To religious fundamentalists, this is yoga's most dangerous, un-Christian, sacrilegious teaching of all: That you are not innately broken, or flawed, or sinful. That there really is no god to worship but the one already present in you, waiting to be expanded.

It is thus ironic that so many do yoga as a mere physical practice. Practicing yoga this way leads to rebirth and suffering.

Yoga is a holistic and spiritual system of living that is essential to the understanding and practice of Hinduism. What yoga is not is physical exercises alone.

Yoga used to make a Christian nation writhe; now it has become an embodiment of the country's religious and social elasticity.

Yoga is a do-it-yourself path that eliminates the need for intermediaries such as a priesthood or other institutional authority. Its emphasis on the body runs contrary to Christian beliefs that the body will lead humans astray.