Home Page › Forums › Whaddaya Say? › December 2020: What do you say if someone says yoga helps calm their child? › Reply To: December 2020: What do you say if someone says yoga helps calm their child?
Brian LeeThe first thing to do would be do determine the intent of doing yoga. The body postures of yoga are in themselves morally neutral. If a person is doing the poses without the intent of seeking enlightenment through a higher power then act of doing the yoga stretches could be perfectly fine. I found a quote on Catholic Ansers that said, “The assertion that yoga is always a sin shades into superstition, ascribing magical effects to a physical action based solely upon its external performance. Just as it is common to kneel when praying, kneeling by itself is not a holy act.” (https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-trouble-with-yoga) It is a neutral posture that prepares the body for the act of praying. The same moral standard is held for yoga poses. Yoga combined with the act of seeking enlightenment is condemned. And if this is the case in this circumstance then it would be worth suggesting ways to find peace in prayer by having true communion with God. A great meditation where I have always found peace is the rosary. I would begin by suggesting that.