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(See part one of this blog for my Seer (seeing into the ‘unseen’ realm) Story of the vision I had regarding my own participation in Yoga and how it caused ‘bipolar symptoms’)
Yoga. This is a topic that seems to divide families, churches, Believers and Unbelievers alike. My own brother, whom I love dearly, has studied yoga with masters around the world, and has had a Kundalini awakening experience, as well as being born again as a child. I love him but do not agree with him that it is harmless or even beneficial. Advanced Yogis can even shape-shift, which my brother has witnessed first hand, and which is the ultimate goal of Yoga and one of the “enlightenment” ends. (I feel these risks outweigh the rewards, just like most prescription meds. Not all med free methods are equal).
Yoga –
Yoga means to be “yoked” with Brahman—the Hindu concept of god. The poses are used in idol/deity worship in India, with their roots in mystical Egypt, and these “stretches” as we call them, are performed in front of their Hindu deities at the temples. Even the order of the poses is symbolic! The Hindus themselves think it absurd how Americans try to separate the physical exercise from the religious/spiritual aspect of yoga. The year I lived abroad in Japan, I studied world religions and Shinto-Buddhism, visiting temples and witnessing the various Buddhist forms of yoga that can be found in adapted forms across Thailand, China, and other Eastern parts of the world. It is often offending to them that yoga, a sacred spiritual practice of bodily worship to their idols, has been secularized for health benefits of movement. If you are not Hindu or Buddhist, then there are other ways to get exercise unless you want the spiritual and physical aspects that go together. If you want to experience Eastern Mystic (vs Christian Mysticism) enlightenment and the “kundalini” awakening of being yoked with the Serpent, then yoga may be a valid option for you. Just know what you are doing before you blindly do it, out of respect to yourself and the practice itself.
Yoga Teachers are Missionaries of Hinduism!
“The Hindu Vishva Parishad in its magazine very clearly states that the yoga teachers are the front missionaries.”An editorial from Hinduism Today titled “An open letter to evangelicals” written by its editor a Hindu monk states, “There is a growing missionary spirit in Hinduism..a small army of yoga missionaries is ready to go to the west.” ( Source: Christianity Today, April 8th 1991, pg 64)” (Quoted Source: Martus Ministry)
This word of caution when it comes to yoga and mental health: although it would seem that yoga is the ultimate relaxation exercise, teaching breathing and centering, many people have had an unexpected side effect: Yogis warn that yoga practice can endanger one’s sanity. In describing the awakening of “kundalini” (coiled serpent power) Gopi Krishna records his own experience as follows: “It was variable for many years, painful, obsessive…I have passed through almost all the stages of…mediumistic, psychotic, and other types of mind; for some time I was hovering between sanity and insanity.
“One often hears and reads about the dangers of Yoga, particularly of the ill-reputed Kundalini Yoga. The deliberately induced psychotic state, which in certain unstable individuals might easily lead to a real psychosis, is a danger that needs to be taken very seriously indeed. These things really are dangerous and ought not to be meddled with in our typically Western way. It is a meddling with Fate, which strikes at the very roots of human existence and can let loose a flood of sufferings of which no sane person ever dreamed. These sufferings correspond to the hellish torments of the chönyid state…” –C. G. Jung, The Tibetan book of the Dead
Carl G. Jung is known as the father of analytical psychology. He was a renowned psychiatrist and spent most of his life studying Eastern and Western philosophies.
“When my kundalini energy awakened I started seeing snakes everywhere: on TV, newspapers, I heard conversations about snakes and even dreamed about them. I felt the kundalini energy moving in me and causing physical discomfort. I felt pressure and buzzing in my ears and during one night it was almost unbearable, I started even fearing that I would not be able to remain sane.” –Simona Rich, meditator
Many books talk about these seemingly not-well-known side effects of meditation and yoga. My point is that health care professionals and those of us practicing self-care should be well educated before embarking on practices blindly or recommending them to patients. People already experiencing psychosis or who are susceptible to psychotic episodes should research these topics even more thoroughly before partaking. Books that discuss this further include:
Kundalini Matters: Science, Psychosis or Serpent – UK Kundalini Conference 2013
The Kundalini Experience: Psychosis or Transcendence by Lee Sannella
Yoga and the Body of Christ by Dave Hunt.
This morning, the Lord spoke to me again about this topic, confirming I was doing His will. I opened my Bible to Romans 12:1 “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice–the kind he will accept.” I encourage you to go read the rest of that verse and the next, but it is here where He said: “Yoga = an unholy sacrifice of your body to idols.” Just cause you call it Holy Yoga does not make it Holy.
Stretches are stretches, but Yoga postures are not stretches! They are bowing in homage and salutations to sun and moon gods, tribute to deities’ conquests, and all kinds of interesting history you can find at www.whatswrongwithyoga.wordpress.com. Once you do a “side bend” in a Yoga class, it is mystically transformed into a crescent moon salute, beckoning the deity seeking that worship. Sounds crazy, I know, but I am good speaking ‘crazy truth’!
I interviewed a few people regarding Yoga, and this is a good summary regarding the sentiments: Interview with Cyndi Millett with www.liifetree.wordpress.com
Me, Q: “Cyndi, in your experience in the mental health and inner healing/deliverance arena, what has been your experience with Yoga, if any?”
Cyndi, A: “Two things that have really stood out to me about yoga- three I guess- every move/pose is an actual expression of worship to one of their “gods” which are actually dark spirits posing as gods; they don’t seem to realize they are communing with spirit beings in their participation of yoga.
I watched a show/news documentary on how one woman went to yoga only a few times and they gave her a mantra-shortly after she began hearing voices and went to a psych service and was diagnosed schizophrenic- what she didn’t know, and they couldn’t tell her, was the mantra was chanting one of those eastern/god demons names and it attached itself to her- which caused the voices and led to her false diagnosis. Psychology is slow recognizing how the spirit realm functions.
Third, much of the church, in naïveté, desires to whitewash and baptize other religion’s methods as exercise or being more spiritually enlightened and believe it’s fine with Jesus. I don’t agree that a) we can redeem certain religious and occult things for use as Christians, b) when we try, we are giving access for those things to hang around and influence our souls and bodies. C) Jesus Fiercely (passionately) guards us from having other gods that will deceive us into a false peace and other negative fruits/ experiences. I don’t believe He’s okay with it at all. I believe the Holy Spirit is grieved at people’s willful denial and poor use of discernment.
Me, Q: What can we do to warn others, in LOVE?
Cyndi, A: “Pastors and prophets need to get back to their role of separating the pure from the profane to be salt and keep generations from slipping into occult and false religions. I can’t recall the last time I heard a message in a church warning people from such devotions. There’s all kinds of mix in the church today and this needs to change–a call to consecration is being heard in the spirit present–who has ears to hear it? And who will respond?”
Me: “I agree, I watched a YouTube video where a young Christian loved the Beatles (I do also) and was introduced to Yoga through her sister and their music. Just ONE meditation/yoga poses experience in her home invoked a demon, and when she opened her eyes, the demon was sitting across the room looking at her, and she said it looked just like one of the Hindu Deities! That was her one and only time tampering with yoga. We often know not what we do, or what is happening in the supernatural realms. I absolutely agree that there is often a counterfeit version of truth, but that not all occult things need to be redeemed or attempted to be taken over/back by Christians. I believe Yoga is one of them. The Lord has clearly shown me to be separate from this practice of idol worship, and attempts like Praise Moves (best of them), Holy Yoga, Scripture Yoga, Christian Yoga are just making a mockery of Believers. In love, I hope to share my story to spare even one family the horror we went through. And I am calling all churches and Believers, please stop hosting Holy Yoga retreats, seminars, and sharing your space with Yoga classes. For what communion or yoking should we have with darkness?”
“I still faithfully held on to the yoga which absolutely flung me deeper and deeper into the pit. I became suicidal and the anger in me grew. I recall saying in front of my mom “ I am going to take you all down with me” in a voice that was not mine. It shocked my mom and myself and I stopped for a minute and said “ that was not me.” People thought I was crazy literally.” Purvi, Martus Ministry
“My friends, you must keep away from idols.” (1 Corinthians 10:14)
More study on this topic:
Think you can be a Christian and do Yoga?
From occult yoga to Jesus Christ
Yoga Uncoiled (former Yoga Teacher)
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
Aspen Ministries | TV Free Church 