Yoga is taught throughout the U.S., as a form of relaxation and exercise, but is that all it is? Webster's New World Dictionary defines yoga as, "1. A mystic ascetic Hindu discipline by which one seeks to achieve liberation of the self and union with the supreme spirit or universal soul through intense concentration, deep meditation, and practices involving prescribed postures, controlled breathing, etc. 2. a system of exercising involving the postures, breathing etc. practiced in this discipline."

Most people think of yoga as a means of exercise only, but there is far more to it than that. If yoga uses these exercises to achieve an altered state of consciousness and in turn union with the Hindu supreme spirit or universal soul, then don't the people who use yoga only for exercise, run the risk of coming to that same occult altered state, even though that was not their goal.

In the book Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs, by John Ankerberg and John Weldon, we read on p. 600, "Physical yoga, according to its classical definitions, is inheritably and functionally incapable of being separated from Eastern religious metaphysics. The western practitioner who attempts to do so is operating in ignorance and danger, from the yogi's viewpoint, as well as from the Christian's." Thinking that you can separate the two is unrealistic. It reminds me of one time when I went to the Oregon Caves. To get there you take the turn off at Cave Junction, then drive 27 miles on a road that dead ends into the caves parking lot. The ranger told me of a family who visited the caves by accident. They thought they had taken the turn off for Eureka, CA. but wound up at the caves by mistake and decided since they drove all that way, they might as well see them. The end of the road of yoga is, however, far more dangerous than the Oregon Caves. Many people have lost much more than a few hours out of their day by following a path that can and does, in many cases, lead to the world of the occult.