The benefits of yoga come from allowing God to do his work in you, not from your striving to master some fancy posture or physical challenge. YOGA IS FOR EVERYONE WHO HAS BREATH! If you’re breathing, you can yoke with Christ. Just a few of the scientifically backed benefits of practicing yoga are:

• Stress relief

• Reduced anxiety

• Alleviates symptoms of depression and helps balance mood swings

• Improves memory and concentration

• Assists with healthy weight and pain management

• Promotes a sense of well-being

• Improves muscle tone and flexibility

• Increases blood flow and circulation

• Builds strength for joints, ligaments, and tendons

• Improves sleep

• Quieting the monkey mind

• Builds a deeper relationship with God as you learn to rest in Him

• Connects you with others to join in a unique community of like-minded friends

• Assists you as you seek to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind

You want to practice Christ-centered yoga, but you’ve been told it’s not safe for Christians. I challenge this thought at its core. I’ve heard ALL the push back arguments against Christ-centered yoga, and I don’t buy any of it. Many mis/uninformed people have chosen to listen to one podcast or article instead of taking the time to research and experience for themselves. My number one question for people who are unsure about practicing yoga as a christian is, “Who created our bodies, movement, breath, scripture?” Of course the answer is God. Does God have the power to redeem? YES! So even if a posture, let’s say raising your arms to the sky, has been used in the past to worship a sun god, does that make raising your hands to the sky wrong?  What if you’re raising them to your heavenly Father who made the heavens and the earth, and out of your extreme love and gratitude to Him, you can’t help but posture yourself toward his goodness?  Isn’t such a posture even biblical?  “Psalms 63:4 says, I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.” This would be like saying if a person who worships the devil lifts his hands toward the sun, I can therefore never again lift MY hands toward the sun or I am worshiping the devil. It’s not logical.  What is your intent when practicing? I am only touching the tip of the iceberg here, and there is so much you can study and learn about connection to our Lord through yoga, but I would challenge you to try Christ-centered yoga before making swift judgements on something you may not yet fully understand. Read, research, and experience. God meets me on my mat every. single. time. He is the Great I Am! Worthy of praise and double honor! My body is the temple he lives in! That’s huge, people! I am positive you will encounter new ways of connecting with God that you never even dreamed were possible! That you will discover him and his love profoundly deep and beautiful and wonderful in every way! And that he will lead you toward the freedom and wild transformation that you so strongly desire. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1