Yoga is NOT a religion-but the connection still matters

WHY?

by Vincent Gerbino 

Many who’ve felt disenfranchised from traditional spiritual paths of their families begin to find new spiritual energy when they start doing Yoga as adults.

Yoga is not a religion, despite its very close connection to the religions of the Hindu region and culture that it came from.

Yoga is a spiritual discipline much like the traditional martial arts-people who practice martial arts sincerely and fully tend to have strong sense of purpose, or morality and a great deal of constructive self-discipline.

But Yoga often prompts practitioners to curiously explore spiritual forces and symbols that are not familiar in their old world. It’s easy for a Western Christian or “post Christian” to make her or himself an honorary Buddhist of sorts-one is fascinated by the totally-different cultural aspects, and equally important is the fact that the other religion’s image isn’t tainted by what one knows about the religion that was her or his birthright.

A very wise Yogi named Yogi Bijan, recently departed and a foremost authority on Kundalini Yoga said that finding enlightenment through Yoga doesn’t necessitate changing religions or even ignoring the religion of one’s birth that one may be at odd with while soul-searching here on Earth. “Christians should not become Hindus and Hindus should not become Christians,” he said in his book The Kundalini Yoga Experience.

Yogi wasn’t telling people they didn’t have freedom of choice, but rather, that any religious practice must be sincere and from the heart. Any religion that makes the practitioner truly feel and find Divinity in the self and others and in the world is a valid religion. True Divinity can never be a “false god” by any religion’s standard.

If ever there was a positive aspect to the religion of ones birthright, a Yoga practice typically will heighten those positive aspects. Practicing Yoga enables a person to accept his or herself fully, flaws and all, and helps the person see all of her or his positive traits. Any religion that’s tied to a culture, and to the people who made rules in your life that you didn’t like or agree with, will have a negative side, Justas we all have a negative side of our own sometimes.

In the end, Yoga is not a religion, but it is a positive compliment to any and every religion.