Story of the Day:Let the Yoga Wars Begin

Today's story, an inane little gem from ABC News, is based on the false presupposition that yoga practice in the U.S. has more to do with embracing Hindu dogma than it does with decreasing stress, keeping limber and firming one's coin slot. Journalist John Berman pits two sectarian camps of yoga adherents against each other, one Christian and one Hindu (or "traditionalist"), neither representative of mainstream yoga. With this ludicrous framing, he makes it sound like the Christian camp's only two choices were to either transgress principles of their faith or start their own form of yoga. Rather than, say, join one of the millions of yoga classes, like most, that push you to treat your body like a temple but your mind as you please.

Berman writes, "The original goal of Yoga was to develop self-awareness and help individuals find divinity within themselves." But he leaves it at that, misleading readers in order to set up a manufactured conflict and agitate religious tensions.

"So she [Christian yoga teacher Susan Bordenkircher] joined a growing trend of modifying traditional yoga by replacing many of the chants with biblical phrases or Christian themes. While breathing in, she speaks of inhaling the holy spirit."

Berman then brings in the "yoga purists," who say it's not yoga without Hinduism. Professor of yoga philosophy Subhas Tiwaris, sounding as if he's reading from a script of the old TV series "Kung Fu," explains, "If you take a tree and chop off its roots, then you don't have a tree, do you? Yoga is mind, body, spirit." (And let's not forget the firm coin slot.)

Berman then sics Bordenkircher on him, who "bristles at this charge and defends her practice":

"There is no way that you can take a posture that is from a body that God created and say this can only be used for the Hindu faith." (Great. A fundamentalist Christian lecturing us on the necessity of multiple interpretations.)

God knows there's not enough religious strife in the world. With the wars on Christmas and Easter passing until next year, it's heartening to see the mainstream media plumbing new depths to ratchet up religious ire. Now, if they can just bring these warring yoga disciples to actual blows. Nothing says yoga like sectarian violence.

And...exhale.

Yoga With a Christian Bent, by John Berman
ABC News