| We are Christians
from a broad range of traditions: Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal,
Lutheran, Methodist, Orthodox, Presbyterian, United Church,
Church of the Savior and a variety of Free Church traditions.
The breadth of our network reveals a truth: Christians connect
instinctively with an embodied spiritual practice that inclines
toward deeper prayer. It is embedded in our spiritual DNA
to go to God the way God came to us—in and through the
body.
Christians practicing yoga represents a growing community
of people with its arms open in welcome to the following groups
of people. We have also included a reference to the area of
our website that may be most applicable to specific groups.
- Practicing Christians who are going to church but who
may be seeking supplementary individual or communal ways
of praying that are life-giving (see Spirituality of
the Body).
- Christians who already meditate and practice yoga and
who experience real benefit from it but find little or no
support for it in their church community (see Meditative
Prayer in the Christian Tradition).
- Yoga teachers who already are or are considering teaching
yoga to Christians (see For Teachers and Practitioners).
- Christians who are unsure about these practices—whether
for themselves or for others—and seek more information
on what the points of connection are between yoga, meditation,
and their faith (see Yoga-Our Perspective).
- People of no church background, or whose Christian faith
is no longer active (see From the Heart – Personal
Stories).
- Members of other religions who are simply curious as to
what Christian faith has to say about meditation and embodied
spiritual practices like yoga (see Meditative Prayer
in the Christian Tradition).
So as you browse through the rich and engaging perspectives
that have been brought all together in one place here, think
of it as sitting down on a log by the side of the trail with
other hikers met along the way. Think of it as looking at
the map together and sharing with one another what you have
learned thus far on the journey to the clearing in the center
of the forest. Those whose maps you will see here and whose
voices you will hear have learned something important: traveling
with others opens us to experience more widely and see more
clearly the many and marvelous ways that God comes to us and
deepens our communion.
May the time you spend here be a blessing for you!
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