prayer is a battle. Against whom? Against ourselves and against the wiles of the tempter who does all he can to turn man away from prayer, away from union with God” (CCC 2725).
      Can yoga be “baptized”?
      The question arises whether yoga can be “baptized” into the Christian tradition for use as a Christian prayer.
      Many Christians try. Yoga ministries such as Holy Yoga seek to “practice with our minds set on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy (Phil. 4:8), not with our minds emptied. We meditate on the wisdom of God’s Word (Psalm 119:9-16, 26-27), not on man’s wisdom. We seek the transcendence and glory of God, not our own” (holyyoga.net).
      Holy Yoga practitioners exchange the classical mantra om (a Hindu symbol for the higher self) for the more biblical shalom (Hebrew, “peace”). While depending on a certain syncretism between vastly different spiritual traditions, Holy Yoga advocates affirm, “We know that yoga is a spiritual discipline much like fasting, meditation, and prayer that cannot be owned by one specific religion. While yoga predates Hinduism, they [Hindus] were the first to popularize the discipline of yoga by giving it written structure. The language originally given to yoga postures was in Sanskrit. Holy yoga teaches their instructors to teach in their native tongue.”
      Assertions like these from Christians that seek to strip yoga from its Hindu roots drive Hindu yoga experts up the wall. Subhas R. Tiwari, a professor at the Hindu University of America who holds a master’s degree in yoga philosophy, states: “Such efforts [to Christianize yoga] point to a concerted, long-term plan to deny yoga its origin. This effort . . . is far from innocent. It is reminiscent of the pattern evident throughout the long history and dynamics of colonizing powers” (“Yoga Renamed is Still Hindu,” Hinduism Today, January-February-March 2006). Tiwari believes efforts to Christianize yoga are unjust “encroachment” and thinly veiled Christian proselytism of Hindus.
      Attempts to “baptize” yoga imply that a Catholic spirituality can be attached to yoga postures. While it is possible that some Catholics may be able to recite the rosary or to pray other Catholic prayers while engaging in the otherwise neutral postures and breathing techniques common to yoga, it is inadvisable for lay Catholics to devise a spirituality for themselves that they have pulled from a non-Christian spirituality that is generally little known and understood by Western Christians. This is particularly the case if those Catholics do not have a solid grasp of the differences between Christian spirituality and the various non-Christian Eastern spiritualities.
      Catholic critics
      In addition to the legitimate dangers involved in Christians co-opting non-Christian spiritualities and seeking to refashion them for Christian use, there is danger at the other end of the spectrum: Some Christian fundamentalists are tempted to find the devil lurking under every yoga mat.
      Type “catholic yoga” into the Google Internet search engine and one of the first results is a news article that is summarized as “The Catholic Church’s best-known exorcist [Fr. Gabriele Amorth] says Harry Potter and yoga are evil.” A perusal of the resources of Catholic apostolates geared to the needs of Catholic women finds wide-eyed claims of a worldwide conspiracy among Hindus to infiltrate the West and bring about the downfall of Christianity through yoga (Brinkmann, “Yoga,” p. 20).
      Such wildly overreaching Catholic critiques are problematic on any number of points. To begin with is the elementary mistake noted before that particular bodily movements have power in and of themselves, independent of intention or design, to invite in “supernatural powers [more properly defined as preternatural powers] . . . through these exercise positions” (Brinkmann, p. 20). Not only is the claim superstitious, but it indicates a lack of familiarity with the Christian understanding of metaphysics.
      These claims also show a lack of regard for non-Christian Eastern religions that the Church does not share. While Some Aspects of Christian Meditation is liberally quoted by some Catholic critics of yoga, they ignore its observation that “genuine practices of meditation which come from the Christian East and from the great non-Christian religions, which prove attractive to the man of today who is divided and disoriented, [can] constitute a suitable means of helping the person who prays to come before God with an interior peace, even in the midst of external pressures” (Aspects, 28; emphasis added).
      Unfortunately, Catholic critics of yoga often rely on Protestant Fundamentalists to make their case against yoga. This may be understandable, given the scarcity of informed Catholic critiques on which to draw. But Protestant approaches to Christianity often differ significantly from mainstream Catholic approaches. This is especially the case when it comes to Protestant Fundamentalists, such as Dave Hunt, who are hostile not only to yoga but also to Catholicism and yet are quoted without qualification or caveat in Catholic materials (again, in the Women of Grace Study Series).
      Bottom line
      Should you take up yoga? As a spiritual path, yoga is incompatible with Christian spirituality. But if you can separate the spiritual/meditational aspects of yoga from the body postures and breathing techniques common to yoga, then you might be able to use those postures and techniques beneficially for health. If you’re at all unsure of your ability to do so, you may well be advised to find another form of exercise.
      It is important for Catholics to know that yoga should neither be hallowed nor damned. As a spiritual path for Eastern peoples unfamiliar with Christianity, it may serve to assist them as “they seek freedom from the anguish of our human condition either through ascetical practices or profound meditation or a flight to God with love and trust” (Nostra Aetate 2).
      On the other hand, Christians seek as the goal of their prayer to “flow into the way to the Father, which is how Jesus Christ has described himself. In the search for his own way, each person will, therefore, let himself be led not so much by his personal tastes as by the Holy Spirit, who guides him, through Christ, to the Father” (Aspects, 29).