This is How I Felt About Doing Yoga in Church
A childhood memory of enchantment with store displays and soft cinnamon sugar pretzels during special mall excursions resurfaced upon entering lululemon for free Saturday morning yoga. Though pretzels were absent, the warm scent of cinnamon sugar had a thawing effect on all who entered. Tensed from the cold, their expressions shifted to soft smiles as they exchanged greetings with fellow yogis. As class commenced, it felt a bit like attending a Catholic mass as a non-denominational Christian: slight unease while partaking in hazily familiar ritual. To supplement my ballet training, I had been to a few yoga classes in the past and vaguely remembered the names and sequences of poses, but had to match the movements of the muscular and heavily tattooed man practicing expertly to my right. Despite my need for visual guidance, I found myself retreating inward. This was a new sensation as years of ballet had bred a habit of comparing myself to my peers. Though ballet is also an inward, individual art, a pre-professional ballet dancer is constantly in competition with others for jobs and teachers’ favor. As a result, a ballet dancer often has one eye on their own journey and another on their peers’ progression. This is something that often happens subconsciously, making it a difficult habit to break.
Surprisingly, the beat-heavy music usually used to compel shoppers to impulse buy was kept on, yet the class sank deeper into repose with each warrior series. Was this relaxation in a retail environment countercultural, especially given the fact that “the aim of yoga is to eliminate the control that material nature exerts over the human spirit?” [1]. Glancing up at the instructor quickly, I noticed a group of homeless people shivering in the crisp autumn air outside the storefront. Realization hit: this class was free, so technically these homeless people could have attended. However, the choice to hold class in a pricey store develops interesting tensions. Not everyone can afford $128 leggings, and high-quality retailers have the reputation of being judgemental places. This contributes to the intimidating nature of the venue, despite likely good intentions of holding class in a place that most know and can easily travel to. Yoga is about noticing and accepting differences, yet the venue, however innocuous it may have seemed, undermined this premise. It is interesting to note that the first yogis were encouraged to take a vow of poverty to further their practice [2]. Yet the decision to have class in Lululemon further entrenched modern yoga as an elite, white, $80 million dollar industry.
My thought was interrupted by the instructor prompting the class to let go of doubt, fear, and anything else holding us back in life. How could I think about myself when there were people in dire need right outside the tall shop windows? As the warmth in my limbs deepened with every stretch, so did my thoughts. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which had been taught in my Strategies for Dance Instruction class, came to mind. These homeless people’s basic needs of physiological, safety, belonging, esteem were not being met, so they were not afforded the opportunity to focus on furthering their lives in other areas, such as self-actualization. Maslow defined self actualization as doing what one was “born to do” [3]. One that is restricted from self-actualization is often restless. The irony is that the homeless would arguably benefit from a yoga practice as the chronic stress of survival takes a huge toll on the mental health of the displaced community, yet even free classes are inaccessible. In between bites of post-class $8 Pumpkin Harvest toast and sips of Malabar tea at a coffee shop best described as “bougie,” twinges of guilt bubbled in my stomach. Was it OK to participate in and even enjoy stereo-typically upper middle class white activities if they made me happy and were not directly harming anyone? Or does doing so contribute to the marginalization of minorities? How could I bring awareness and foster discussion of these types of issues? I gazed dolefully into my teacup.
A day later, I found myself lying on a borrowed hot-pink yoga mat in an aisle among wooden pews, gazing up at the cold stone ceiling of St. John’s Cathedral. A joyful din echoed through the sanctuary as mothers in Target leggings helped shepherd their young children into position, single men grunted as they contorted into downward dog, and startlingly flexible elderly ladies chatted among themselves. As the teacher threw in a few jokes while prompting several series of brutal planks and squats, students exchanged pained smiles and encouraging words instead of retreating inward. The instructor wore a mic and walked about, dropping verbal cues instead of visual ones. As a relatively inexperienced yogi/college student craving a meditative mental break and stretch like the one from yesterday’s class, this challenged my expectations. However, I felt a connection to fellow community members that was not present the previous day. Instead of glancing briefly at the instructor to check my technique before closing my eyes again, I watched those in front of me, helping those behind. Hearing the instructor’s guidance but not able to see her, I wondered, “Is this what encounters with God are like?” At that moment, a cloud moved and I watched golden hour light pour in through the glass.
The view from my mat
All photos courtesy of Kaylee Bosse
When I finally caught a glimpse of the instructor, I noticed that she had on a colorful, albeit unusual-looking headband and was carrying a singing bowl. The same uncomfortable gut twinge resurfaced. Was this cultural imperialism/appropriation, or was she just being herself, wearing what was comfortable and made her happy? Or, was this ensemble an honest attempt at fostering an interfaith/intercultural experience? Thus, the questioning began.
The setting of the class had interesting implications, especially recalling the church’s history of denying the body I had recently learned about in my Dance History class. The church’s distaste for the body and movement was brought about by the barbaric spectacles of Roman theater, which lowered theater and dance in the eyes of Christians. These art forms were then associated with pagan worship, which did not help their case. A similar attitude carried over to the Middle Ages, during which the mind and spirit were seen as superior to the body as they were eternal. These opinions continue to color people’s perceptions of dance and the body today. With this in mind, was the very act of moving one’s body in a church rebellious? Because the times and places people dance are determined by societal attitudes toward the body, does the ability to do yoga in a church indicate a generally more positive perception of the body in America (or at least Spokane) nowadays?
We then transitioned into a standing tree pose, the instructor quipping that we should be pressing the knee of our working leg back so much that we get “butt dimples” much like those of ballerinas. Trying not to giggle, I shared an amused glance with my friend before turning back around. Was the mention of butts in church slightly sacrilegious? What about the position of our hands in a praying gesture that was not used for prayer? All this physical and mental exertion was making me warm, tempting me to take off my sweater to reveal a sports bra. But is taking one’s shirt off in church, an ornate cathedral no less, even remotely OK?
Despite all these questions, I do think that a free yoga class is a clever way to get people into church. An interesting dichotomy exists here: while free yoga can bring people into church, yoga has been shown to subtly change one’s beliefs over time, leading many yogis to identify as “spiritual but not religious.” The general increase in religious “nones” due to many factors of modern society means that churches are empty, but yoga centers are full [4]. Additionally, Christianity and yoga are often at odds as yoga is perceived as a pagan activity despite its focus on spirituality. Many are uncomfortable with the spirituality aspect of yoga so they problematically try and Christianize it [5].
At the end of the day, Dr. Ishwar V. Basavaraddi, Director of Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, says that “Yoga does not adhere to any particular religion, belief system or community; it has always been approached as a technology for inner well-being. Anyone who practices yoga with involvement can reap its benefits, irrespective of one’s faith, ethnicity or culture” [6]. Our instructor expressed a similar sentiment in a comment she made toward the end of class when we were in triangle pose. She told how some people had made negative comments on the Yoga at the Cathedral Facebook event and commented something along the lines of: “we’re just making shapes and providing a docking space for people to ground themselves and relax so they can go out and spread love to the world.” This idea of nourishing the mind, body, and spirit has been ingrained in my thoughts throughout my four years of Jesuit education, and I believe in its importance. Though I still have many questions and concerns surrounding the modern practice of yoga, I can say that I enjoy it for a combined exercise and mental break (such multitasking even in the act of relaxing is quite telling of the effects of capitalism, but I won’t go into that). By replenishing myself through yoga, I can go out into the world and be a better Christian. This time though, I must say that yoga ironically made my head hurt!
Barbara Stoler Miller, Yoga Discipline of Freedom;the Yoga Sutra Attributed to Patanjali, (Berkeley, CA: Univ. of California Press, 1995), 1.
Miller, Yoga Discipline, 2.
Saul Mcleod, “Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs,” Simply Psychology. Simply Psychology, May 21, 2018. https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html.
Candy Gunther Brown, 2018, “Christian Yoga: Something New Under the Sun/Son?,” Church History 87, 87 (3): 659–83. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009640718001555.
Ibid.
“MEA: Statements : In Focus Articles.” Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Accessed October 30, 2019. https://www.mea.gov.in/in-focus-article.htm?25096/Yoga.
