“Holy Yoga” and Spiritual Warfare: A Trojan Horse in the Church ( Posted on facebook by Doreen Virtue )

You may have heard people say, “Yoga is just stretching. If you add prayer or worship music, it becomes holy.” That sounds harmless on the surface, yet it’s one of the devil’s schemes to infiltrate the church.
Scripture warns that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). He tries to infiltrate worship with counterfeits that look spiritual yet lead away from the Gospel.
Yoga isn’t simply exercise. It was created as a spiritual practice to unite with Hindu deities. The word “yoga” means “to yoke,” and its poses aren’t neutral stretches but physical offerings in a system of worship that denies the true God.
We can’t take a practice designed for idolatry and make it holy by adding a Christian label. God commanded His people not to adopt pagan worship (Deuteronomy 12:30-31).
This is where the spiritual warfare component becomes clear. One of Satan’s schemes is to try to “Christianize” pagan practices so believers drop their guard.
When a church offers “holy yoga,” it’s like rolling a Trojan horse through the doors. On the surface it looks like exercise and fellowship, yet inside it carries the seeds of confusion, compromise, and further false teaching. Paul warned that we’re not to be ignorant of Satan’s schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11), because deception often comes dressed as good.
Some argue that “Christian yoga” is like eating redeemed meat offered to idols in Paul’s day. Yet that comparison doesn’t hold. Paul allowed believers to eat meat because food itself was created by God and morally neutral.
The temple rituals were sinful, but the meat was not. Yoga, on the other hand, is the ritual. The poses and breathing are themselves acts of spiritual worship in Hinduism.
It would be like pasting Bible verses on a Ouija board and calling it a “Christian Ouija board.” Yoga can’t be redeemed.
Others say, “God knows my heart. I’m not worshiping Hindu gods, I’m worshiping Jesus while doing yoga.” The problem is that God never told us we can worship Him however we choose. He sets the terms of worship.
Nadab and Abihu learned this when they offered “strange fire” that God had not commanded, and they were struck down (Leviticus 10:1-2). Good intentions don’t sanctify disobedience.
Paul said he would never eat or drink anything that caused a weaker brother to stumble (1 Corinthians 8:13). If that’s true about food, how much more about spiritual practices rooted in idolatry?
Someone who sees professing Christians doing yoga (even so-called “holy yoga”) could stumble into New Age deception and idolatry.
So please don’t be taken in by the idea of “holy yoga.” Recognize it as spiritual warfare disguised as health and wholeness.
The enemy presents counterfeits, yet God calls us to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Holiness isn’t about what we rename; it’s about obedience to Christ.
I practiced yoga almost daily for over 20 years when I was in the new age. When I was saved, I threw away all of my yoga gear. Stretching is healthful and there are ways to stretch without yoga poses, such as physical therapy stretches, resistance band stretching, or pilates without yoga poses.
From Counterfeit to Christ: A Handbook for Women Who Were Saved Out of Deception available FREE through Kindle Unlimited at https://a.co/d/5yFUWAe