Hi All,
I think there is a need to fully understand what is yoga and what is asanas. Asanas or physical postures are meant to bring ones focus internally, to concentrate. Most yoga teachers and practitioners include breathing technique called Pranayama with asanas. Pranayama is to control mind and thoughts by controlling breath. The purpose of both is to control our thoughts and desires from physical or material ones and to focus on spirituality or divinity, Your loved devine. This is a part of eights limb of yoga told by Patanjali.
Yoga on the other hand is a very broad aspect of life. Someone devoted to Jesus or any other form of deity with unconditional love and sacrifice is doing bhakti yoga or devotional yoga. And in Bhakti yoga there are no asanas!
When a learned person like Pope says this statements, it is for us to think and know the fact. What he means? What are the practises today people do in the name of yoga? Or Pope is worried about public faith in Christianity.
