In your opinion, can yoga or meditation be a substitute for religious or spiritual services? Why or why not?

27 comments

1. What services do you think are provided by religious or spiritual acts?

2. Um, not really. Meditation isn’t inherently spiritual unless you make it so

   The things you do in church aren’t anything like meditation

3. For some people they can be. For others they are their own thing with their own benefits. People are gonna get various things out of those activities, just like people are gonna get various things out of religious services.

   I like doing yoga and meditating sometimes because they are relaxing and I feel stretched and good after, there is no spiritual side for me. I have never “gotten” anything from any sort of organized religious service, so for me they are not a substitute because religious services do nothing for me to begin with.

4. Well if you say a “substitute,” sure – because it depends on what any individual gets out of a religion. Some people primarily get a sense of community out of religion, or a sense of calm, or focus, and I can imagine yoga or meditation fulfilling any of those needs.

   That said, as far as I understand them yoga and meditation are not the *same* as religion, with a set of supernatural beliefs, a god figure, etc.

5. Yoga is religious in origin. Though these days most people in the US use it as exercise, stretching, and a calming activity without any spiritual component.

   Some people do yoga with a vaguely spiritual sense but not overtly religious.

   Meditation can be religious or not. It encompasses a vast range of contemplative practices. It can be Buddhist, Catholic, secular or any other religion. There are whole orders of Catholic monks that explicitly order their lives around meditative practice. It can include chant, prayer, silent meditation, meditative reading, meditative work.

   Buddhism has much of the same.

6. It depends on what you’re trying to get out of your religious or spiritual practices, and how you approach yoga or meditation.

   If your goal is, like many, finding social commonality (like, for example, making friends or meeting people through your church), yoga and meditation can be a poor substitute. Church emphasizes community while yoga or meditation tend to emphasize solitary practice. (Even yoga classes lack the community aspect a church gathering often contains.)

   If, however, your goal is personal spiritual connection with a higher divine, then yoga or meditation can be a worthy substitute. Though I’d also suggest that if you currently belong to a church, there are solitary practices in most religious systems which can do the same thing–and sometimes look very similar. (Counting the rosary, for example, looks a lot like meditation to me.)

   So I believe yoga and meditation can substitute for religious practice within an organized church–but the things you need to do to make that work look like every other religious practice. (Prayer as meditation, yoga as finding connection and stillness within yourself, making it a habit that informs your life and internalizes your desire for a higher connection, rather than simply skipping through the poses or prayers thinking action without intention does the trick.)

7. Religion at its most fundamental level is a mechanism for society to teach and reinforce shared ethics and moral norms within a given community. Any Structure or Social Institution that does this is a religion, be they theistic or not.

   Yoga and Meditation on their own in isolation do not do this, but they can be components of a system that does. So depending on what you meditate on, and if those ethics and morals are shared with others is what determines if it is a religious or not.

8. Meditation is spiritual service.

9. No. Yoga has real physical and health benefits, religious services do not.

10. I’m not religious.

    But aren’t some services supposed to be ethical discussions on how to live with Grace? Different weeks the service is about different topics of regular struggles in life; family relationships, addiction, fear and anxiety, consumerism/idolatry

11. Why a substitute? Both can exist at the same time and provide different things to individual.

12. In some religions meditation is very important. Even in some sects of Christianity. If it’s good enough for them then yeah.

13. Are replies going to end up quoted in an article on some right wing website or something about how the whole woke culture is stealing religion from Americans?

    Maybe I’m just overtired.

    And cynical. Really cynical.

    Why does everything have to be an either/or? An us vs them?

    Why can’t it just BE?

14. Substitute in what way?

15. In this country, anything can be a substitute for religion if you want it to be. That’s your constitutional right.

    From a spiritual standpoint, if you find value and peace in it, then it’s probably fine. Some people also find value in a lack of spirituality too, which is also fine. It’s your life, ya know? Do as you wish with it.

16. Yoga and meditation already are religious services for some people… so yes?

17. From the perspective of whom? Of a Christian? No. Of someone who doesn’t believe in God? Why do they feel they need a substitute? For someone who believes in God, but doesn’t think you have to do anything substantive to have a relationship with God? I guess it would be, but agnosticism doesn’t really make sense. If you think there is a God, but the nature of God is unknowable, I don’t see why meditation or yoga would do anything for you.

18. Sure, why not. Whatever value someone receives from religion is subjective and can be replaced by whatever that person finds valuable. That could be yoga, it could also be video games or cocaine.

19. Technically, yoga *is* a religious practice. It’s about worshipping the Hindu sun god, iirc. That’s why some fundamentalist Christians and Muslims are against yoga.

20. I mean yoga originated as a spiritual practice, so of course it can fill that need for a person. Obviously not all yoga studios in the US treat yoga like that, it can be just an exercise if that’s what you’re looking for, but you can absolutely use it as a spiritual discipline.

    Meditation is also an important part of many religions and spiritual practices.

21. That would be hard no on both. I personally have no use for either of those… full stop.

22. No, Lord Quetzalcoatl demands hearts to feed the sun. How can downward facing dog feed the sun?

23. No. Yoga can relax you but it can’t provide meaning to life or faith in the greater good.

24. Sure. There’s comfort in ritual.

25. I see no reason why both can’t exist together. As someone if Hindu background, I don’t understand why some people of certain faiths are threatened by yoga and meditation. It really doesn’t make you any less Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc.

26. They can exist next to a religion that believes in a god.

    The benefits may be equally beneficial for someone that doesn’t believe in religion or a “god”.

27. Yoga doesn’t satisfy the same needs that religion does.

    Religions tells us 1) where did we come from, 2) how should we behave while we’re here, 3) who are my people, and 4) what happens when I die

    Yoga doesn’t answer the fundamental questions.