Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: YogaTeacher and others...

I ma an Orthodox Jew. I have the book Yoga For Stress Relief by Shivapremanananda. This is my only experience with yoga. It is fine with me. I know I read some things that were not a part of my belief sysytem. But I did NOT find it offensive...I just skipped it. It did not take away my enjoyment of yoga itself. If you are looking at yoga as an exercise/relaxation tool, which I was, you can take from it what you want. If I took a class in college that did not agree with my belief system...I didn't drop the course. (I was a literature major...so many things DID NOT agree with my system of beliefs!).

A yoga class with a bunch of people may have been different for me though. It's not quite the same. I don't know how I would have felt. There it may be more difficult to skip over the things you're not interested in (in lit. class, we got to discuss things...and I was able to voice my opinion...in a yoga class they are offering an idea, I would imagine. It's not a debate session!). Since I am more interested in the relaxation/exercise end of it, and not the religious/spiritual end...I edit that out for myself.

If you are interested in yoga but are dedicated to your religion...I suggest trying a book or a video so you can edit/fast forward the parts you don't want and pay attention to the parts you are interested in benefiting from!

There may even be yoga classes with you religious practise in mind. I have heard of such things. You might want to look into that.

Hope this helps!

*hugs*

Ruchie

P.S. Heather, I know you directed this to Christians...I hope you don't mind my chiming in here!

--------------------
Formerly known as Ruchie

Print Remind Me Notify Moderator