Chaplains Offer Christian Yoga Alternative

The chaplaincy program at Fort Meade is offering local Soldiers an alternative to the ever-popular yoga for those who feel yoga is inconsistent with their Christian faith.  “Wholyfit” combines mechanics similar to yoga and tai chi with Christian devotion:

Combining physical fitness, Scripture memorization, worship and prayer, Wholyfit offers a Christian alternative to traditional yoga… 

“I like to use Scriptures [so] that when they do this posture they aren’t only focusing on challenging their body and building their body, but they’re also focusing on God’s word,” Snow said.

Yoga classes have been advocated for and to, and offered for some time by, the US military — notably, without complaint from anyone that they were promoting some form of eastern spirituality when they did so.  Yoga is part of Soldier 360°, for example, which includes exhortations for Soldiers to “evangelize” their troops with the benefits of yoga.

Of course, since this is a Christian alternative to that officially-sponsored Army program, some military atheists are already all over it…