Alon emails: Hi Luke,
Via google, I came across a piece you wrote last year comparing Kundalini Yoga to Orthodox Judaism.
As an orthodox Jew who is considering yoga as a means toward greater spirituality, I was curious to know where that search took you.
Did you continue with the yoga? Were you able to find spirituality within Judaism? Were you able to resolve the conflict? I get conflicting messages. My own mind tells me that this is a powerful path toward self realization, but I have also been warned by a very spiritual and mystical rabbi that everything I am looking for is in our religion, and that the rest is “tamay”.
What are your thoughts?
Luke says: I think that yoga, from a Torah perspective, is “strange fire.” I still go almost every day but I feel very ambivalent. I don’t feel like it is in line with my Orthodox Judaism. I can see the day coming when I will stop going to yoga and go to shul more often. I feel like I am dallying with another religion by going to yoga so much.
On the other hand, I find that Alexander Technique is perfectly fine by Orthodox Judaism (well, maybe not the stuff where you work with the opposite sex).
