Christian physical practice

I got roped into a “qigong” class where alongside the teaching of various stretching and balance movements, there was also the teaching of the sorcery known as “qi”.
Yoga is similar in that Hindu spirituality is sometimes found alongside the physical poses.
My question is: is there a similar physical practice compatible with Christianity? Have any saints integrated some kind of physical practice with their spiritual practice?

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Get your gnostic kabalah outta here, boyo.

yup it's called flogging yourself

Before you misled people here or anything, OP, I used to practice kung-fu (inb4 weeb, I am of Chinese descent here), I can tell you bits about chi or qi and that it is NOT sorcery as in you borrow powers from daemons or have to believe in something other than our Lord.

It is a skill that anyone can learn by physical exercise and practising being calm in strenuous situations. Takes long to even begin to practice because prep-work takes at least 9 months, can be up to 2 years. And if you fap, you have to stop fapping for at least half or one year before you can begin. It essentially allows you to wholly control your force and inertia, allowing you to use your strength and energy more effectively and efficiently. I can lift heavier stuffs than before and I did not even increase my strength by weight-lifting, things like that.

Water fast until you hit 8% bodyfat, then pick heavy things up and set them down.

Pray for strength while fasting, pray for strength when you go for that LMAOO4PLATE!!11!!!! deadlift.

It depends. If qi is magic then it's not compatible. If qi is a natural invisible energy, part of the natural universe and created by God, then it's compatible.
My opinion (for personal experience) is the same as Qi is natural and is not from devils.

But in general I would stay away from the phylosophical doctrines that teach it: five elements, shakti, yoga, etcetera. They would only confuse you and distract your intellect from God.

Five-elements (Wuxing) and Yin-Yang is pretty much what alchemy and four humours is to the west before modernised science and medicine. Nothing serious nor risky, just antiquated arts you can only properly learned from the old masters. They are as metaphysical as modern science.

Don’t know about yoga, chakra, or if they’re related to hindi deities and spiritual stuffs though.

Had Christianity developed in the East the way it did elsewhere it probably would have assimilated much of the local wisdom and it in fact did in places where it did develop. Rejecting profitable sciences and wisdom is ignorant fundamentalist zealot and conquistador inquisitor tier.

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Honestly just take up a physical practice (from one of these other places). As long as it's not religious you're gonna be fine. I even did yoga before, it's fine.

Unironically do yoga and laugh at anyone who thinks it is incompatible with Christianity. Those folks are literally uptight.
OF ALL THE SINS YOU COULD COMMIT A SOLID STRETCHING AND MEDITATION ROUTINE IS PRETTY FAR DOWN THE LIST FOLKS!
Go crusade against something worthwhile, like the false prophet of Islam.

Any guides or books you can recommend on this?

Yoga is a spiritual practice of the hindu religion.
Now of course the positions of yoga, outside the hindu context won't'give you demons and are just a weird gymanstic.
But go and chant a mantra to Shiva as you are supposed to do and see how it's totally not incompatible.
You sound like an hindu saying "I just to the spiritual excercises of St.Ignatius to relax myself. It's not christian, it's totally compatible with hinduism"

You say "unironically do yoga" buy you are wrong. Doing yoga means doing the spiritual practice of hinduism. Merely doing the positions is not doing yoga.
Proper yoga is idolatry, involes hindu gods and is 100% incompatible with christianity. If you only do the positions without the spirituality you are just doing gymnastic.


Practice abdominal breathing, relax and concentrate only on it.
Please avoid reading random stuff that contain alien spirituality. Syncretism and delusions often go unnoticed.

Yoga is literally 95% streching your body and doing some mantras in Hindu.

It's an exercise system that because it got stuck in India for 6000 years, it's normal there are some cultural elements there.

But it's 98% streching your body in really hard positions and paying attention to your breath.

To say this is a sin, then it means there is No God or Temple of God in your body, which is anti-biblical

Do you realize the most ancient and fundamental text of Yoga, the Yoga Sutra is a religious text?
And it says Yoga is a mean of union with the divine (the hindu pagan divine). The very meaning of the word Yoga is connected with the verb "to unite".

"Doing some mantras in Hindu" is no joke. Mantras are invocation to pagan gods and they have real negative spiritual effects if done with a consenting will.
The positions are the accessory, and the spirituality is the core, far from being just some cultural elements.
I say it's the opposite of what you think: positions are 10% of Yoga and concentration+mantra+religion are 90% of it.
Nothing will happen if you just do the positions, however plenty of exorcists and spiritual fathers both in the Catholic and the Orthodox church warns about knowing people who got demons by doing the full yoga (with invocations and all). Don't downplay this issue: Father Amorth and Saint Paisios are not idiots who speak out of ignorance.

Also, chanting or mentally repeating "praise Shiva" is a sin of idolatry, no matter how you look at it.

It's mostly just visualization techniques. Its just that Kundalini shit you need to stay clear off. You can do the physical exercises but exchange the Peseudoscientific Ki stuff with contemplating the mysteries of the rosary instead.

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God help you, user. There is only one divine. There is only one Ultimate Source, one Creator.
I mean, what did you think Jesus meant when He prayed that we might be "one with the Father"? He's talking about union.
…THE SAME FOR THE WORD RELIGION, BUD.
I would agree.
I've included a map in case you get lost, user. Drop the ego. "I must decrease, He must increase"

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Begone Satan.


Yoga is a 1:1 spiritual practice for a pagan religion, and the very least, it is used as an opening into out-right spiritualism.

Vade Retro Satana, your tricks do not work here.

If I had a nickel for every "yoga is exercise" yuppie that had some hindu pagan symbols pasted around their house, i'd have a lot of nickels

Um I think the situation regarding yoga may be misunderstood.
According to some wikipedia readings modern yoga practices are said to be traced to John Woodroffe "Arthur Avalon's" The Serpent Power which appears to be focused on the subject of kundalini and chakras. It was also promoted by Theosophist groups. Like others have said it is a historical science with elements of religious culture integrated into it.

Westerners understanding of chi are very inept to be honest. You are better off learning Cantonese and find an old master in Hong Kong who can teach you that (and you can teach English there as well). If they have belts, they are scams, so avoid them. Belts are McDojos inventions and only appropriated by Japanese martial arts schools for some reason. We never have belts or anything for Chinese martial arts, the master will teach you more once you are ready to learn, not by some belt exams.

Hey! I was a green belt in Taekwondo.

He's talking about Christians. No Christian can become One through hindu practices, this is unacceptable.

Now I understand you.
So please do this. Before giving advice to Christians to practice Yoga and other form of pagan spirituality to unite with the divine, explain explicitly that you are syncretist and believe every religion is a path to the same universal Divine.
Be honest about being a buddhist/hindu/christian syncretist before trying to mislead people on your path.

That is an hindu map, it's not christian spirituality
I must decrese, Christ must increase. Christ do not increase in you by you doing Yoga and pagan stuff. Sure the ego decrese, and emptyness takes its place. Christ can't increase in you except by prayer and Christian practice.
Stop making a big salad of different religions.

Hesychasm

If the “energy” of qi were physically verifiable, you might be on to something. But it isn’t: which makes qigong a spiritual practice if the teacher is going on about wood energy this and center meridian that.

I’ve taken “power yoga” classes which have 0 spiritual references and 0 mysticism except the Om at the end, which I wish they would just skip. I don’t see how simply moving your body can be pagan, but assigning weird energies and “opening up to oneness” or whatever they do certainly is not Christian.

你o係唔o係香港?

Case in point. Westerners often mistook chi for spiritual energy or something while in reality it is just using normal human strength in a more efficient way. The training allows you to feel it and control it more effectively through set of rote movements designed to make you use strength in that way.

Like how you would lift a heavy box, you can lean down and hurt your spine and lift from your back and arm; or you can sit down, grab it from the bottom, and stand up again without using much strength. In martial arts term, you can throw a punch as hard as a huge haymaker with shorter and faster movements (that's the ideal though, one part of the training is live sparring very often so you can stay calm use it in real threatening situation without panicking).

I believe martial arts movies and snake oil martial arts teachers have greatly contributed to a wrong understanding of qi.
As it was explained to me it makes you use your body to 100% but do not make you use more strenght than your muscles can physically produce. It does not violate the laws of physics.

Well no it isn't. At least in Orthodoxy The idea of Greek Philosophy being compatible With orthodoxy is Foolish. I think you're thinking Of Roman Catholicism where they did Incorporate Greek Philosophy into their Theology, and look where that went. Take For instance Aristotle's Fives 5 Causes. In Orthodoxy We'd say that we don't use Aristotle's 5 Causes, or argue up, to some Generic being. Because God isn't just some Generic being. Infact Generic being is the one Paul goes into, Greece, and Does Apologetic's with Greek Philosophers and rebukes them. So, i don't what you're getting at dude. Vid here from Mr. Dyer actually lays out this particular point pretty well, in the transcendental Argument. As for science. This just goes back to Metaphysics. The only reason we're able to do sciences, is because of God. But yes they're just Certain Philosophies that have bad Starting points. As, for in being Fundamentalist? Obviously, i Reject Materialism, i don't use Aristotle's 5 Generic causes when it comes to God. Because again, in Orthodox Theology, God isn't a Generic being, it's I Am That I Am, Not I'm Generic Being. So yes Far eastern Thought. And even Greek Philosophy Will have some bad starting points. May make some good points, like in some Far Eastern Thought. Really, i'd watch the vid. Cause Mr Dyer does a better job at explaining this then i can over text. But hopefully that explained, The Orthodox Position, a bit more.

I doesn't look that way. In any case it does appear to have been accepted by some church to a certain extent.
I've read the oriental orthodox pride themselves in having less of this influence but it would still be pretty foolish to reject the possibility of Hellenistic culture having any influence on church culture which is what I was getting at.
I've also read that Nestorians adopted Buddhist and Zoroastrian influences and symbolism and also that some of those symbols that were posted could be taken to represent the triumph of Christianity over the previous religions but can't be certain about it since I'm not a huge expert on the subject.

johnsanidopoulos.com/2011/09/ancient-greek-philosophers-in-orthodox.html

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Right, Local Ethnic Traditions yes. We see this, in Serbia even where Certain. Older Pagan Traditions were retained. But i'm saying that if you look at roman Theology starting points, And how they do Scholastic/Thomastic Definitions of God. And use Aristotle's 5 Causes, In Catholicism. In Orthodoxy they don't do that cause again. God isn't a Generic being, this is a hold over from Greek Philosophy. That's what i'm and, Mr Dyer in the vid, is saying. Is that, if you look at the starting points of theological differences between the east and west. Is that, the west Went down this legalistic route, Scholastic, and still having Greek Philosophical starting points as hold overs. So, i wasn't really sure what you're trying to make in your other post. Cause i wan't sure if you were making some Perennialism point. That, lol Christianity rejected, certain scientific points, and philosophies. But in regards to science, i think Jay dyer uses this point. In Mathematics 2+2=4. But, if the Chinese Emperor decides to Reject Western Mathematical Thought, and then Decides, That 2+2, Doesn't equal 4, But 2+2=3, or 5. Well the Chinese Emperor, is going to have a fun time counting bread rolls, and managing his economy. Because he's decided that, he doesn't believe in the absolute Mathematical equations the west has discovered. Was the point, Jay Dyer makes in one of his vids, i think on relativism. And was what i was trying to make, that certain philosophical points, have bad starting points, but can make some good points in their philosophy. I Give you another example Nietzsche, i don't agree with everything Nietzsche says, or his starting point. But there's a rebuttal, or point his makes in his book Genealogies of morals. Where, he does almost rebuttal against sorta i guess we'd call, the pale face atheist, and he says, and im just paraphrasing here, but *You fools, you're still out there acting like an evangelist saying there's no God, There's no God..But if you're atheism, is true, it really just doesn't matter as Nietzsche said, Because you still believe in Capital T, Truth, In absolutes, you're just as bad, as the Christian he'd say, Get out of my Face!* On, that point i wholeheartedly agree, with Nietzsche, and that really destroyed, the new Atheist arguments you see online, Lol Skyfairy. But no, i don't believe in Nietzsche's Nihilism Materialism. Hope that Cleared some stuff up.

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That was a rollercoaster of a ride to read.

Lol, sorry, i've been watching, a lot of Mr Dyers, Theology Philosophy, And also reading Mr. C.S Lewis, and it's been quite the ride these past, 6 Months for myself. And still learning. So there are times when, i come up to a question and just don't know the answer. Someone else may, which, is why i've been reading and watching so much.

Mr.Dyer is learned in theology, and every problem seems theological to him. He severely overstates the power of theological opinions in making the west and east what they are.
When you have an hammer every problem looks like a nail.

And besides, he acts like a clown often, like a 4chan theologian speaking against the normies.
We have a meme triad here: Pastor Anderson for baptists, most meme monastery for Catholics, Jay Dyer for orthodox. Despite all he's still more serious than the other two, but his attitude is terrible.

What is this hindu autism?

Augustine a St. Thomas had to butcher Plato and Aristoteles system so much just to make it compatible with Christianity in a work that took years.
If Christianity was born in China similar development would have happened, but the final thing would be a very different thing from the original.

Get that neoplatonic gnostic bullshit out of your mind.
While we can't know everything about the Father, He certainly is not this Infinite void of light where things were created out of pure chance.
He has thoughts, convictions, motives, He has intelligence, determination, creativity like us. We know this because Jesus Christ is the living image of the Father, and to suggest that the Father is this indescribable, and totally unknowable figure is denying the revelation of Jesus Christ Himself, as you assume that the Father is a Monad or Ein Sof as opposed to a Father with intelligence and direction that wants to have a relationship with His creation.

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In short, the Father is a person. More precisely an hypostasis, not a mindless supreme principle.

Yoga, as practiced in the west, is largely Norwegian gymnastics coupled with the spirituality of classical Yoga. Ignore the spirituality and go in with a proper understanding that you are simply doing stretches beneficial to your body, and your mind is free to be made rest on the right things.


Basically keep this in mind, emptying the mind isn't good, but the stretching isn't inherently pagan. Replace the mantras with mantras of the church, personally I repeat the Doxology when I need to quiet my mind (It has a symmetrical rhythm, like a heartbeat, which makes it ideal to get lost in while still being safe as an act of worship spiritually). Just know to excercise discernment, and challenge any spirit or spiritual force that may come to try to "impart knowledge" or anything along those lines, exorcising them in the name of Jesus Christ if they come to lie to you or harm you. There is benefit to be had, but it requires a sober mind and a pious heart.