They're aiming for national awareness, so be informed. Personal awareness...that the "latter times" marked by an influence of seducing spirits and the doctrines of devils spoken of in 1 Timothy 4:1 have arrived... is a good starting point:
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"Yoga Month 09.2008, a national awareness campaign to inspire a healthy lifestyle and educate about the health benefits of yoga. The first initiative of it's kind, all proceeds are benefiting Youth Health Alliance": homepage
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Yoga Month Poised to Make Statement at Democratic National Convention (from website)
Denver, CO - Yoga Month 09.2008, a national awareness campaign to inspire a healthy and informed lifestyle, kicks off the eve before the Democratic National Convention in Denver with a nonpartisan yoga health festival and benefit concert.
In celebration of Yoga Month 09.2008, a 10-City Yoga Health Festival Tour will take place across the US and Canada. The tour will convene August 24-25 on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Denver and will conclude in Vancouver on October 4. Other festival cities include Miami, New York, Chicago, Austin, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Boston. The tour will feature nationally acclaimed yoga masters, respected health practitioners, green vendors, and conscious-minded musicians Justin Nozuka and Lili Haydn. Russell Simmons, Mariel Hemingway, Sheila E, and other celebrated yogis have embraced Yoga Month and will participate in the 10-City Yoga Health Festival Tour.
In addition to the festival tour, Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA chapters, and other community based organizations throughout the country will take part in Yoga Month by hosting free yoga classes for underserved youth. These classes will be led by Yoga Month Ambassadors and will focus on the importance of the national awareness campaign, the basics of yoga, nutrition, and simple ways to live a healthy and informed lifestyle at home and at school. Many Yoga Month yoga classes have already been scheduled for implementation in August and September.
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re: Isn't yoga harmless. What's wrong with yoga. What if I'm only doing it for the stretching exercise...i.e 'health benefits'?
Can We Separate the Exercise From the Philosophy?
excerpted: "There is a common misconception in the West that hatha-yoga, one of about ten forms of Yoga that supposedly leads to self-realization, is merely a neutral form of exercise, a soothing and effective alternative for those who abhor jogging and calisthenics ...
"[However], Hatha-yoga is 'one of the six recognized systems of orthodox Hinduism' and is at its roots religious and mystical. It is also one of the most difficult and potentially dangerous [spiritually] forms of Yoga. "The term hatha is derived from the verb hath, which means 'to oppress.'... What the practice of hatha-yoga is designed to do is suppress the flow of psychic energies through these channels ["symbolic, or psychic, passages on either side of the spinal column"], thereby forcing the 'serpent power' or the kundalini force to rise through the central psychic channel in the spine (the sushumna) and up through the chakras, the supposed psychic centers of human personality and power. Westerners mistakenly believe that one can practice hatha-yoga apart from the philosophical and religious beliefs that undergrid it. This is an absolutely false belief. ...
"You cannot separate the exercises from the philosophy. ... 'The movements themselves become a form of meditation.' The continued practice of the exercises will, whether you ... intend it or not, eventually influence you toward an Eastern/mystical perspective. That is what it is meant to do! ... There is, by definition, no such thing as 'neutral' Yoga" — (Johanna Michaelsen, Like Lambs to the Slaughter, pp. 93-95).
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