The Alice Springs community recently turned out in numbers to explore Christian Yoga as a Christ-centred form of prayer and meditation.

The Introduction to Christian Yoga was hosted by Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish, under the guidance of Fr Gilbert Carlo SVD, who was visiting from the Janssen Spirituality Centre in Victoria.

Parish Priest, Fr Asaeli Raass SVD says the program started off with a retreat to prepare people for what was to come.

“We had a really good turn-out,” Fr Raass says. “The retreat ran from Monday to Friday, with about 30 people attending every evening.

“It was a really good preparation for what was to come because it anchored Christian Yoga firmly in the Eucharist and Scripture. It gave people a good context.”

The retreat was followed by the Introduction to Christian Yoga in the parish chapel on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with more than 20 people attending.

“For me, the focus on breath in Christian Yoga echoes the language of the Holy Spirit, the breath of God. And even the repetition involved reminds me of the Rosary and Christian mantra. It really shifted my thinking of Yoga, from its origins in Hinduism to a Christian context,” Fr Raass says.

Fr Gilbert says Yoga began in about the 6th Century BC when some sages went to the Himalaya Mountains to have an experience of God and they began Yoga with quiet sitting in meditation.
“The definition of Yoga is ‘Be Still’,” he says.

“For example, Buddha practiced Yoga with mindful breathing in just one sitting posture all through his life. Gradually more postures were introduced one by one to promote health and concentration. Today, Yoga has become popular with physical exercises for physical well-being.

“Many people practice Yoga with a wholistic approach for the well-being of body, mind, soul and spirit.”

Fr Gilbert says he began practicing yogic postures in 1970, at the age of 15 for physical well-being.

“During my formation in the seminary in 1977, it was introduced as a form of Christian prayer, with breathing exercises and physical postures and thereafter, I practiced Yoga with Christian prayer regularly as a spiritual discipline.

“I began to offer Christian Yoga retreats in January 1989 and since then have offered retreats in parishes, schools and formation houses in India, Australia, Europe, USA and many other countries.”

Fr Gilbert says the difference between Christian Yoga and Hindu yoga is the focus on union with Jesus Christ.

“Yoga is union,” he says. “Our union with Christ is called Christian Yoga. It is rooted in the Gospel, with Jesus saying, ‘Remain in me and I in you … For without me you can do nothing’ (John 15:4-5).”

He says the basic requirement for Yoga is stillness.

“First and foremost one has to learn to “Be Still”, which we know from Psalm 46:10, ‘Be still and know that I am God’,” he says.

“Jesus expressed his prayer experience in the Gospel of John 14:10, ‘The Father is in me and I am in the Father, we are one’. St Paul expressed his prayer experience in Galatians 2:19-20, ‘It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me’. And St Teresa of Avila and other saints expressed their prayer experience saying, ‘Jesus and I are one’.”

Fr Gilbert says breathing exercises, postures and relaxation methods are a great help to calm our mind for contemplation.

“While I practise breathing in meditation I experience that in Christ I live. Christ is the source of my being. While I practise physical exercise, I experience that in Christ I move. In relaxation, I experience that Christ is my peace.”

Fr Gilbert says he enjoyed his time in Alice Springs introducing the people to Christian Yoga, through the retreat and also by speaking at Spirituality in the Pub.

“Quite a lot of people in Alice Springs are familiar with Yoga as physical exercises,” he says.

“When I introduced Yoga with Christian prayer, they were very excited and some of them said Yoga is a real prayer of the heart and I noticed many of the people who took part in the retreat enjoyed Christian Yoga very much.

“Christian Yoga is also quite close to Aboriginal Spirituality. For Aboriginal people the land and the nature is sacred, which evokes Genesis 1:1-2, ‘In the beginning of creation, the Spirit of God was moving over the waters’.

“Through Christian Yoga we become aware of the Spirit of God moving within us and around in nature.”

Fr Raass says the response to Christian Yoga in Alice Springs was so positive that the parish will look to follow up on it at a later time.