Is Yoga A Religion?

Is Yoga a Religion?

I’ve had clients and students ask some form of this question over the years. The short answer is, “No. Yoga is not a religion.” And many are happy enough to leave it there. I’m always happy to indulge in more conversation about it, though. Yoga’s history is rich with spiritual context.

Religion implies both belief and worship. Spirituality implies that there is something bigger to the human experience than the humans themselves. Sometimes spirit is used interchangeably with soul. In other words, religion involves reverence for a deity and connecting to it through various worship practices like prayer and commitment to specific beliefs. Spirituality involves connecting to others and peace through cultivating an individual purpose (the existential “why am I here?” question).

Religion does show up in Yoga’s history, though. Yoga’s history begins over 5,000 years ago when early Hindu holy men began a practice of seated stillness to connect with divinity. We might call that meditation today, but it was called yoga then, coming from the root word, yug, meaning to yolk or connect. (Today we practice meditation in silent stillness for both spiritual and mental health benefits.)

Advaita Vedanta is the Hindu concept that only Brahman is real, and individual souls (Atman) are identical to Brahman. This sitting in still silence was a way to connect Atman to Brahman (or self to god).

So much has happened in this 5,000 year history. Other religions have branched off from Hinduism, and Yoga, as we know it today, came forth through two texts: the Khecarīvidyā and  the Hatha Pradipika. Both date back to a period between the 14th and 15th centuries and outline a set of practices intended for whole person health (mentally, physically, spiritually, and energetically). The Pradipika creates discipline for the mind, exercises or movements (asanas or yoga postures) for the body, and practices for the chakras (energetic and spiritual centers in the body) that lock and seal energy in and keep it moving (bandhas and mudras and pranayama or breathwork). The Khecarīvidyā is much more specific and less utilized in modern study and practice. The practices outlined in both came from the Hindu belief that connecting the individual to the reality - Atman to Brahman - would lead to liberation and being released from the cycle of rebirth and death.

Modern Yoga draws on some of these texts for inspiration. For example, the notion of connection to oneself is critical in yoga. Some yoga is intended to connect the practitioner to others or a purpose. Additionally, the intention of meditation and Yoga asana (or the postures) in many studios, including Blossom, does help people connect to their physical bodies (and maintain physical health) and their minds (and help process thoughts, emotions, and experiences with compassion and neutrality). For some, Yoga helps connect the practitioner to their souls or spirits and feel more in accord with nature or the universe or the collective or all sentient creatures - whatever the practitioner wants to call that “thing bigger than myself.” 

There is, however, no set of beliefs or worship in Yoga today.