Should Catholics Practice Yoga and T’ai Chi?

Dear Catholic Exchange,

Thanks,

Slawek

Dear Slawek,

Peace in Christ! When Westerners hear the term “yoga” they generally think of an old, limber man with leathery skin twisting and contorting his body in odd ways, or they think of certain postures (asana) or stretches they’ve seen promoted in fitness magazines, or the like. Westerners think of Hatha Yoga when they hear the word “yoga,” the yoga of physical exercises. In reality, there are many kinds of yoga.

“Yoga” means “yoke” or “union” with the divine consciousness, Brahman. Some forms of yoga (for example) include Bhakti Yoga, the devoted love of deity, and Jnana Yoga, the way of abstract knowledge. Hatha Yoga, with which we are most familiar, is generally viewed by the yogis as a prelude to other kinds of exercises. The various forms and levels of yoga are techniques for realized union with higher Brahman consciousness. (An interesting side note: Though it is unacceptable to Christians, some Hindus think of Jesus as an avatar of Visnu and think of Christianity simply as a form of Bhakti Yoga.)

For a Hindu, ultimate union with Brahman includes elimination of one’s distinct personality. Man is, in a manner of speaking, a drop of water and Brahman is an ocean. When the two are united, the human personality ceases to exist. It is not difficult to see the contrast with Christian theology. In Christian belief, union with God is a gift of His grace, not something we acquire by technique. Furthermore, this union does not eliminate human personality, but perfects it so that union with God is a loving interpersonal communion of divine and human persons (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church [Catechism], nos. 1, 850).

When a Catholic asks, “Is yoga OK?” it is crucial to ask what the question means. If people use the word “yoga” to mean things like stretching and folding certain parts of the body and/or the regulation of breathing, such practices are acceptable because they are not inherently questionable. The aforementioned practices can be used as legitimate forms of exercise, relaxation, and physical therapy and are not harmful. If, on the other hand, “yoga” is also understood to mean certain meditative practices, extreme caution must be used because the results can be harmful. In the words of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, head of the Church’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), “[Christian prayer] flees from impersonal techniques or from concentrating on oneself, which can create a kind of rut, imprisoning the person praying in a spiritual privatism which is incapable of a free openness to the transcendent God” (CDF, On Some Aspects of Christian Meditation, no. 3). In addition such spiritual privatism, in which one does not concentrate on God, can make one more vulnerable to the influence of unfriendly spirits.

Thus, a crucial distinction must be made between postures and physical exercises and the religious context. We can accept the postures, stretches, and exercises for physical therapy, relaxation, or even personal discipline (unless they become an occasion of heresy or some other sin). We cannot accept erroneous or false beliefs about the nature of God, creation, sin, and redemption—including attributing meditation and contemplation to man-made, man-effected techniques rather than God’s gift.

The distinction between one’s physical posture and the inner disposition of his heart and mind is biblical. In 2 Kings 5 we find the story of Naaman the Aramean. Naaman was a pagan with leprosy who went to Elisha the prophet to be healed. When he had been healed, he renounced the pagan deities and worshipped only the God of Israel: “now I know that there is no god in all the earth but [the God] in Israel” and “[I] will no longer offer burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord.” But Naaman had a dilemma. Naaman’s master went to worship pagan gods at the house of Rimmon, and Naaman’s master leaned on Naaman as he bowed before his pagan gods. Naaman no longer worshipped those gods, but he asked if the true Lord would pardon him if he bowed to serve his master. Elisha, knowing that Naaman did not believe in nor worship the pagan gods of his master, said, “Go in peace.”

As for as other combinations of exercise that include both the body and soul, again, we must keep in mind the context and the technique and content of the exercises and meditations used. We recognize first that our primary form of union with God is prayer and the sacraments. We also understand the whole of our lives to be a prayer, and exercise itself can be understood as a prayer in that we are acting as proper stewards of our bodies by taking care of them and treating them as temples of the Holy Spirit. Some people point also to the advantage of “Christian yoga” type techniques to relax and focus the body, especially after an over-anxious workday that may inhibit us from prayer. While this does make a legitimate point, we must keep in mind that our union with God is always a gift, i.e., by His grace we are able to know and love Him. What most Catholics do not know is that we have a rich and varied tradition of meditative and centering type techniques and prayers in the Catholic tradition! The Christian mystical tradition, including writers such as St. Teresa of Avila, and St. John of the Cross, and more modern writers such as Irma Zaleski, who promotes a very good version of the Jesus prayer, provides all kinds of different prayer and techniques for contemplative and meditative types of prayer. Many people desire something deeper, and the primary reason they turn to other religious traditions (like Hinduism) is because they don’t know what’s available within their own.

As a starting point you can read the Vatican document Some Aspects of Christian Meditation (available from Benedictus Books, 888-316-2640) as a good guide to meditative types of exercise and prayer. Also, the following is a list of sources that may be helpful:

Catholic Authors

• Living the Jesus Prayer—Irma Zaleski

• Finding the Mystic Within You—Peggy Wilkinson

• The Mystery of Christ in You: The Mystical Vision of St. Paul—Fr. George Maloney

• Called to Intimacy: Living in the Indwelling Presence—Fr. George Maloney

• The Interior Castle—St. Teresa of Avila

• Ascent of Mt. Carmel—St. John of the Cross

• Spiritual Exercises—St. Ignatius of Loyola (uses guided imagery, etc.)

Eastern Orthodox Authors

• The Way of A Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues His Way: A New Translation—Helen Bacovcin

• Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart—E. Kadloubovsky, G.E.H. Palmer (translator)

• The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology—Igumen, E. Kadloubovsky (translator), E. Palmer and Timothy Ware (editors)

T’ai Chi Ch’uan is a Chinese form of mental discipline and physical exercise that is more typically and more simply known as T’ai Chi. Ron Perfetti, an advocate of T’ai Chi, explains the origin of T’ai Chi on his website:

The study of T'ai Chi Ch’uan is unique in the sense that it marks the historical meeting of many centuries of Taoist study known as Chi Kung (“Excellence of Energy”), which was primarily dedicated to physical health and spiritual growth, with the need of the time (approximately 1000 A.D.) for monks to defend themselves against bandits and warlords. The result was, and is, an unusual blend of healing, martial, [and] meditative art which has been referred to as the internal practice of T'ai Chi Ch’uan.

“Taoism,” like the ancient Greek philosophies of Heraclitus and Socrates, is essentially a natural philosophy that encourages harmony with nature and nature’s first principle or creator. The reputed founder of Taoism is Lao Tsu, a Chinese philosopher who lived around 570 to 490 B.C. St. John the Apostle, who was familiar with Greek philosophy by the time he wrote his Gospel, believed that God’s revelation in Jesus Christ supernaturally fulfilled the natural Greek philosophy of the “Logos” (Word) (similar to the way it fulfilled the revelation of the Old Testament). He began his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. . . . And the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 18). These verses are best translated into Chinese, “In the beginning was the Tao, and the Tao was with God, and the Tao was God. . . . And the Tao became flesh and dwelt among us.” The intuition of Heraclitus, Socrates, and Lao Tsu, is fulfilled in the revelation of John’s Gospel. In this light, one can argue that Taoism is best viewed not as a philosophy opposed to Christianity, but one which needs to be fulfilled in Christ, who is the eternal Tao made flesh and revealed to all men!

In practice, though, Taoism is often mixed with other folk beliefs, customs, and religions, e.g., Confucianism. This, however, is not inherent to Taoism itself.

In this light, any presentation of T’ai Chi at a Catholic retreat center should be free of any problematic admixtures that conflict with Catholicism, and it should also be consciously used as a tool to draw people to Christ and His Catholic Church.

T’ai Chi is most visibly identified as a form of exercise or self-defense. Perfetti notes:

The true focus of the study is not primarily that of the physical level, but places the emphasis of the practice more on the mental and energetic levels. The mental component is really most important since the number one condition that inhibits an individual from achieving excellence in anything, including one’s own health, is a state that Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to as being “weak-minded.” This “weak-minded” state indicates one who is easily confused or distracted. So the first quality to be developed in T’ai Chi is that of strengthening one's concentration, or what is referred to in the martial arts as being centered.

Perfetti adds that, “The essence of T'ai Chi practice is not to learn a set of movements, nor to become talented in a system of self-defense, although these abilities may occur during the course of practice. The intention of T'ai Chi is to allow one the opportunity to become more aware of the natural laws which govern change; not just change in the body as affects physical, structural movement, but rather principles of change and movement that govern every aspect of our lives and the world around us. The exercises of the practice simply provide us with an opportunity to explore that process of discovery.”

Provided one does not import eastern theological elements that conflict with Catholicism—such as certain meditation techniques—T’ai Chi, like the martial arts in general, could be a profitable form of exercise and self-discipline. The Catechism of the Catholic Church addresses the subject of meditation in four short paragraphs (nos. 2705-08). The Catechism notes that there are different methods of Christian meditation, and it teaches that methods serve only as a guide. Our goal as Catholics should always be union with Christ, “to advance, with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of prayer: Christ Jesus” (no. 2707).

In identifying and evaluating theological problems that may arise in presentations regarding T’ai Chi, we highly recommend the aforementioned Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on some aspects of Christian Meditation. This document clearly distinguishes the kind of meditation proper to Christian prayer from that which leads one merely to self-emptying—a self-emptying that leaves one open to undesirable influences.

I hope this answers your question. If you have further questions on this or would like more information about Catholics United for the Faith, please contact us at 1-800-MY-FAITH (693-2484). Please keep us in your prayers as we endeavor to “support, defend, and advance the efforts of the teaching Church.”

United in the Faith,

David E. Utsler

Information Specialist

Catholics United for the Faith

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Steubenville, OH 43952

800-MY-FAITH (800-693-2484)