When God gave Susan Bordenkircher the vision for her yoga-based Christian
ministry, Outstretched in Worship, she truly believed she was stepping
into uncharted territory. And while God has used her ministry as a pioneer
of sorts in this movement, she was amazed to see the level of interest
and involvement that already existed. She quickly learned that there are
approximately 15 million people in this country practicing yoga, and fully
50-60 percent of them say they come from a church background. In fact,
many churches, Christian retreats, and denominational conventions are incorporating
yoga as one creative approach to cultivating a quiet, receptive spirit
and deep prayer life.
After producing several top-selling Christ-centered yoga instructional
videos, Susan now brings her unique form of exercise, stretching, and prayerful
praise to a market eager for yoga that is centered around Christ and not
eastern forms of meditation. She has even included a full-length instructional
workout DVD for readers to follow along with!
Christoga - Christian Yoga Christoga is a non-traditional hatha yoga
practice at beginning and intermediate levels using scriptures from the
Bible as the meditation focus. The positions strengthen and lengthen muscles
as well as improve breathing, concentration and balance. The progressive
guided relaxation phase is both comforting and restorative. Therefore,
regular Christoga practice (at least 3 times a week) will improve your
ability to perform activities of daily living. Strengthen both body and
soul therefore improving your quality of life!
From Publishers Weekly:
Evangelical Christians are not often very enthusiastic about yoga, dismissing
it as irrelevant at best and Satanic at worst. But for Boon, an Arizona
yoga teacher who is the founder of the Holy Yoga ministry, yoga is a worship
tool to enhance her relationship with Christ. Although Boon's writing is
primitive and breathless, with excessive use of italics and exclamation
points, she offers some decent ideas and memorable spiritual quotes from
the likes of Eugene Peterson, Lauren Winner and Richard Foster. Boon first
outlines the theological reasons for yoga practice, likening it to ancient
Christian disciplines like fasting. This section can seem defensive and
apologetic at times, as Boon expends energy answering her evangelical critics.
Part two briefly highlights yoga as a healthy lifestyle (e.g., it can improve
circulation, relieve stress and maintain a healthy weight) and offers tips
on incorporating yoga into a neophyte's regular routine. The final, longest
section presents various postures, with black-and-white illustrations.
However, the instructions are brief and vague enough that Christians who
are new to yoga will definitely want to supplement their fledgling practice
with more detailed, step-by-step information, such as that contained in
traditional yoga books or Susan Bordenkicher's more thorough Yoga for Christians.
Note: DVD and photo insert not seen by PW.
Book Description
People often equate yoga withEastern religion, but Brooke Boonsees it as
an exercise style thatChristians can use to generate patience,strength,
and deeper worship.Author and yoga instructorBrooke Boon combines her passionfor
Christianity with her commitmentto health to introduce yoga asa physical
and spiritual disciplinethat strengthens the body and thesoul. Clear explanations
and photographsmake yoga accessible forany reader, and Brooke offers customizedroutines
for readers strugglingwith specific issues, such asweight loss and anxiety.
Through it all Brooke uses scripturalreferences to help reinforce the idea
that by takingcare of our bodies we can also take care of our faith.
WholyFit: Fitness for the Whole You! Consumer Feedback: I just completed the workout for the first time on level one and I LOVE it! It's so nice to have a Christian alternative to Yoga that isn't hokey or corny. I'm very happy with it. I'm already looking forward to doing the next workout!
This DVD is one of my favorite yoga workouts! It's a quick (32 minute,
I think) workout that incorporates all the movements of the spine. The
music is indeed "soul-stirring"! I usually do this workout in
the mornings or when I want a shorter practice. It gets my body limber
and ready for the day, and gets my heart in the right place, too--aware
of God and His great goodness to me. I love the way Father Ryan has choreographed
the poses to flow with the words and feel of the music. This meaningful
and well-timed choreography makes the sequences easy to learn so that you
don't have to keep eyeing the TV. (I've even bought all the songs and put
a playlist on my ipod so that I can do this workout while traveling or
away from the TV.) I love doing the warrior poses to the song, "The
Peace Prayer," and
kneeling poses to "Blest Are They,"--a song about the Beatitudes.
The workout on this DVD offers a beautiful and holistic experience for a
Christian practicing yoga. It also includes an excellent teaching from Father
Ryan on why a Christ-centered yoga practice is a "good fit" for
Christians.
WholyFit Teaching DVD. View an actual clip of this DVD on the website.
WholyFit Founder Laura Monica and WholyFit Mentor Instructor Trainer Leah
Nelson demonstrate Ephesians 6 routine in 3 levels. This DVD is used to
train instructors and is also a valuable practice tool for those who take
WholyFit classes in their churches or local health clubs.
Although yoga is increasingly popular as a source of spiritual and physical
well being, few Christians know that it is also a unique way to worship
God through the ancient practices and disciplines of body prayer. Nancy
Roth's An Invitation to Christian Yoga offers an introduction to the
practice of yoga as a Christian discipline of prayer, followd by simple
poses and exercises that are clearly explained and helpfully illustrated
by line drawings. Roth offers a short biblical text, often from the psalms,
to accompany each pose as basis for meditation.
This books is ideal for beginners as well as more advanced practitioners
who wish to incorporate yoga into their life of daily prayer.
From the Author
"The long experience of Nancy Roth with hatha yoga practiced in a
Christian context with all age groups is brought to articulate fruition
in this fine book." Tilden Edwards
About the Author
The Rev. Nancy Roth is an Episcopal priest, retreat leader, author, dancer,
and musician. Assisting Priest at Christ Episcopal Church in Oberlin,
Ohio, she travels widely as a retreat conductor and workshop leader offering
classes on the integration of body and spirit.
Promising to bring peace, healing, and wholeness (even prosperity!) to
its practitioners, readers will be shocked to discover that yoga is, in
fact, based on the worship of (and prepares participants for supernatural
connection with) unholy spirits that manifest in extraordinary and dangerous
ways. The author-an avid promoter of biblically based physical, mental,
and spiritual wholeness-distinguishes pure truth from popular belief in
this revealing expose. Every Christian should be informed of the true origins
and effects of the practice of yoga and its ungodly roots in Kundalini energy-which,
literally defined, means an awakening of the "Serpent Power."
About the Author
Dave Hunt is a best-selling author and internationally esteemed researcher,
lecturer, and scholar, whose works have been translated into more than
40 languages. Over 4 million copies of his books have been sold. Dave's
impeccable research and recognized scholarship make him a sought-after
speaker at conferences. Along with cohost T.A. McMahon, Dave also challenges
listeners on the weekly radio program "Search the Scriptures Daily" heard
on over 350 stations nationwide.
PAPERBACK WITH AUDIO CD. In Jesus, Yoga, & the Way of Happiness, Andrea
Vidrine shows the reader how to integrate the spiritual discipline of yoga
with the Christian faith. This book is a 21-day journey designed to inspire
a deeper awareness of Christ within and to stimulate the explosive expression
of Spirit in all aspects of life. All who enter this process will emerge
with a renewed sense of purpose and the knowledge of the practice of being
the presence of Love.
From the Author
Andrea Vidrine graduated from Louisiana State University with a Master's
Degree in Social Work and from the New England School of Natural Health
Care in Natural Health Care Science. She works in the field of Nephrology
Social Work, was a licensed massage therapist for seven years, and is
a certified yoga instructor. She lives in Church Point, Louisiana, with
her husband, two children, three or so cats, and one horse.
"For just as strolling, walking, and running are bodily exercises,
so spiritual exercises are methods of preparing the soul," wrote St.
Ignatius in his Spiritual Exercises. In her homage to this classic, Nancy
Roth offers a rationale and overview of contemporary prayer and practices
that prepare the soul in the here and now through a variety of exercises
that honor the link between "body" and "spirit" and
lead the body to express itself in prayer.
To help us in our quest to integrate physical well-being with spiritual
practice, Roth introduces and leads us through many different disciplines,
including Pilates, Tai Chi, yoga, dance, strength training, and aerobic
exercise. After summarizing their origins, she describes each discipline
clearly, with three or four examples, and then discusses how this particular
form of exercise provides a metaphor for the spiritual journey. Other sections
discuss breathing and posture, alignment, progressive relaxation, and message,
while the final chapter helps us think through the different offerings
presented here and decide which we might incorporate into our own lives
of prayer.
About the Author
The Rev. Nancy Roth is an Episcopal priest, retreat leader, author, dancer,
and musician. Assisting Priest at Christ Episcopal Church in Oberlin,
Ohio, she travels widely as a retreat conductor and workshop leader offering
classes on the integration of body and spirit. Nancy Roth's many books
include Meditations for Choir Members, and An Invitation to Christian
Yoga.
Opening the door for Christians to a spiritual practice of unimaginable
richness,
By William Courson "William Courson" (Montclair, NJ USA)
Opening the door for Christians to a spiritual practice of unimaginable
richness
Hatha yoga, once the exclusive cultural property of an isolated ethic
enclave, has today encircled the globe. But although yoga is phenomenally
popular in the West as a source of spiritual and physical well being, few
Christians know that it is also a unique way to worship God through the
ancient disciplines of body-centered prayer.
This is surprising given that the Christian tradition is one whose central
mysteries are that of the Incarnation - the embodiment of the Divine -
and of the Resurrection - the transcending of the body's end. These body
centered mysteries come with two facets: from the Creator's perspective,
that of 'kenosis,' the self-emptying of the Divine into human flesh, and
from the perspective of the creature, that of 'theosis,' the process of
transcending the bounds of its flesh-enshrouded vehicle to become more
Godly. Hatha yoga is an instrument for accomplishing the latter.
Anthony Randazzo, a Roman Catholic priest and student of yoga and Madelana
Ferrara-Mattheis, a yoga teacher and educator, offer an introduction to
the practice of yoga as a Christian discipline of prayer, told in engaging,
delightful language and helpfully illustrated by color photographs useful
to both experienced practitioners as well as to newcomers to yoga. But
the authors' conversational, storytelling style and the size of 'Beatitudes,
Christ and the Practice of Yoga' (108 pages) are deceptive: this is by
no means a 'little book.' It is, rather, a manual for achieving spiritual
and bodily balance in narrative form whose words must be both read as well
as practiced to resonate.
This book is ideal for beginners as well as more advanced practitioners
who wish to incorporate hatha yoga into their life of daily prayer and
to integrate yogic principles into their devotional praxis. It is also
extremely worthwhile reading for Yoga teachers with Christians as students
and for those Christians who are wholly unfamiliar with hatha yoga, opening
the door to a spiritual practice of unimagined richness and reward.
A. K. Mozumdar was the founder of the Christian Yoga Society and this
book outlines much of its spiritual philosophy. East and West and brought
together to allow those from both spiritual backgrounds to enhance their
growth and to possibly experience an all-pervading Oneness in the universe.
This is an important spiritual work that is capable of transforming an
individual. From reading it, one may discover a unique path to follow and
achieve spiritual peace of mind.
If you're looking for clear links between Christian faith and the practice
of yoga and meditation, this book is for you. Prayer of Heart and Body
will help you integrate teachings from the Christian contemplative
tradition into your practice and encourage a new appreciation for the
role of the body in prayer. "Yoga," says the author, is "meditation
in motion, a way to pray with one's whole being--body, mind and spirit.
It was originally designed to prepare people for sitting meditation." The
two work powerfully together.
Quoting extensively from such authors as Ignatius, John of the Cross,
Rahner and Merton, Ryan explains what is distinctive about Christian meditation
compared to some eastern forms, and looks at reincarnation and kundalini
energy in the light of Christian faith, respecting the authenticity of
other world religions and drawing from their wisdom traditions where appropriate. "Through
this, Ryan integrates all that is beautiful, wise and holy in other traditions," says
Jean Vanier in his Foreword, for a book that is "unifying and pacifying."
The final section gives explicit instructions on beginning yoga. Using
easy-to-follow diagrams, it covers breathing exercises, warm-up exercises,
and the postures, including benefits, precautions and contraindications
for each. In all, the basic aim of this beautifully written book is to
assist the millions of Christians who today are practicing meditation or
yoga or both, to consciously integrate them into their Christian spirituality
as effective instruments for their personal development in prayer and daily
living.
About the Author
Thomas Ryan, C.S.P., directs the Paulist North American Office for Ecumenical
and Interfaith Relations in New York City. Father Ryan also leads retreats
in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
By Bandanaman "Dan" (Twinsburg OH)
Sometimes I think I am led to certain books as they just seem to jump off
the shelf at me. When I saw this one, I really liked the 4-color design,
subtle yet pleasing, and when I realized it had a meditation CD with
it, I paid full price at Borders ($20). I have not listened to the CD
yet, but the author's explanation of God and soul is above anything I
have read, and I am currently studying a lot of Buddhist practice. Many
of the interpretations parallel the practice of mindfulness and the reality
that all we have is now--that the current moment indeed is our heaven.
The book eminates the fact that we are souls, here temporarily in human
form, and we were here in soul form before and will be after we leave
this life. I really, truly love this book, and I do not usually review
books. But this one gives a very nice take and very nice reasoning behind
the author's understanding of spirituality. It is very logical and acceptable,
yet neither negates nor denegrates individual religious beliefs.
A new way to look at fitness,
By armchairinterviews.com
Most of us have made the decision to go on a diet and incorporate an exercise
program. Many of us have lost interest or found it more difficult than
we thought it would be. The result was failure. We didn't reach our weight
loss and health goal.
Laurette Willis, personal trainer, public speaker and author of Basic
Steps to Godly Fitness, provides solid information about why our diets
can and often do more harm than good. Willis offers her vast experience
with health and fitness to provide us with a biblical approach to fitness:
a Christian alternative to yoga. She believes her program will encourage
our spirit, refresh our souls and nourish our bodies.
Willis provides practical suggestions to turn dull exercises that we really
don't want to do into acts of worship. She gives simple and useful steps
to better incorporate nutrition and fitness into our daily lives. These
steps will bring lasting results. Willis discusses ways to overcome destructive
thought patterns, make healthy choices and discover how forgiveness will
free us. And she shows us ways to grow in our relationship with God.
I found Basic Steps to Godly Fitness to be interesting, logical and easily
understood. I personally found the information on stress to be a reminder
that is worth reading and then re-reading. The photographs accompanying
the exercise descriptions were sound and easily followed. And there are
suggested menus and a few recipes that contain ingredients that most people
have in their kitchens.
This is a prayerful diet and exercise program worth taking a look at.
Pagitt (Preaching Re-Imagined) and Prill provide ideas and specific guidelines
for praying using the body—i.e., praying for strength with your hands
crossed over your chest or for healing with your palms out, facing
up—with a goal of "help[ing] you connect with God at every level
of your life—body, mind, and spirit." The 30 short sections of
the book provide instructions for specific prayer postures, each with
some introductory comments, a prayer, instructions, and room for journaling.
Each posture is illustrated with a full-page drawing (which, unfortunately,
does not always exactly match the written instructions). Though Christian,
the book is informed by an almost New Age sensibility; many of the
prayers sound more like self-focused meditations than requests for
something from God, and often skirt around the issues they're supposed
to address, for example, the prayer for healing: "The power and
love of God/ Keeps us from falling/ Washes us clean/ And places us
in the kingdom as pure beings." Scripture references are included
in the notes but not in the text itself. Some conservative evangelicals
will likely be uncomfortable with the book, while those in the emergent
church may welcome new physical approaches to prayer. (Nov. 15)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
All rights reserved.
Review
Praise for
BodyPrayer
“We are called not only to pray without ceasing, but also to pray with
our whole selves. BodyPrayer is a gentle guide to doing just that. Simultaneously
subversive and traditional, the logic of BodyPrayer is holistic, anti-Gnostic,
and potentially transformative.”
–Lauren F. Winner, author of Girl Meets God and Mudhouse Sabbath
“By sharing the rich prayer life of his Minneapolis church with the world,
Doug Pagitt reflects a whole new way of looking at ‘church’–less in terms
of ‘what is your mission statement’ or ‘statement of faith’ and more ‘what
are your practices and embodied rituals that are uniquely yours?’ BodyPrayer
is one of the first books to appreciate that embodied mediation is a key
process by which theology is communicated and lived.”
–Leonard Sweet, author of Out of the Question…Into the Mystery and the
trilogy AquaChurch, SoulTsunami, and SoulSalsa
“You can’t get any more biblical than this! God created us to worship
Him with our bodies. Because of the Fall, God became incarnate to restore
our worship of Him. Because of a body that suffered on the cross and a
body that rose from the grave, God redeems us to worship Him–not in some
disembodied soul but in, with, and through our bodies. BodyPrayer makes
it real.”
–Robert Webber, Myers Professor of Ministry at Northern Seminary, author
of The Younger Evangelicals
“This small guide to physical prayer is huge in its message. Doug Pagitt
and Kathryn Prill here return the body to its original place in, and importance
to, Christian worship. We should all be grateful.”
–Phyllis Tickle, compiler of The Divine Hours