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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Catholic meditation and movements - NOT yoga	Mary	Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Question: In a post that you responded to back in 2008 titled Christian Yoga, you said: "The Catholic Church has nearly 2000 years of experience in mediation and yoga-like movements that are totally consistent with the Church." Could you please elaborate on this? I have recently done a some research on yoga, including Christian Yoga which I tried, and I do not want anything to do with it. I would however like to learn more about what meditation is ok as a Catholic, as well as the movements you mentioned. Sometimes it is hard to truly find a good source for this information because so much has been infiltrated by the new age. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to this, Mary
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r), CCL, LTh, DD, LNDC Dear Mary: Well, there is no such thing as "Christian Yoga." Yoga is Hindu and cannot be divorced from Hindu philosophy. The primary Catholic-consistent mediation technique that might resemble some of the Eastern techniques of pose and breathing is the Hesychast. These are the monks that developed the "Jesus Prayer" meditation: While breathing in say, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God... On the exhale say, "...have mercy on me, the sinner" The "stretches" of Yoga are designed to relate to the non-existent Chakras and other "energies" in the body. This is all nonsense. If one wants to stretch their muscles then use the normal stretches that would be found in any gym before the Yoga fad. The Church has written a document about meditation called, On Some Aspects of Christian Meditation. There are other documents on similar subject in our Spiritual Warfare Library. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

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Catholic meditation and movements - NOT yoga

Mary

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Question:

In a post that you responded to back in 2008 titled Christian Yoga, you said: "The Catholic Church has nearly 2000 years of experience in mediation and yoga-like movements that are totally consistent with the Church."

Could you please elaborate on this? I have recently done a some research on yoga, including Christian Yoga which I tried, and I do not want anything to do with it. I would however like to learn more about what meditation is ok as a Catholic, as well as the movements you mentioned. Sometimes it is hard to truly find a good source for this information because so much has been infiltrated by the new age.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to this,
Mary

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r), CCL, LTh, DD, LNDC

Dear Mary:

Well, there is no such thing as "Christian Yoga." Yoga is Hindu and cannot be divorced from Hindu philosophy.

The primary Catholic-consistent mediation technique that might resemble some of the Eastern techniques of pose and breathing is the Hesychast. These are the monks that developed the "Jesus Prayer" meditation:

While breathing in say, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God...

On the exhale say, "...have mercy on me, the sinner"

The "stretches" of Yoga are designed to relate to the non-existent Chakras and other "energies" in the body. This is all nonsense. If one wants to stretch their muscles then use the normal stretches that would be found in any gym before the Yoga fad.

The Church has written a document about meditation called, On Some Aspects of Christian Meditation. There are other documents on similar subject in our Spiritual Warfare Library.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.