Washington, USA - There is a new fitness craze that has some people bent out of shape. It's called Christian yoga, a new testament twist to the ancient exercise tradition. But not everyone is a believer.
Teacher and mother-of-two Janel Touissant juggles it all: grading papers, getting dinner on the table, helping her son with piano practice, "It's a rather hectic pace."
To de-stress, Janel heads to yoga once a week. But it's not your typical yoga class.
Janel does Christian yoga. People across the country are flocking to classes.
Cindy Senarighi is a Christian yoga teacher. She uses classic ideas and positions from yoga, which is traditionally Hindu, and gives them a "Bible Bent."
"We do the sun salutation but we're worshipping the Son, S-O-N, Jesus Christ."
But not everyone is a believer in Christian yoga. Subhas Tiwari is a professor at the Hindu University of America and a yoga expert. He says yoga welcomes people of all faiths, but that Hinduism is at the core, and you can't take it out. So, for him, Christian yoga is "an oxymoron. It makes no sense."
Ttiwari says, "If you give me a recipe and I alter the ingredients of that recipe and give it back to you, am I giving you the same thing? Clearly not. You can't do that."
Many Christian scholars are against the practice, too, but for different reasons. Dr. Russell Bush believes yoga, any yoga, can be dangerous "I warn people against it. It opens you up to the influence of something that is not Christian."
For Catholics, concern goes all the way to the Vatican. A 1989 document says eastern practices like yoga can "degenerate into a cult of the body." It's signed by the then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.
But Janel isn't burdened by the criticism. She says her Christian yoga class is great exercise that makes her feel closer to god, "If you're looking for a little extra more, a little more reflection, a little bit more beyond the physical piece, Christian yoga is a wonderful place to go."
Christianity isn't the only faith trying yoga; Judaism is too. Kosher yoga classes are also becoming popular.
WIS checked with the YMCA on Sumter Street in Columbia. They do offer a yoga class, but it's not designated as 'Christian' in nature.