WP: Should Christians practice yoga? Shouldn't everyone?

By David Waters
Yoga, the Hindu-inspired spiritual practice that bears a strong resemblance to stretching, is said to relieve pain and lower blood pressure, boost mental (and spiritual) awareness and reduce stress.
Ironically, it's having the inverse effect on some religious leaders.
Earlier this week, Dr. R. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (and On Faith panelist), set off a bit of an interfaith fuss by suggesting that Christians should not practice yoga. "Christians who practice yoga are embracing, or at minimum flirting with, a spiritual practice that threatens to transform their own spiritual lives into a 'post-Christian, spiritually polyglot' reality."
Seems to me there are many more serious threats to the spiritual lives of Christians: Greed, envy, lust, fear, hate, violence. But Mohler isn't the only religious leader stressed out by yoga's growing popularity in America. He isn't even the only concerned On Faith panelist.
Earlier this year, On Faith panelists Aseem Shukla and Deepak Chopra created a bit of a ruckus with their friendly debate about whether Americans had ripped yoga from its Hindu roots. "The severance of yoga from Hinduism disenfranchises millions of Hindu Americans from their spiritual heritage," Shukla wrote.
It would be easy to categorize these concerns as Y'all are Overreacting to God stuff Again. (YOGA). But the concerns expressed by Shukla and Mohler, in particular, shouldn't be summarily dismissed. In fact, from very different perspectives, these wise and learned men, neither of them reactionaries, are raising important questions for an increasingly pluralistic world.
Should we adopt, adapt or adjust the rituals and practices of other faiths for our own purposes?
According to the Hindu American Foundation, "Yoga is a combination of both physical and spiritual exercises, entails mastery over the body, mind and emotional self, and transcendence of desire. The ultimate goal is moksha, the attainment of liberation from worldly suffering and the cycle of birth and rebirth."
Moksha. Is that why you take yoga classes?
"The form of yoga that is practiced in much of the Western world is but merely a focus on a single limb of yoga: asana (posture) . . . which is only a form of exercise to control, tone and stretch muscles. Ignored are both the moral basis of the practice and the ultimate spiritual goal.
Does your yoga instructor discuss the moral basis and spiritual goals of yoga?
"Even when Yoga is practiced solely in the form of an exercise, it cannot be completely delinked from its Hindu roots. ..The Hindu American Foundation concludes from its research that Yoga, as an integral part of Hindu philosophy, is not simply physical exercise . . . but is in fact a Hindu way of life."
Some Hindus are concerned that yoga has been confiscated. Some Muslims are concerned that Hindus are using yoga as a tool of conversion. Buddhists remain detached from the issue. But some Christians are concerned that practicing yoga will lead to theological confusion.
Should Christians or Muslims or any non-Hindus practice yoga? If they practice the physical aspects of the ancient spiritual discpline, should they call it yoga?
More importantly, if it reduces stress, why aren't we all praticing yoga?