Can You Do Yoga Without Spirituality?

Yoga is well-known for its benefits to the body and mind. Developing a regular practice can increase strength and flexibility in the body, also improving respiration and circulation. Yoga’s positive effects on the mind include decreased stress and anxiety, along with improved mood. Yet another benefit of yoga is enhanced spirituality, providing similar effects as a religious practice. 

This may cause some people to believe that practicing yoga and spirituality always go hand in hand. But do they? Whether you are a yoga practitioner or teacher, the answer to this question is important to know. To help you better understand the answer—which we will provide—it’s beneficial to first recognize the connection between yoga and spirituality.

Why Yoga is Considered a Spiritual Discipline

A research-based review published in 2021 explains how yoga and spirituality are related (1). It noted that the two are associated in several different ways:

• Yoga can help practitioners reach their spiritual aspirations.

• Yoga can be beneficial in one’s quest for spiritual insight or wisdom.

• Yoga helps a person develop a more integrative worldview. 

• Yoga provides a sense of meaning or peace.

• Yoga helps people develop higher levels of faith, hope, compassion, and happiness.

This review indicates that, for yoga to provide spiritual benefits such as these, it needs to be a regular practice. In other words, you shouldn’t walk out of your first yoga class expecting to feel more spiritual. You may notice some positive effects but, more practice appears to be necessary for developing deeper spirituality.

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But Can You Do Yoga Without Spirituality?

Although there is a relationship between yoga and spirituality, the review reinforces that the two do not always co-exist. This means that you can engage in the ancient practice of yoga without spirituality.

The idea of yoga being more about exercise than a spiritual practice is common in Western societies according to the review. While you can take a yoga class with spiritual elements, you can also take a class without them. 

Hatha yoga is one of the most common yogic practices in Western areas. This style of yoga focuses on posture and breathing technique. It also includes meditation. 

This type of yoga typically doesn’t have a spiritual nature. That makes it an option for people who are more interested in yoga for exercise versus trying to attain a higher spiritual level.

What You Get Out of Yoga Is Up to You

For some, yoga is purely a spiritual practice. For others, it offers the benefits of meditation or is even just a way to get physical exercise. Then there are the practitioners that lie somewhere in between. 

For a person in this third group, yoga may be all three. It can be a way to achieve spiritual growth, enhance their universal consciousness, and increase their physical activity. It is up to you to decide what a yoga practice means to you.

If you aren’t interested in the spiritual side of yoga, you can use it as a form of meditation. Let each posture help relax and clear your mind. Focus on nothing more than how good the stretching feels and let your worries go.

If meditation is too close to spirituality, you can also engage in yoga strictly as a form of exercise. Use it to build muscle and improve your flexibility. Yoga can also improve your athletic performance and aid in weight loss.

Yoga Styles (and Poses) With a Spiritual Component

Some styles of yoga are more spiritual than others. If you want a non-spiritual practice, you want to stay away from these styles as they often contain spiritual components:

• Bhakti yoga

• Christian yoga

• Jnana yoga

• Karma yoga

• Kundalini yoga

• Raja yoga

Many of these styles are based on the Hindu philosophy and used in Eastern religion. Thus, they involve increasing one’s spirituality with each yoga pose. 

Speaking of yoga poses, there are a few that can help deepen spirituality. They are:

• Bound Angle Pose – improves your connection with other realms

• Downward-Facing Dog pose – bolters your overall awareness

• Low Lunge pose – strengthens your connection with all things

• Reclining Bound Angle pose – helps you let go and surrender, enabling you to connect with the universe

• Tree pose – fosters spiritual acceptance

• Triangle pose – connects you to the sky and heavens while also staying grounded

• Warrior pose – develops spiritual readiness

Keep in mind that these poses do more than help deepen your spirituality. For instance, Bound Angle pose is good for stretching the thighs. Triangle pose strengthens the back and legs while opening the hips. So, just because a class includes these poses doesn’t automatically mean that it has a spiritual focus.

How to Do Yoga Without a Spiritual Aspect

If you want to do yoga without any spiritual component, look for a Hatha yoga class. This style is generally more about exercise and breathing. Depending on the class, it may also include aspects of meditation. This can make yoga even more helpful for your body and mind as the Mayo Clinic shares that meditation can (2):

• improve your self-awareness

• help you focus more on the present

• make you more creative

• increase your patience

• reduce negative emotions

• lower your stress

• make it easier to manage conditions such as anxiety, cancer, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, high blood pressure, and chronic pain

If you have any concerns that a yoga class may be too spiritual for you, talk to the studio or instructor before signing up. Let them know your preference for a non-spiritual yoga practice. They’ll be able to tell you if it is the right class for you.

Tips for Teaching a Non-Spiritual Yoga Practice

Yoga instructors need to remember that not all students want a spiritual practice. In fact, one survey found that 31.9% of practitioners do yoga to manage a health issue. Anxiety was the main issue practitioners wanted to ease (55.2%), followed by back pain (49.8%) and depression (38%). (3)

So, it may be helpful to include this information in the class description. Be upfront as to whether your class has spiritual elements, or if it can help students deepen their spirituality. This helps them know whether it is the right class for them.

Another strategy is to talk about spirituality before class. Ask your students whether they want a class with or without this aspect. For students scared to speak up, encourage them to talk with you after class. Maybe you have another less spiritual class. You can suggest that they take it instead. Or you could share the physical benefits of a pose in addition to its spiritual benefits. This enables students to focus on the benefits that appeal to them most.

Become a Registered Yoga Teacher

If you’re not yet a yoga teacher and would like to be, the ISSA Yoga & Wellness Academy offers a Yoga 200 training course. In it, you learn about yoga philosophy, yoga postures, breathing exercises, and more. It also provides tips for designing and leading a yoga class—with or without spirituality.

References

1. Csala, B., Springinsfeld, C. M., & Köteles, F. (2021). The relationship between yoga and spirituality: A systematic review of Empirical Research. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.695939 

2. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2022, April 29). A beginner’s guide to meditation. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/meditation/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858 

3. The global yoga survey 2021: How and why people practice yoga. DoYou. (2022, April 12). https://www.doyou.com/yoga-survey/