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Should Christians Do Yoga?
By Laura Bagby
Laurette’s Story: Sucked into Yoga and the New Age
Laurette first got involved in yoga as a little girl. Her mother used to give free yoga classes to the college students, and Laurette was the demonstration model. Laurette loved being the center of attention, so yoga was fun. In addition, the exercises really relaxed her mother.
But Laurette warns that yoga’s ability to bring a sense of calm is one of its deceptive charms: “That’s one thing people look at, too,” said Laurette. “They say, ‘My doctor, my chiropractor, my physical therapist says to do it. It helps me. I feel less stressful.’ Well, it wouldn’t be a hook if it didn’t have something good in it.”
Yoga also fulfilled a spiritual need in Laurette’s life. Though her family went to church, Laurette says she never heard the message of salvation preached there.
“We didn’t know about living the victorious Christian life,” she explained. “We were not aware of the deception that is inherent within yoga and its connections to Hinduism. It seemed so spiritual, so it was fulfilling a void that was in our lives. I have found that any part of our lives that is not submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ is an open door for the enemy. … As I look back, that was the open door to the New Age for us. We began getting into Edgar Cayce, Ouija boards, crystals, and all kinds of things.”
PraiseMoves: The Christian Alternative to Yoga
Laurette remembers keenly the day God brought her the idea for PraiseMoves™. She says it was February 25, 2001 at 10:35 a.m., and she had just finished working out to a Denise Austin video. Laurette was contemplating in prayer an idea for a form of exercise besides aerobics that wouldn’t be yoga but that would be gentler on her 40-something body. “I thought that something would involve stretching and praising and moving and Scripture, and suddenly the idea of PraiseMoves™ came.”
For the next two years, Laurette prayed about the idea and put it together. The foundational Scripture for PraiseMoves™ is 1 Corinthians 6:20, which says, “You were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
PraiseMoves™ postures are stretching exercises with an accompanying Scripture verse. “Every posture in PraiseMoves™ is tied to a Scripture, so that while we are stretching and strengthening the body, we are also being transformed by the renewing of our mind, nourishing our spirit, and praising the Lord,” said Laurette.
As you do the strengthening posture, you are supposed to think about the correlating verse. For instance, there is a posture called the vine, a pose that strengthens the spine and arms. The matching Scripture verse is John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
Just how important is it for the Christian to incorporate Scripture into daily living, even into such mundane endeavors as exercise? Well, for Laurette, the Word of God has been the key to a transformed life.
“I look at how my life has changed over the years since I turned my life to Christ,” she said, “and it was really after I made a conscious decision to memorize Scripture, to get it on the inside of me, to begin to allow myself to be transformed by the renewing of my mind on the Word of God, that I really noticed a tremendous change in my life.”
Laurette believes that as Christians we should view exercise as something that can and should be godly. After all, the term “godly fitness” is part of the title of her latest book. What exactly does godly fitness look like at its most basic level?
“Whatever we do, we do as unto the Lord by focusing on Him, by realizing that this is not a cult of the body. I am not trying to get my body to look a certain way to meet the world’s standards. I want to be a fit witness for Him,” Laurette said
By Laura Bagby
Laurette’s Story: Sucked into Yoga and the New Age
Laurette first got involved in yoga as a little girl. Her mother used to give free yoga classes to the college students, and Laurette was the demonstration model. Laurette loved being the center of attention, so yoga was fun. In addition, the exercises really relaxed her mother.
But Laurette warns that yoga’s ability to bring a sense of calm is one of its deceptive charms: “That’s one thing people look at, too,” said Laurette. “They say, ‘My doctor, my chiropractor, my physical therapist says to do it. It helps me. I feel less stressful.’ Well, it wouldn’t be a hook if it didn’t have something good in it.”
Yoga also fulfilled a spiritual need in Laurette’s life. Though her family went to church, Laurette says she never heard the message of salvation preached there.
“We didn’t know about living the victorious Christian life,” she explained. “We were not aware of the deception that is inherent within yoga and its connections to Hinduism. It seemed so spiritual, so it was fulfilling a void that was in our lives. I have found that any part of our lives that is not submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ is an open door for the enemy. … As I look back, that was the open door to the New Age for us. We began getting into Edgar Cayce, Ouija boards, crystals, and all kinds of things.”
PraiseMoves: The Christian Alternative to Yoga
Laurette remembers keenly the day God brought her the idea for PraiseMoves™. She says it was February 25, 2001 at 10:35 a.m., and she had just finished working out to a Denise Austin video. Laurette was contemplating in prayer an idea for a form of exercise besides aerobics that wouldn’t be yoga but that would be gentler on her 40-something body. “I thought that something would involve stretching and praising and moving and Scripture, and suddenly the idea of PraiseMoves™ came.”
For the next two years, Laurette prayed about the idea and put it together. The foundational Scripture for PraiseMoves™ is 1 Corinthians 6:20, which says, “You were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
PraiseMoves™ postures are stretching exercises with an accompanying Scripture verse. “Every posture in PraiseMoves™ is tied to a Scripture, so that while we are stretching and strengthening the body, we are also being transformed by the renewing of our mind, nourishing our spirit, and praising the Lord,” said Laurette.
As you do the strengthening posture, you are supposed to think about the correlating verse. For instance, there is a posture called the vine, a pose that strengthens the spine and arms. The matching Scripture verse is John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
Just how important is it for the Christian to incorporate Scripture into daily living, even into such mundane endeavors as exercise? Well, for Laurette, the Word of God has been the key to a transformed life.
“I look at how my life has changed over the years since I turned my life to Christ,” she said, “and it was really after I made a conscious decision to memorize Scripture, to get it on the inside of me, to begin to allow myself to be transformed by the renewing of my mind on the Word of God, that I really noticed a tremendous change in my life.”
Laurette believes that as Christians we should view exercise as something that can and should be godly. After all, the term “godly fitness” is part of the title of her latest book. What exactly does godly fitness look like at its most basic level?
“Whatever we do, we do as unto the Lord by focusing on Him, by realizing that this is not a cult of the body. I am not trying to get my body to look a certain way to meet the world’s standards. I want to be a fit witness for Him,” Laurette said
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