Friday 11 September 2015

Can I practice yoga if I'm a religious person?

This is a great, great question, can I practice yoga if I'm a religious person?
Yoga is like I've said previously in other articles, a science and in a way, the religion without religion, which is really wonderful, especially in a world like the one we are living in right now.
It's true, yoga is closer to Hinduism and in Europe, many schools have mixed it with some Christian, Buddhist and Muslim practices, but in the end, yoga is religion free and is more the science and religion of your soul.
So, if you are a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, you can always close your eyes, breath in and out, do the Sun salutation , or a few asanas, this will not contradict with the belief you have chosen for your religion.
Yoga will only help you to relax, clear and focus your mind and maybe understand your inner needs, or the deepness of your subconscious, practicing  Yoga Nidra, know as the Yoga of  Conscious sleep.
 I think yoga can be a helping tool for religious people, because they can also use the physical component that is missing in religions and they can create a stronger bond with their own religion.
Many of the yogi gurus advise that you should choose a form for worshipping the Divine and go on with it, until you reach the perfect union with that form (religion).
Personally, I am happy that we can live in a world where we can have such a big diversity of religions and believes, I've always been opened to learn about other religions and I'm proud that in my country we had a great writer , Mircea Eliade,who wrote a history about the religions of the world.
I invite you to have respect of other people's religions, because in the end is God who decided we need more than one and if you study religions with an opened heart, you will feel the Divine in one and each of them and you will understand that each of them shows us a face of the Divine.
Have a blessed week-end!

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