Interesting article to share "Peeved by yoga ruling"..

My colleague told me on last Friday that she saw an article the National Fatwa Council has commented and making noise about Muslim practicing yoga because of yoga is from India and they considered that yoga is something to do with Hinduism.. as you know they are super sensitive when there is something to do with religion..

Anyway, the first thing in my mind is - OMG!! what the hell is in their mind.. anyone of them practice yoga before?? I bet none of them.. and how they know yoga is directly link to Hinduism?? and not focus mainly on the physical aspect of the practice..

I have found an interesting article wrote by a muslim yoga practitioner on the web regarding this issue.. I hope you guys will enjoy reading it.. you have done a great job muslim yoga practitioner..

I was shocked and in awe reading your report “National Fatwa Council to make a ruling on Yoga” on Thursday. Before I state my case, I think there are some questions that need to be answered.

> Why is it that during all this time, this body has shown no interest in coming out with any ruling on this practice as it is an ancient practice that has been around for centuries?

> Isn’t it strange that after much commercialisation and more people realise that healthy living is the best way to go, a ruling must be made to forbid us from practising yoga?

> What is the basis of their allegation that yoga focuses on spiritual aspects more than anything else?

> What chanting and mantra are they talking about? I have been doing Yoga for months and never during any of those times did my teachers teach us anything close to mantras or any kind of chanting whatsoever.

What yoga is to me, and I am sure to most people who practises it, is a healthy way of exercise for healthy living, similar to going to a gym or doing exercise on their own.

It is a more preferred activity because we don’t have to run for miles or join expensive fitness clubs just to keep ourselves healthy.

Even without indulging in the spiritual aspect, one can find peace of mind through relaxation and breathing exercises when the body is calmed. It even teaches you to be more patient and be tolerant especially in a stressful city like Kuala Lumpur.

The hectic lifestyle, awful driving experience and endless traffic jams, which the authorities have failed to solve, only causes more stress to city folks and yoga is one of the ways to release the stress.

So don’t tell us to stop doing what we can do in maintaining our health. Is it fair to judge and ban people from indulging in such healthy hobbies just because some people think it could deviate Muslims from their faith.

It takes one who actually practises yoga to know whether there is any truth in such claims. I wonder if any of the people concerned has ever tried yoga in his lifetime.

I am also annoyed that the National Fatwa Council thinks so lowly of Muslims in this country to conclude that we are unable to differentiate what we can and cannot do.

Yoga has been much commercialised ever since it was introduced to the West. The spiritual part of yoga is not something that is normally taught to students because the teachers focus mainly on the physical aspect of the practice – unless one chooses to learn more of the spiritual aspects.

I believe there are many important issues that need our attention besides something as trivial as this.

MUSLIM YOGA PRACTITIONER,

Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.