What Can Postural Yoga Contribute to an Embodied Christian Spirituality? An Analysis of the Strengths and Weaknesses of Postural Yoga in the Light of Kashmir Sivaism

Abstract

In this article, I propose to examine how the practice of asanas (postural yoga) offered in Western yoga studios might contribute to an embodied Christian spirituality. I will do this with reference to Kashmir Sivaism, which links postural yoga to the "way of action" (kriyopaya) and considers it to be ‘inferior’ to the two other paths to supreme liberation, that of energy (saktopaya) and that of will (sambhavopaya). In my critique of the widespread contemporary emphasis on postutral yoga, I will point out both its strengths and its weaknesses, and reaffirm the role of the body in our relationship with God.