09/08/2026
🧘♀️Yoga is not a religion. You don't have to be a Hindu to practice yoga.
You don't have to be a mechanic to repair your own vehicle. You can learn how an engine works, pick up the tools & repair it yourself. But that does not give you a reason to deny that mechanical engineering exists, or to erase the discipline & tradition from which that knowledge developed. In the same way, nobody needs to become Hindu in order to practice yoga.
However practicing something outside its original cultural or philosophical context does not give us the right to redefine its history.
Classical Yoga is not an isolated invention that appeared without a context. Yoga (Yoga Darśana) is traditionally recognized as one of the Ṣaḍ-Darśanas—the six orthodox systems of Hindu philosophy. Within that larger Hindu intellectual tradition, Yoga is only one part of a vast civilization containing scriptures, philosophy, metaphysics, ritual traditions, devotional traditions, ethics, meditation & many different ways of understanding reality.
✝️Being a Christian, I stand on the belief that my sovereign God (the Lord Jesus Christ) created everything, and that includes Hinduism.
In every culture, there is good & bad. It is us as individuals to choose what you are going to focus on. I choose to focus on the good & what aligns with Gods word 📖 & although not everything with Hinduism aligns, there are many passages that do.
Modern yoga may be practiced as exercise, wellness, physical therapy, stress management or personal spirituality. People are free to practice it however they wish.
Modern secular interpretations do not erase its culture. These traditions are not merely something preserved in old books. Their philosophical, ritual, devotional & cultural expressions can still be encountered throughout India—in villages & cities, in rural & urban life, in temples, homes, festivals, philosophical traditions & everyday cultural practices.
It's okay to have a non secular yoga approach by acknowledging it's roots.
