Of yoga and other evils....

For the past few months my mom's exercise equipment of choice is this custom-made wooden board for the feet, angled at about 45 degrees, from China.

According to her, standing on it and flailing your arms like a chicken or a bird ballerina will help improve circulation and can cure all ills. In a booklet that came with it, it apparently cured someone of cancer and diabetes. And help others lose weight.

Riiiiiigghhtt.

I have no doubt it would help stretch your nerves and blood vessels in the legs (which, okay, could improve your blood circulation)... and it does look like a pretty good gadget to stretch your calf muscles and tendons. But a cure for cancer? And *cough* weight loss?

She gets on it every morning and says she feels much healthier. And she's gotten my haven't-been-exercising brother to get on that thing as well to help him shed some kilos.

I suggested yoga to my mom. No impact while building overall body strength and flexibility. And it's really not that difficult once you learn the basic poses. As for my brother, he should just play badminton again and go for walks in the morning before work. So my mom looked vaguely interested at the yoga picture book I bought.

"NO! Don't do yoga!", said my bro, almost furiously.

Ah-hah! I should've seen it coming.
He thinks it's anti-Christ and Hindu God worship.

I could be opening a can of worms here... but I don't see how stretching your muscles in various poses while breathing in and out properly in the name of exercise is any form of 'worship'. There are so many different branches of yoga anyway. It's not as if I'm recommending the 'meditation' type of yoga or any of the spiritual awakening stuff. Will practising yoga really turn a person away from God? If anything, overzealous comments are a bigger turn off.

Which reminds of the time I brought home YL's Harry Potter book. My bro had a tsk tsk look on his face, though he knew better not to say anything.

Look, if I'm about to start believing in witchcraft and can't differentiate between fiction and reality, I would have been a firm believer in fairies and goblins (thanks to Enid Blyton). Or the tooth fairy for that matter.

Sure... many of the little impressionable kids around the world probably want to be Harry or Hermione when they grow up at the moment, but hey, they'll grow out of it. I mean, eventually they'll realise that no matter what, brooms don't fly.

I'm digressing here, but even a child brought up in the most loving, staunch Christian family can grow out of their innocent faith (whether their parents know it or not). As they grow into their teens and seek to define their own identities, they will question everything from religion to school rules to authority. They will make their own choices. And in the right environment, rediscover God in His true glory.

Judgemental tsk-tsks and fanatical 'holier-than-thou' statements will only serve to alienate them and other people who are looking for spiritual guidance. I, for one, get very irritated. There are so many hypocrites out there, it's no wonder more and more people are running away from church.

I think it's gotta be a lot less talk, and a lot more action (with sincerity and love, of course). This world sure needs it.

“Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ’Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ’Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink?’ And the king will answer them, ’Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me.’” - Mt 25:34

I wonder if an angel will suddenly go...
"AH HAH! You practiced yoga! You worshipped another god. Sorry. You don't belong here."

OR
"Sorry... you read Harry Potter therefore you believe in witchcraft. Please return your halo."

*rolls my eyes*

Please lah.