Since 1893, when Swami Vivekananda reached the United States bringing with him yoga (in various forms) in the West, one of the most frequent questions is whether or not yoga is appropriate for those who attend any faith, because of its unique position in the field of inner research, which from a certain too schematic perspective, would fall within religious or pseudo-religious practices. According to the sensitivity of some, it would even be unethical to mix a practice that belongs to another religion with those of one's own.

On the other side of the question, many practitioners perceive yoga as a practice above religions, which tends to consider only the aspects that point to unity, not divergent ones, and tend to consider that, on balance, yoga is for everyone, whatever the belief practiced or not practiced.

From this point of view, yoga is a practice that promotes health, wellness, stress management, mind control, self-knowledge, all of which are useful not only in yoga classes but in every aspect of life, so even in church, in the synagogue, in the mosque, or wherever you prefer.

Going a little further, however, we will discover that both approaches have something valid and some undeniable reasons, and whenever we face two valid polarities, it is up to us to find a superior synthesis and not remain bogged down by apparent incompatibility.

Yoga and Hinduism

Let's start by clarifying a point: yoga is not a branch of Hinduism . Hinduism, a true religion in all respects, is born together with yoga from the same Vedic cultural substrate and shares with it some reference texts, a partial cosmology and mythology in common; finally yoga uses some elements of the Hindu religion as symbols and allegories of its own processes (as Hermeticism does with Christianity, the Cabala with Judaism and Sufism with Islam).

However to be a Hindu it is not necessary to practice yoga and to be a yogi it is not essential to be a Hindu . Certainly, in the yogic culture there are some concepts that are not accepted by some religions : the structure of being divided into different bodies of different energies and relating to different worlds and states of consciousness; the existence of the chakras, prana and other energies; and other more specific ones.

However, these points are not untouchable dogma, since yoga is based on experimentation and direct experience, like science, so nobody is led to believe or not to believe, but rather to make their own experience and renew it and reformulate it all as often as necessary.

Different types of yoga

Yoga on the other hand is a generic name that encompasses different types of practices and different approaches. The most commonly practiced in the West, often called simply yoga, is hatha yoga, based almost exclusively on physical and respiratory techniques. This type of yoga, deprived of the more mystical and esoteric connotations as it happens in its modernized versions, is certainly suitable for any type of person whatever the type of religion or belief it has: a Christian or a Baha'i who they practice this yoga, they will be a more healthy and aware Christian and a Baha'i .

Other types of yoga, on the other hand, have more difficult characteristics to integrate into other beliefs . An example can be bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion, often in the West considered a religion in itself due to certain liturgical characteristics. This type of yoga aims at achieving a state of higher consciousness through contact with a form of personal divinity capable of transforming the emotional structure, and consequently the whole personality, of the practitioner.

Generally this yoga is made of mantras and songs, which refer to specific deities, devotional service activities aimed at members of the community and readings of reference texts often related to the Hindu religious culture (the Puranas). In this case it is more difficult but not impossible to practice yoga and at the same time a religion different from Hinduism.

Is it possible to follow a religion by practicing yoga?

Let's try to reverse our question by paradox: is it possible to continue to follow a religion preaching yoga ? Indeed, there are some particularly advanced forms of yoga that consider religious practice as something archaic and to be overcome, a bit like alchemy in relation to chemistry or astronomy in relation to astrology: certain types of yoga are such refined and advanced spiritual research systems that require abandoning certain forms of spiritual approach that are as restrictive as religions .

At most they can be studied and practiced temporarily to reproduce the fundamental experiences in themselves, to then be set aside and overcome. This is the case, for example, of some forms of jnana yoga, purna yoga (integral yoga), etc.