From here (page 6):
Yoga and Tai Chi for Lent
Two clergy in Niagara Diocese are taking seriously Paul’s (1 Corinthians 6:12-20) statement— do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? So glorify God in your bodies—and applying Tai Chi and Yoga to bringing it into life.[….]
Rather, we have been gifted with this planet and these bodies because this is where God dwells. All flesh is holy and the ground of all human endeavors is sacred. It is in these bodies that we will work out our salvation. Since the only life we know is earthly and sensual, it follows that this is the stuff of our spirituality.”
It was in this spirit, according to Jones and Ash, that St. Paul’s, Westdale introduced Tai Chi and Yoga as spiritual practices in the Christian context. Since the beginning of Lent last year, approximately 20 – 30 people have been gathering every week to practice and celebrate God in their bodies, they reported, and as a fresh expression of the Church, the practice has gathered new people into the Church community.
Lent is supposed to be a time of preparation for Easter, generally through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial.
Tai Chi and Yoga practiced as merely physical exercise might have some benefit, but, if that’s what the Yoga-priests are after, why not go to the gym for Lent?
The reason, I suspect, lies in the fact that they want to use “Tai Chi and Yoga as spiritual practices in the Christian context”: it’s the spiritual aspects of Tai Chi and Yoga that appeal to the Revs. Owen Ash and Rick Jones. Unfortunately, the spiritual components of Tai Chi and Yoga are rooted in Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism, none of which have much to do with Christianity, let alone Lent.
Still, the Diocese of Niagara doesn’t have much to do with Christianity either, so this doesn’t come as much of a surprise, particularly as Tai Chi starts with a meditation on emptiness, or wu chih in Taoism – diocese of Niagara priests are adept at meditating on emptiness. Just listen to one of their sermons.
The supposed exoticism of the East began to take a hold in everyday Western Society with the import of it by the Beatles in the late 60’s. Not that it wasn’t brought back to England before that by the odd British Civil Servant posted in Rudyard Kipling’s India. Hollywood and the major TV networks took it up with the Kung-Fu-type martial arts movies/shows shortly after. Pretty soon, every suburabn North American family had their kids enrolled in some marial arts academy down the street, and “doing yoga” meant that you were a Lefty Saint (ever notice that the religion of Lefty-ism defines its own saints and sinners too?).
I did always wonder at the good Christian folks (or supposedly Christian) who exuberantly brought such activities into their lives and parishes, without a second thought. I have seen Roman Catholic parishes outlaw any kind of traditional ceremony for the sacrament of First Communion, but list weekly yoga classes at the parish hall in their bulletin. In fact, many church congregants turn up their noses at time-honoured Christian practices, and then they organize every sort of workshop and retreat under the sun having to do with obviously non-Christian pursuits. Not just are these pursuits not Christian (but then neither is baseball), they are often very much against the Christian perspective of life and of God. And you even see clergy themselves buying into and organizing this nonsense!
Let Lululemon stick with the yoga as an enormous source of income for their shareholders (hear that, OWS types?) and a way for their customers to advertise, “Aren’t I a socially-superior-sort!”. I think Christians should emphasize Christianity. If you really have a look at it, you will find an incredible tradition — beats yoga pants and black belts any day. Why throw over our own for an inferior approach? I thought the novelty would have worn off by now.