Is yoga a religion? An honest answer from India

In Kerala, yoga, temple festivals, church bells and the call to prayer are all part of an ordinary morning, and students from every background come through our pavilion in Fort Kochi. This question deserves a careful answer, so here is one. It sits within our introduction to Vedanta, yoga’s philosophical foundation.

Where does yoga come from?

Yoga grew up inside Indian religious life. That is simply history.

• The Upanishads, the philosophical texts at the end of the Vedas, describe meditation and the control of the senses as a path to knowledge of the Self.
• The Bhagavad Gita teaches several “yogas” — of action, devotion, knowledge and meditation — as ways of living. See our guide to the Gita for yoga students.
• Buddhist and Jain traditions developed their own meditative yogas in the same centuries. Yoga was never the property of one religion.
• Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, compiled roughly in the 2nd to 4th centuries CE, set out yoga as a systematic discipline of the mind.
• Hatha Yoga, the physical branch most classes come from, was written down in texts such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika in the fifteenth century, drawing on tantric and Shaiva traditions.
• Modern posture yoga, with sun salutations and flowing sequences, took much of its present shape in the twentieth century, through teachers such as Krishnamacharya and Swami Sivananda.

So the honest starting point is this: yoga has religious roots, many of them Hindu. Anyone who says it has nothing to do with religion has not read the texts. Anyone who says it is therefore a religion has not read them closely either.

What do the yoga texts actually ask of you?

Read the Yoga Sutras and look for what a religion usually requires: a creed to accept, a god to worship, rituals, scripture you must believe, a community to join, a conversion. None of these is required.

What Patanjali asks for is practice. The eight limbs begin with ethics — non-harming, truthfulness, non-stealing, moderation, non-possessiveness — and personal disciplines such as cleanliness and contentment. Then come posture, breath, withdrawal of the senses, concentration, meditation and absorption. Every step is something you do, not something you must believe.

The yamas and niyamas would sit comfortably in almost any religion’s ethics, and in a secular one.

How is yoga different from a religion?

That last row is the honest complication. The classical goal of yoga is spiritual: moksha, liberation, or kaivalya, the freedom of pure awareness. Yoga is a spiritual discipline. It is not, on its own, a religion. Many religions contain spiritual disciplines; yoga is one that travelled.

What about Ishvara, Om and chanting?

These are the parts that make some students uneasy, so they deserve a straight answer.

• Ishvara. The Yoga Sutras mention Ishvara pranidhana, surrender to Ishvara, a special kind of awareness or “lord”. Patanjali offers it as one route to stillness among several, not as a requirement. Some read it as God, some as the deepest Self, some leave it aside entirely.
• Om. Om is a sacred syllable in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions. Our article on what Om means explains where it comes from. You can chant it, listen to it, or simply stay quiet.
• Mantras and chanting. Many traditional classes open or close with a chant. These are often prayers for peace, like om shanti shanti shanti. Joining in is your choice.
• Namaste. An everyday Indian greeting, “I bow to you”, used by people of every religion in India. See what namaste means.
• Images and altars. Some studios have a picture of a teacher or a deity. It tells you about the studio’s lineage, not about what you must believe.

Is yoga religious? What courts have decided

The question has reached courts and legislatures, especially over yoga in schools.

• California, 2015. Parents challenged a yoga programme in the Encinitas Union School District as religious instruction. In Sedlock v. Baird, the California Court of Appeal ruled unanimously that the programme did not establish religion, noting that contemporary yoga is commonly practised for reasons entirely distinct from religious ideology.
• Alabama, 1993 to 2021. Alabama banned yoga, along with meditation and hypnosis, in public schools in 1993. In 2021 the state lifted the ban, but only for poses, exercises and stretching, with English names, and it expressly prohibited chanting, mantras, mudras and the greeting namaste.
• Internationally, the United Nations declared 21 June the International Day of Yoga in 2014, describing yoga as a holistic approach to health and well-being.

The pattern in these decisions is consistent: posture, breath and relaxation taught on their own are treated as secular. The devotional elements — chanting, mantras, prayer — are where the line is drawn.

Can Christians, Muslims and Jews practise yoga?

Yes, and millions do. Religious leaders disagree about it, and it is worth knowing that disagreement exists.

• Some Christian, Muslim and Jewish teachers caution against the meditative or chanting parts of yoga, while accepting the physical practice.
• Others see no conflict at all, and some have written about yoga as a help to their own prayer and contemplation.
• Many practitioners simply adapt: they skip a chant, replace a mantra with a prayer from their own tradition, or keep their practice entirely physical and breath-based.

If your faith matters to you, a sensible approach is to practise the parts you are comfortable with, ask your own religious leader if you are unsure, and tell your teacher. A good teacher will not mind in the least. Atheists and agnostics practise yoga too, often for its effects on stress and attention; our review of what the research shows describes those effects without any belief attached.

How do we approach this at our school?

We teach traditional Hatha Yoga in the Sivananda lineage, and our school includes Vedanta in its name, so we do not pretend yoga has no spiritual side. A class follows the traditional order: an opening relaxation, breathing, sun salutations, postures and a long final relaxation. Nobody is asked to believe anything.

If you would like to understand the philosophy rather than just the poses, our four paths of yoga is a good next step. If you would like to simply practise, you are equally welcome.

Common questions

Is yoga a religion?

No, although it grew up within Indian religious traditions, mainly Hindu, Buddhist and Jain. Yoga has no creed, required god, membership or conversion. Its classical texts describe it as a spiritual discipline aimed at liberation, but it can be practised by people of any faith or none.

Is yoga Hindu?

Much of yoga’s history and many of its texts come from Hindu traditions, and Hatha Yoga in particular has Hindu tantric roots. Buddhist and Jain traditions also developed yogas of their own. Practising yoga does not make anyone a Hindu, and it does not require Hindu belief.

Can Christians do yoga?

Many do. Some Christian leaders caution against the chanting and meditative elements, while others see no conflict. Many Christians practise the physical and breathing parts of yoga, and leave out or replace any chanting they are uncomfortable with.

Do you have to chant Om in yoga?

No. Chanting Om is traditional in many classes, but it is always optional. You can listen, stay silent, or use a word from your own tradition.

Have courts ruled on whether yoga is religious?

Yes. In 2015 the California Court of Appeal ruled that a school yoga programme in Encinitas did not establish religion. Alabama banned yoga in public schools in 1993 and lifted the ban in 2021, while still prohibiting chanting, mantras and namaste.

Is yoga spiritual?

In its classical form, yes: the Yoga Sutras and Hatha texts aim at spiritual freedom. Many people today practise it without any spiritual aim, for health, calm and focus, and both approaches are legitimate.