There is a great deal of talk about the nature of Yoga at our church. It has become apparent to me that part of the problem is due to the Yoga practitioners themselves and in part to the lazy way we treat the English language.
According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, Hatha Yoga is ‘a system of physical exercises and breathing control used in Yoga’. Unfortunately, the term ‘Hatha Yoga’ has been popularly shortened to just ‘Yoga’ in the West. Yoga does include a spiritual side whereas Hatha Yoga does not. There is no evidence that any other religion is being practised on our premises. On the contrary, the assurances are that it is not.
It is interesting to speculate what would happen if there was a major disaster and only one hall was left in Lynton, would the Christians allow other faiths to use their hall? Of course Christians are in the majority in Lynton (unless you include Atheism as a faith) but consider the problems if we were not. The answer is certainly not straightforward.