As yoga came up in our video today, I wondered if yoga is considered a form of religion or religious practice? So I did some research and found that the roots of yoga are argued to be from Hinduism and date back to over 5,000 years in regions discovered by archaeologists in the Indus Valley. There are also many different forms of yoga including Hatha, Raja & Jhana yoga that have no affiliation with any concept of God. However, forms such as Bhakti, Karma, Tantra, and Kashmir all encourage concentration on the individuals' concept of God. Many people claim that though there are ties of yoga to religion, religion is not tied to yoga. Can this same principle be attributed to other things such as prayer, meditation, and other religiously affiliated practices, or are the religious ties to these activities not be severed as they have been with yoga?
More Info:
http://www.hafsite.org/media/pr/yoga-hindu-origins
http://www.americanyogaassociation.org/general.html
Interesting idea, Sienna. Based on my understanding of meditation, it is similar to yoga in that meditation is not strictly religious. Meditation could be spiritual but I wouldn't say religion is tied to meditation. If I'm not understanding your point correctly, please clarify! Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteThis was very interesting thanks for the post! I was very curious after Mr. Stewart asked the class if we believed that yoga was a religion or not, and if you had not posted this I was planning on looking it up myself! Its very interesting that there are only some forms of yoga that specifically integrate religion into yoga, but others that have no correlation whatsoever!
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