Short answer: The Bible never mentions yoga, so stretching and strengthening your body is not a sin in itself. The concern is yoga's spiritual side: in its home traditions it is a practice aimed at union with the divine, and a Christian cannot take part in that. A Christian who keeps to plain exercise, and stays clear of the spiritual teaching, is on the same footing as anyone using their conscience. It is a matter of wisdom and conviction, not a clear commandment.
In This Article
Yoga has divided Western Christians for a long time. Some churches host classes in the fellowship hall. Others print warnings in their bulletins. A Catholic body in India once issued a statement rejecting any reconciliation of yoga and Christianity, and well-known evangelical leaders have spoken just as firmly. Both sides think they are protecting the faith.
People in the pews kept asking me the same thing: is this a sin, and what does the Bible actually say? This article gives you the passages that bear on it, the honest differences between yoga as exercise and yoga as religion, and how I would counsel you to decide.
Does The Bible Say Not To Do Yoga?
No, and I want to be careful not to claim more than the text does. Yoga does not appear in the Bible, any more than the gym, jogging or Pilates does. When someone says "the Bible forbids yoga," they are drawing a conclusion from principles, not quoting a verse.
Those principles are real, though. Scripture repeatedly warns against mixing the worship of the true God with practices tied to other gods, and against being carried off by teaching that does not come from Christ. Paul puts it this way:
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
Colossians 2:8 (NIV)
So the question for a believer is not "is every stretch forbidden?" but "what teaching comes attached to this, and am I being drawn away from Christ by it?" That is a question of discernment, and it has no one-sentence answer.
Why Do They Say Yoga Is A Sin?
To understand the objection, you have to know where yoga comes from. It developed within Hindu and Buddhist traditions, and in those settings the postures and breathing are part of a spiritual path. The aim is to quiet the mind, gather spiritual energy and arrive at union with the divine or a state of enlightenment. In much Hindu thought the self is itself divine, and the world and God are not truly separate.
Christians believe something very different. God is the Creator, distinct from his creation. We are not divine in ourselves, and we do not climb to God through a higher consciousness. We are reconciled to him through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and his Spirit dwells in those who trust him. Here is the contrast in brief:
| Question | Yoga In Its Religious Setting | Christian Teaching |
|---|---|---|
| Who are we? | The self is divine or one with the divine | Created in God's image, not God |
| How do we reach God? | Discipline, breath, higher awareness | Grace through faith in Christ |
| What is the mind for? | Emptied and stilled | Renewed by God's Word |
| God and nature | Ultimately one | Creator and creation are distinct |
That is the heart of why serious Christian thinkers have objected. Albert Mohler, longtime president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has argued that yoga is a spiritual discipline that cannot be separated from its Eastern religious roots, and he rejects the idea that the body is a means to consciousness of the divine. The pastor of a large Missouri church made headlines a few years ago for warning his congregation off yoga altogether. I mention them because they represent a real and sizeable view among evangelicals, not because I think quoting names settles anything.
Paul's counsel on the renewal of the mind matters here too. Yoga often teaches emptying the mind. Scripture teaches filling it:
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Romans 12:2 (NIV)
Christian meditation is not blankness. It means turning God's Word over in your mind, as Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:2 describe. I have written more on that in Is Meditation A Sin?
Can Christians Perform Yoga?
Here I come down where I did when I first wrote this article: it is a matter on which Christians are free to come to different conclusions, and we should not condemn one another for it. The Bible does not say yoga is a sin. Paul's teaching on disputable matters applies.
Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.
Romans 14:5 (NIV)
Notice what is and is not being said. A person can be fully convinced that a stretching class is simple exercise, and another can be fully convinced that it is a doorway they should not step through, and each is acting honestly before the Lord. What neither may do is treat the other as a lesser believer.
Many people make a distinction between "real" yoga, led by a guru for spiritual enlightenment, and a physical class that borrows the poses for flexibility and strength. The physical benefits of stretching and exercise are genuine, and Scripture does not despise the body. As Paul tells Timothy, 1 Timothy 4:8 grants that physical training is of some value, while godliness holds value for all things. Plenty of Christians take a class like that without difficulty.
But I would add this. If you go, go with your eyes open. Pay attention to what the instructor is teaching. Do not join in chants, invocations or meditations directed to a deity or to "the divine within." If the class cannot be separated from that teaching, you have your answer. If your faith is young, or if the setting stirs spiritual confusion, I would encourage you to choose a different kind of exercise or a Christian-led stretching class. There are good options.
A Test For Your Own Conscience
Ask yourself three things. First, am I being asked to say or do anything in worship, to anyone but Christ? Second, is this class drawing me toward or away from prayer and Scripture? Third, would my participation cause a believer with a weaker conscience to stumble? Paul's counsel is worth keeping in view:
Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
1 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV)
Did Jesus Ever Do Yoga, And What About Namaste?
There is no record that Jesus did yoga, and nothing in the Gospels suggests it. What we do see is a man who withdrew to quiet places to pray, who fasted, who rested, and who invited the weary to come to him. His practice of stillness was prayer to the Father. If you want a verse that speaks to quiet before God, Psalm 46:10 says to be still and know that God is God, which points to a person, not a posture.
Namaste is trickier because people say it casually. It is a greeting in Indian languages and is commonly understood to mean something like "I bow to you," and in religious use it can carry the idea of honoring the divine in the other person. Since we do not believe any human being is divine, many Christians avoid saying it in a spiritual sense and simply say thank you at the end of class. I would not make it a point of fighting with anyone. If you say it as a courtesy, know what you mean by it.
The Jerusalem council's instruction in Acts 15:29 to abstain from food sacrificed to idols shows how seriously the early church took anything linked to idol worship. In the same spirit, a Christian should refuse to take part where the posture or the chant is offered to another god. A simple exercise class, offered to no one, is a different situation.
Are Christians Allowed To Enjoy Themselves?
Some of the worry about yoga comes from a deeper suspicion that anything pleasant must be spiritually risky. That is not the biblical view. Scripture says that God "richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment" in 1 Timothy 6:17. Rest, a strong body, good food and fellowship are gifts. The same goes for a massage or other ordinary care of the body, which the Bible nowhere condemns.
The question is never whether something feels good. It is whether it comes with a master other than Christ. Paul gives a simple frame for our freedom:
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Galatians 5:13 (NIV)
Enjoy your body as a gift. Take care of it. And keep watch over the spiritual claims that arrive wrapped around the exercise. If you are weighing similar questions about other practices, you may find what the Bible says about crystals and astrology helpful. The full list of these topics lives in Is It A Sin? Every Question Answered A To Z.
Key Bible Verses About Yoga And The Christian Life
- Colossians 2:8 (NIV): watch out for teaching that takes you captive and does not rest on Christ.
- Romans 12:2 (NIV): the mind is renewed by God, not emptied.
- Romans 14:5 (NIV): on disputed matters, be fully convinced in your own mind.
- 1 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV): do not let your freedom trip up a weaker believer.
- 1 Timothy 4:8 (NIV): physical training has some value, godliness more.
- Psalm 46:10 (NIV): stillness before God is directed to God himself.
- Joshua 1:8 (NIV): meditate on God's Word day and night.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Bible say not to do yoga?
No. The word yoga never appears in Scripture. What the Bible does speak to is worship of other gods, emptying the mind in a spiritual practice, and seeking union with the divine apart from Christ. Those are the things a Christian weighs when deciding what to do in a class.
Can Christians perform yoga?
Many do, and it is a matter of conscience. Some stay with stretching and strength work and leave the chants and spiritual teaching alone. Others decide any form of it is a stumbling block and stay away. Both can honor Christ. See Is Meditation A Sin? for the related question.
Did Jesus ever do yoga?
There is no record of it. Jesus prayed, fasted, and went off to quiet places to be with his Father, and his example of rest is prayer rather than a posture practice. His teaching points us to himself as the way to peace, not to a technique.
Why do they say yoga is a sin?
Because in its historical home, yoga is a spiritual discipline within Hinduism and Buddhism, aimed at union with the divine or enlightenment. Critics argue that taking the poses means taking part in that religion. Defenders say a stretching class stripped of that teaching is just exercise.
Can Christians say namaste?
Namaste is a greeting that is often understood to mean something like honoring the divine in the other person. Because Christians do not believe we are divine, many avoid it, and a simple thank you works just as well. It is a courtesy question more than a salvation question.
Are Christians allowed to enjoy themselves?
Yes. Scripture says God gives us good things to enjoy, and enjoying exercise, rest and a healthy body is part of that. The test is whether the thing we enjoy leads us toward Christ or draws us into worship of something else.
If you knew ANYTHING at all about Hindutva, you’d know that there aren’t 330 million Gods. There is one Brahman, not God. God is a term that Christians use for this petty male omniscient person. I say person, because he has all the makings of a petulant male toddler. Back to Hindutva, there are not multiple Gods, there are multiple and varied aspects of the formless, shapeless and gender less Brahman. And goodness gracious me, yoga is most definitely not an offering to all those gods you made up in your head. Please research a topic past your asinine and restrictive religious dictates before posting nonsense about other ways of life.
Please read the Bible before you make uneducated assumptions on Christianity and Christians.. you sound like a hypocritical, biggot as you put down one religion to make your demonic religion seem better somehow
These “aspects” of god marry, have children, tease girls, steal butter, take hideous forms, want sacrifices, make people rich, remove obstacles, yet they are all one god❗
The wise have eyes in their mind.
Well … yoga saved my life in simple exercises alone ! It expanded my lung capacity and helped me survive and thrive with asthma ! I am a strong Christian woman brought up in the Lutheran church – and to me Yoga is just exercise , nothing more. I put God first place
To me it’s clear. If you follow Jesus it becomes clear that a huge part of the Bible story is missing. Where and what did Jesus do when he disappeared from the Bible. Teenager to late twenties where is he. It’s important. Follow the breadcrumbs pastor and your views will change. Peace and I love you sir with all that I am.