Ok, this is my second attempt at this post. I lost the first one due to computer crash and now it's late...
Anyway, while organising a parental support group for asylum seeking mums at a Glasgow church hall, we were asked not to arrange for a yoga exercise class. I was intrigued. Why is yoga banned from a church? As a Christian, this was news to me.

Well, the answer apparently goes something like that: Yoga isn't just a form of physical exercise, but postures and breathing are two arms of seven which form yoga philosophy which in turn is strongly linked to Hinduism. Hinduism is a pantheistic religion and the principle of yoga is to unite Man with the divine, and recognise the divine in one self and the objects around us. Christianity separates creator and creation and is monotheistic. So the two philosophies are incompatible and therefore yoga is not to be practised by Christians.

I guess the same principle would apply for the other two monotheistic religions, i.e. Judaism and Islam. Incidentally, the church has no problem with the fact that the parental support group is an all Muslim group (apart from my own self). But then again, the same God is worshipped so that shouldn't surprise.

Where I really wonder and question is the clear link in philosophy between yoga and the mystics such as Santa Teresa de Avila and San Juan de la Cruz. As far as I understand it, they sought to experience unity with God in their religious practice, and used techniques similar to meditation to achieve this. If the ambition to experience unity with the divine is incompatible with Christianity, surely they would have been heretics. While I know that many thought just that, in the end they were recognised for their contribution to the Catholic faith. So I'm at a slight loss why yoga should present such a danger to the Christian soul if really the mystics practised something very similar. I believe the same to be true for mystic movements in Judaism and Islam.

Enlighten me if you can.