the banning of yoga
The first ever yoga festival held in Indonesia—a 10-day International Bali-India Yoga Festival—ended last week with the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issuing a fatwa (edict) forbidding Muslims to take part in certain aspects of yoga that incorporated ritualistic movements and chants.
The ban apes a similar edict in neighboring Malaysia, although the Malaysian fatwa banned yoga outright.
Have a look at the article about this in The Jakarta Post, here: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/03/11/festival-ends-reaches-out-clerics...
This seems pretty extreme to me. What do you think?
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Indonesia
I wonder if this has more to do with the unstable political/governmental issues that face both Indonesia and Malaysia as it does seem a bit extreme for a religion to ban something that doesn't actually oppose their religious teachings, peoples fear of losing control always amazes me
It's not surprising.
In the West yoga has become so much associated with physical fitness that people forget its religious origins. So it's not surprising that muslims in Malaysia would reject yoga like this. When Asians think of people doing yoga, it's often the image of prayer that first comes to mind. This news from Jakarta reminds us of yoga's spiritual dimension.