Alex Frank tells Matt Fradd of Pints with Aquinas (Australia) that he used to be very heavily into Yoga. He was also not a Christian. The one good thing he did learn from Yoga was that the spiritual side of life is real. That led him eventually to Christ.
He grew up in an atheist home--nominally Jewish--but also lived in DC where leftist ideology and constant focus on politics were numbing. He went away to college and found some relief in studying physics. It was in the military where he became interested in Yoga, but also learned about servant leadership which helped lead him to an interest in Christ. He explains in detail what happens when you do/imitate the poses. If you think you need Yoga as exercise, he now suggests pilates--alignment and flexibility without the spiritual side. Buzz words that are red flags--uuuming, or the instructor speaking in an odd voice or touching, or referring to gods' names. He had hired an excellent Yoga teacher/spiritual director who began as a fitness instructor while he was at Yale (after military) and he began to face up to how he was living his life. The modern mindfulness movement is not secular but spiritual according to the founder and is based in Buddhism (Jon Kabat-Zinn) according to Alex. McMindfulness--Yoga is a big business. Many of the claims are very commercial.
Hatha yoga is the most common in the West. Don't start, is Frank's advice. It's not harm free.
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