TEXAS, U.S, February 24, 2011: Though most American yoga practitioners don’t consider their work on the mat to be worship, there’s a spiritual aspect about yoga that’s more than physical. At this weekend’s Texas Yoga Conference, the largest gathering for mainstream yoga instructors and students the city’s ever hosted, instructors incorporated Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi Muslim, Judeo-Christian and other religious perspectives into their classes, held for hundreds of barefooted teachers and students from across the state.
Meanwhile, the Hindu American Foundation continues a nationwide campaign to get the yoga community to recognize the Hindu roots to Sanskrit-named postures, om chanting and traditional greeting of ‘namaste.’ Though these campaigns have stirred controversy in recent months, there has always been some confusion over the soul of yoga and how the popular practice can affect people of faith, especially in Texas.
For those who believe that Jesus Christ is the only path to salvation, the spiritual elements of yoga — used to connect with the universe – may contradict. ‘If you get deep enough in the yoga practice, you’ll have to consider, ‘How does this practice that’s opened me up fit with my belief in one path to God?’ ‘ said Sheetal Shah, a senior director for the Hindu American Foundation.