JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, March 31, 2008: It’s hypocrisy, says Maha Sabha head, but Catholic teacher says it has helped her draw closer to Christ. A Catholic spiritual teacher who encourages her pupils to find God through yoga has been criticized by Hindu leaders. Winnie Young, 96, has spent most of her life teaching yoga after studying under one of the world’s leading yogis, Yogacharya BKS Iyengar. Young, who founded a national yoga institute in 1975, said people had a misconception of yoga as a religion. Her institute believed yoga was a tool to connect to God.
However, religious leaders in the Hindu community have criticized her, saying it is impossible to teach yoga from a Christian perspective. Young said yoga had helped her draw closer to Christ. Her institute practices hatha yoga, which advocates controlled breathing to calm the body and cleanse the mind in an effort to achieve nirvana, an elevated mental state.
“I have been led by my Christian beliefs, but I don’t do indoctrination. I teach as a Christian, my Christian principles guide me.” In her book “Yoga for the Christian,” Young says while she realizes that yoga is based on an Eastern philosophy, she can draw from the technique and knows where to draw the line. She concedes that there are certain Hindu beliefs incorporated in yoga that Christians cannot accept.
But the head of the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, Ashwin Trikamjee, is critical of Young’s teaching. “It’s hypocrisy of the highest order. I don’t understand how anyone can teach yoga from a Christian background. It is an indisputable fact that yoga has its origins in the East and in Hinduism,” he said.