Christians: would yoga and meditation benefit a christian in their prayer life?

Question

Jesse: where would I find these stories?

Answer 1

Yoga and meditation focus the person inward and not outward. It is humanism at it's finest. When one looks to themselves to find the answer, is usually wrong. The heart is decietful above all things and desperately wicked. Jer 17:9
So our hearts lie. Prayer focuses on God and not ourselves. God does the answering and His wisdom is so far above us that it is sure to be truth and right. Jeremiah 33:3

Answer 2

The practice of Hatha Yoga is an ancient form of physical yoga to help put the human body in a relaxed state. This is a form of Yoga that is for the physical body only.
Having a relaxed body would be of benefit for anyone preparing for prayer or meditation.
Prayer is used when one wants to commune with God.
Meditation is used when one wishes to calm and quiet the mind.
There is a difference between Prayer and Meditation.
Meditation is necessary to allow man to find the quiet place
from which to begin prayer.
Each Prophet stressed these practices to all of there followers when they were ask as to how they should pray to God.
In short a quiet mind and a relaxed body would be a good thing regarding every persons personal prayer life...............

Practice as you will, but Prayer is a must.

Answer 3

Prayer is meditation in a way. And come on, how can you people say yoga is of the devil? IDIOTS. SOrry, but it's healthy stretching coordinated with breathing. Take off your blinders people, mindless sheeple. Sorry again. MOst kinds of yoga take you no further than stretching and breathing, but some actually incorporate a beautiful philosophy of inner peace and harmony with others. And all meditation is in concetrating your whole being on what it is you intend to achieve.

Answer 4

If meditation means meditating on God's Word and not totally clearing your mind of all thoughts, completely blanking God out of your mind and using repetitious sounds or chanting the same words over & over, as in yoga. And using stretching exercises to help you relax and focus on God, not posturing your body to worship and opening your mind to the spirit world, as in yoga. One common belief in yoga, is that God is everyone and self is "Divine". Which is a lie. There are four different types of yoga, each worship different gods. From the beginning yoga religion breaks God's first Commandment."Thou shalt not have any other gods before Me"

There is much more to yoga than breathing and stretching, yoga is from a hindu religion, even though you may not do all the requirements, the hindu religion uses these postures to worship gods and empty the mind to receive guidance from numerous gods. But in truth, it draws demonic forces to you and combined with emptying your mind of God and posturing the body to worship in hindu worship positions, turns you away from God rather to Him, and connects you to the spiritual realm. Add to this moaning and chanting the same thing over and over, and your are opening the door to demons and the occult. they are ritualistic practices also used in witchcraft, the occult, wicca ,etc. Knowing this, how can a person still worship God in spirit and in truth, or fully love Him with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength?

Here are some good links to what the Bible says about this:
( It explains exactly what yoga is and why it opposes Christ's teachings and the Bible and how dangerous it is to experiment with it. I learned alot off these sites, thought I would share them) †<><

http://www.praisemoves.com/ChristianAlternative.htm
http://mensnewsdaily.com/blog/swank/2005/07/dont-add-yoga-to-christian-prayers.html

Answer 5

God tells us to "meditate on His word day and night" Meditation isn't just some new age thing--it just depends on what you meditate on. You can Meditate on God's Word, and what he wants for your life. Using it as a time to listen and talk to (prayer...) God.

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and in

His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water,
that brings forth its fruit in its season,
whose leaf does not wither;
and whatever he does shall prosper.''
Psalm 1:2-3

"This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth,
but you shall

MEDITATE in it day and night,

that you may observe to DO
according to all that is written in it.
For then you will make your way prosperous,
and then you will have good success.''
Joshua 1:8

--NIV--

"From these verses, it is clear that if we want to be blessed and prosper in all that we do, we need to meditate on the word of God."

Answer 6

definitely. meditation will help you to learn how to focus, to keep control of your mind instead of letting it flow randomly, something good for prayer. yoga will enhace your mental and physical health, as well as the flow of energy through your body.
the first step in meditation is breathing. if you take it a step further, you could take a scripture and meditate on its meaning. then you wouldn't be "betraying" your Christian faith.

Answer 7

Sweetie, at the pentecostal fundie church I attended a while back they were so frightened of yoga they told their sheep that it would lead to Eastern religions and hell.

I could make a list of the ignorance spouted there.

Fundies frown on enlightenment. Why? Enlightenment leads to revealing the ignorance that some churches preach.

Answer 8

no. zen meditation is basically clearing your mind, which for me is impossible anyways, I believe my mind was made for thought, and an open mind is often vulnerable. besides, many yoga practices include yoga prayers and stuff to hindu gods, which would be idolatry for a Christian.

Christian meditation is focusing and pondering on God, the Word, God's virtues, etc.

Answer 9

meditation and yoga don't really help me. I can't take it seriously.

Answer 10

Tremendously.