Christian Yoga

An anonymous letter with no return address arrived recently at the home of Nancy Roth, an Episcopal priest and writer, who leads workshops and retreats in Christian Yoga. Roth was leading a retreat in another state so her husband examined the letter, as one does in our age of anthrax, by holding it up to the light, checking to see if there were any clues as to its contents.

He saw the words "yoga" and "Christian," so he thought it must be someone asking about her workshops. He opened the envelope to find a clipping from a publication, the identity of which was not included, denying the validity of Reverend Roth's recently published book, "An Invitation to Christian Yoga" (Cowley Publications).

The one I encountered, as I lay on the gym floor with my body relaxed and my mind and spirit attentive, was the God I knew in Christ Jesus.

"The clipping criticized my book, saying that yoga could not be 'Christian,'" Reverend Roth told me. "It 'warned' that yoga would inevitably lead people away from Christianity and put them in touch with Hindu deities. It was part of that whole fearful attitude of some fundamentalists."

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