Wolf offers Christian alternative to yoga

Rose Wolf wasn’t looking for a yoga alternative when she ran across Praise Moves.

Years ago, after she had her third son, she had started turning toward body health and nutrition and exercise.

Then, during her recovery from Lyme disease, exercise and nutrition became even more important in helping her return to good health. She had long felt a desire to teach others what she had learned, so she was looking for a program in nutritional health to complete her education. However, she kept running into programs that were built around spiritualness and mindfulness, in other words, New Age.

Her search for a sound nutrition curriculum is what lead her to PraiseMoves. At the end of a video she was watching about a nutritional program, she saw a link to a webinar for PraiseMoves. All it said was, “The Christian alternative to yoga.”

This, of course, piqued her interest. It turns out that the founder of Praise Moves works with a nutritionist and offers a certified nutritionist program. And it is not based on New Age philosophies.

Wolf had tried yoga before. Her health care provider had recommended yoga to help with the neurological problems during her recovery from Lyme disease. Wolf found that many healthcare experts recommend yoga and meditation to their patients.

“And it was an instant turn in my spirit,” she said. “I really enjoyed the exercises, but when it came to the mindfulness and the meditation, I just couldn’t do it. I could just feel it.”

This is not unusual. The Sanskrit word “yoga,” meaning “to yoke,” is taken from Hindu scriptures to refer to spiritual “paths” to leave behind joy/sorrow and overcome death by yoking with the divine, or coming to know the supreme Lord Krishna (an aspect of Brahman).

Connie J. Fait, a former Tibetan nun, yogi, and head of a Tibetan Buddhist Temple who spent 40 years steeped in the practice and study of the yogic traditions before returning to her native Catholicism (in a blog posted on April 7, 2014 on Women of Grace website) wrote about the development of yoga.

“In the beginning, the first recluse yogis sat yearning for union with their believed creator Brahman. While sitting in mystical altered states, they began experiencing the spontaneous movements called kriyas, which later became the asanas (the stretches and poses) people know today. While perfecting these asanas, yogis would experience high meditative states during which they experienced gods and deities who appeared to them, moving their bodies into postures/kriyas, and so created the names of some yoga poses as gods or deities,” she wrote.

The well-know Yogacharia who has taught people of the West, has made clear that if performed well, asanas will bring about a spontaneous pranayama response (controlled breathing) in the body. In other words, the breathing aspect of yoga need not be taught in a class because it occurs naturally with perfection of the asanas.

Yoga instructors in the west are not traditionally yogically trained because that requires complete renunciation to the yogic tradition --- meaning they would be expected to detach from all worldly possessions. This does not mean a class is safe from these harmful effects, however; it just means that the instructors will not be able to recognize the signs of kundalini activation or to be able to support someone in crisis.

George P. Alexander, Ph.D., a Christian believer who taught World Religions at Biola University, sheds additional light on this subject on the Praise Moves website. Born in Sri Lanka, George grew up in India, the birthplace of Hinduism and yoga. He confirms that yoga poses are actually offerings to the 330 million Hindu gods.

“Many Westerners who practice yoga today are unaware that the physical positions assumed in yoga symbolize a spiritual act: worshiping one of the many Hindu gods,” he said.

Because of her experience with yoga and her practice of praying and listening to praise music while she went through the stretches, Wolf was excited to find that a program existed that was based on what she was already doing.

She felt that God was leading her to this as the program only has two certifications per year, and the start of the next certification was only three days away. And because of COVID restrictions, she could participate via Zoom rather than going to Kansas.

PraiseMoves is not the same as Christian yoga, which incorporates prayer, Scripture, or praise music while performing yoga postures. PraiseMoves, a Christian alternative to yoga, uses movements and poses, some of which are similar to those of yoga, but have been adapted, using Scripture passages as inspiration. Founder of Praise-Moves, Laurette Willis explains: “The body can only move in a finite number of ways.”

She also says that the foundation of PraiseMoves is neither exercise nor the stretching postures. “The foundation of PraiseMoves is the Word of God that we speak aloud or meditate upon while doing the PraiseMoves postures,” she says.

In addition to getting participants more into the Word of God, other benefits of PraiseMoves include improved flexibility, assistance with weight loss, improved circulation, stress reduction, healing for injuries, improved coordination and agility, healthier tissues, and a reduced risk of injury.

Wolf is currently finishing up an eight-week program but she hopes to offer a variety of ways for others to experience this alternative to yoga. Although a sequential program that builds on previous sessions is the most beneficial, participants will still get a lot from drop-in classes that she hopes to offer at various times and days.

PraiseMoves classes are offered at the Get Fit with Jenny studio. Watch for more information about future classes.