Holy Yoga: Exercise. for the Christian Body and Soul

I ordered this book in anticipation of the Holy Yoga 100HR training. I do not recommend Holy Yoga as an organization, training school or this book to anyone interested in pursing yoga teacher training, there are other Christian organizations out there, Holy Yoga began with good intentions and rooted in scripture but they have deviated and deteriorated from their Bible grounding and are no longer truly following Christ.At the immersion portion I experienced a number of concerns related to logistics, professionalism, leadership and spiritual abuse while I was at immersion that I feel were unacceptable and resulted not only in a substandard training experience, but also in numerous spiritual woundings and confusion that has not been clarified or addressed formally since immersion, despite reaching out to leadership multiple times requesting a response.If you are interested in knowing more details about what I experienced at their training, I've included what I shared with HY in the course evaluation below, please read the rest of this review and consider choosing a different yoga school. I am posting this here because I know you have to purchase this book for their training as required reading and HY has closed reviews to other public outlets such as google and Facebook. Sadly, what I share below is only the surface of all that is wrong with the way HY runs their "ministry." There are other reports of mistreatment of their customers (students) and staff, including sexual abuse within the organization.How do you think the Immersion Retreat experience could be improved?I’ve chosen to share the following concerns thoughtfully and prayerfully, from a desire for accountability among spiritual leaders, commitment to sound Biblical teaching and a desire to protect the reputation and growing ministry of Christ-centered yoga. I pray that you will have ears to hear and hearts to receive this feedback and be moved to take action to restore the Holy Yoga (HY) name. Further, I pray that this feedback will be constructive in making amends to those those participating in the training and result in HY adhering to a higher standard of quality in your future trainings.The Bible clearly instructs us to hold teachers and leaders to a higher standard, as we expect them to set an example for believers and represent the gospel well to unbelievers. Scripture also tells us to be on guard against false teachers (Mathew 7:15-20) and those who preach false truths (2 Peter 2:1-3).“Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1)I experienced a number of concerns related to logistics, professionalism, leadership and spiritual abuse while I was at immersion that I feel were unacceptable and resulted not only in a substandard training experience, but also in numerous spiritual woundings and confusion that has not been clarified or addressed formally since immersion. I believe follow up regarding the events that transpired and leadership’s response is warranted.I prayerfully (and with counsel from my husband and spiritual mentors in my life) chose to leave immersion early Thursday morning because of the concerns I observed and directly experienced Sunday-Wednesday. Multiple fellow students who were completing their initial teacher training communicated to me that they would also leave, if they could without forfeiting their certification. Some of my 100hr peers even asked if I would drive them to the airport and considered staying overnight at the airport to wait for their departing flights rather than remain on campus. I think this speaks to the level of discomfort and unrest that was felt by participants across the campus.Logistics & Professionalism:I attended the retreat as a 100 hr student having already I’d already completed my 200hr training and have been actively teaching. I expected more in depth content and often felt what was being shared was specifically oriented towards 200hr students without consideration of those who were already teaching. When I first signed up for the training I was under the impression that the immersion would be specifically for 100hr students (only the first 6 weeks of the online portion would be shared). In the future, I would recommend considering a change in the structure of the 200 vs. 100 hr programs to provide more robust content to those who are already teaching.I drove to the retreat and looked for check in/registration upon arrival. Multiple volunteers and trainers pointed me in different directions including telling me that I needed to go onto the buses (which had already departed) to get my registration packet and name tag. I was put off multiple times, told there wasn’t enough time or to wait until after the next meal or session etc. Eventually, on the second day of the retreat, after lunch, I was able to get my name tag and packet.I recommend providing immersion details and the schedule to all participants at least 24 hours prior to the training beginning. The schedule wasn’t released until 11:00a.m. on Sunday and at that time I was already on the road with limited cellular service in the desert (I drove 8 hours to attend the immersion).The 100HR ‘Retreat Content’ packet was not provided and students were unaware that it existed until Tuesday when Brooke became openly upset that she didn’t have her notes and we didn’t have the packet. The packet was emailed later that day and the first session I was able to use it for reference electronically was Foundational Alignment with Christina, Tuesday afternoon. Because the packet was essentially a note-catcher it would have been helpful to have printed copies provided or be sent the packet in advance for self printing.A number of the 100hr students had no idea that there was a separate schedule for our group until Wednesday (meaning they missed the “part 1” sessions on Tuesday). I’m somewhat tech savvy and figured this out on my own from the travel document homepage, but it clearly was not communicated thoroughly.All of the 100hr sessions I attended Sunday-Wednesday began 10-15 minutes late, with the exception of the Weaving of the Word Part 2 session on Wednesday afternoon (subbed by Beverly for Brooke) which began on-time. Brooke’s Language & Defense session on Tuesday began almost 30 minutes late and the location of the session was moved at the last minute to outside of the leader’s lodging (without being clearly communicated) and I had to ask multiple staff members where to go to attend the session. Once I found the session, I continued to wait for Brooke to show up.After Brooke’s breakdown on stage, there was no follow up regarding the “missed content” from the session. Considering this is advertised as a world class quality training and the Bible Study is a required session for all students, I would expect the content to still be provided in some format or for a makeup session to be offered. The commotion from the incident in the sanctuary derailed the Quiet Reflection Time (intended to complete our assignments and for self-study, which was never collected for 100hr students) as well as the small group sessions before lunch resulting in even more missed content.I left the retreat aware that I would not receive a certificate of completion or be allowed to use the HY name (by that point, I had no intentions of using the HY brand or associating my teaching with HY), but these were my personal assumptions, and were not communicated to me by HY staff at any point in time. There was no formal acknowledgement that I had withdrawn or communication of my options or next steps.I signed into my HY account to complete the post-immersion survey this week to find that my training dashboard had been disabled without any notification (I contacted Randi via email, who then informed me that not “finishing the required in-person training hours prompted my access to the 100hr content to be removed” and that I had also been removed from all post-immersion correspondence). I had to specifically request a direct link to have access and opportunity to complete this survey.Advanced notification that my account was disabled and confirmation of my withdrawal from the training are standard professional courtesies and should have been procedure. .Spiritual Leadership & AbuseDuring the 100hr breakout sessions with Brooke, she was frequently and openly upset, irritable, sarcastic and often swearing/cursing to express her frustration. I did not find her demeanor professional, approachable or appropriate for a person in a position of spiritual leadership.On Wednesday, this is what I observed during the “Bible Study” session: Brooke began her sermon with a strange prayer to “cast out multiple and split personalities” and then communicated that she had a raging migraine and had been in bed since 6pm the night before. She expressed excruciating pain. She refused prayer when offered from a handful of participants and continued to push through her lesson, frequently cursing out of the severity of the pain she was experiencing (including, but not limited to, repeatedly yelling “god dammit). Soon she broke down completely, moved a chair to the center of the stage, sat down upon it, threw up her arms and said “Okay, fine. You can pray for me” (to the entire audience, not a specific individual). I believe Brooke was truly unwell and I believe she knew that if she sat down, the situation would get out of hand… and it did. She completely lost control of the room. Nearly half of the audience swarmed the stage to pray for her, to try to heal her. Although, I believe the intentions were to be helpful, it was utter chaos. I recognized two members of the HY Foundation (from the meditation calls) praying on stage and speaking in tongues but otherwise there was no one from leadership, HY Global or other lead trainers present during this event to my knowledge until Jonnie came into the room about 40 minutes later. The prayer was chaotic as multiple groups were singing different worship songs at the same time, shouting out/rebuking demons from the audience. Many were speaking in tongues simultaneously and Brooke was loudly wailing and screaming out in pain. At this point she seemed suffocated and those of us in the seats had lost sight of her body as there were so many surrounding her. The last I saw Brooke, she was lying on the floor with her head in a woman’s lap. My roommate and I remained seated, but as the event went on without conclusion we became increasingly concerned for Brooke’s physical wellbeing. If she was experiencing that much head pain, was something more serious than a migraine happening medically? Should we call for emergency medical help? Why was it going on for so long? Why wasn’t leadership present? When Jonnie addressed the room she said they needed to get Brooke to a nurse (later, we were told by leadership that a nurse had been on stage with her monitoring her condition the entire time --I question whether this was true). Many began to leave the sanctuary as the crisis went on and order continued to deteriorate. It was an exhibition. What was happening in the room was not of the Spirit of God. It was chaos. The first and only voice of authority in the room was when Jonnie came in and respectfully asked everyone to leave so that Brooke could receive medical attention. As I left the room, I witnessed three other students having breakdowns and being prayed for in tongues, convulsing, crying and screaming in the foyer and on the lawn.Leadership mentioned at lunch the desire to have respect for all faith traditions, yet it is important to recognize that outside of the context of our individual faith traditions and expressions of our faith, these displays can be inappropriate and alarming to others, especially to new believers. Speaking in tongues and faith healing may be appropriate in specific circumstances; however, these spiritual gifts should be exercised respectfully, gently and with extreme discernment to not lead others astray, and this was not the case at HY. Many students were disturbed, fearful and confused throughout the remainder of the immersion because of the incident witnessed that morning.Unfortunately, we were released to an hour of “quiet time” immediately following this event without any action or response from leadership about Brooke’s wellbeing or explanation of what exactly had happened (even an email would have been comforting). We were left to speculate and I believe this was a mistake on the part of leadership. There clearly was not a plan or procedure in place. HY glorifies their leadership training and frequently references the importance of the board and the foundation (even hosting a raffle and spending an entire session asking for donations to the foundation). This experience made me question leadership’s role at immersion and overall preparedness.During the next session, small group, I directly asked my small group leader, Tricia, if Brooke was okay and if she could provide us with more information about what happened. Tricia told us that Brooke was completely fine and that in that moment Brooke was taking on the burdens, anxieties, depression and all the mental illnesses of everyone in the room herself. I later addressed this with leadership, at lunch, and they recanted her response. I wonder if small group leaders were left to speculate and make their own conclusions as well. Tricia’s interpretation made me question her grounding in Biblical truth, leadership training and qualifications. This is clearly unsound doctrine. Brooke is not Jesus. There are no Biblical examples of this happening outside of Jesus’ saving work on the cross.The first and only time the situation was acknowledged by leadership voluntarily was briefly at lunch, saying Brooke was okay and that Leah & Jonnie had personally gone to every cabin to provide more information, make sure everyone was okay and answer any questions. I questioned the truthfulness of leadership’s response again because (1) Brooke was clearly not okay as she was unable to teach the next session and (2) no one had come to our cabin. I cannot trust leadership that is not honest.It also bothered me that at lunch when leadership said Brooke was okay and her headache is gone, many were cheering and celebrating her “healing”. Again, it felt like an exhibition and a dishonest representation of what had actually happened (Brooke was clearly still unwell and the incident made it evident that she is experiencing deeper unresolved issues). What happened on stage was not a faith healing.At the HY Gentle Class with Randi that evening, I was surprised to see Brooke was present and shocked that she was providing hands on assists. Given the multiple signs throughout the week that she was not mentally, spiritually or emotionally well and especially after her breakdown on stage that morning, observing her providing HY Touch (which is considered Holy Spirit led and healing) was disturbing to me and I believe inappropriate. I felt uncomfortable with the idea of her touching me and I left the session early.At lunch on Wednesday, I informed my small group leader and cabin mates that I would be leaving the next morning first thing. Shortly before I planned to leave Thursday morning, Tricia texted me saying that Brooke would love to meet me, say goodbye and give me a hug, which I found strange considering we had already met earlier in the week. She asked to come to my cabin and I told her I was already in the coffee shop with my cabin mates and offered for them to meet me there. Tricia responded that Brooke “wasn’t quite dressed yet” and asked me to come to Brooke’s room instead. I told her I was heading out as planned and did not meet with them. This exchange and being asked to go to Brooke’s cabin alone made me uncomfortable. It was unnecessary to try to arrange a time to meet minutes before I had planned to leave. I communicated my decision to leave to Tricia at lunch the day before. There was plenty of time for Brooke or any other leaders to reach out to me, meet or speak with me the afternoon/evening before I left campus.Brooke also speaks openly and frequently about not having a plan for her Bible Study teaching sessions, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak directly through her in the moment. In the future, I would caution HY against this practice. Requiring teachers (Brooke refers to herself as a preacher) to provide an outline or lesson plan provides content accountability and allows another trainer to fill in as a substitute if needed.Later, I was told by my peers who remained at immersion Thursday/Friday that there was no further resolution or make up sessions despite leadership being approached with questions and students continuing to express discomfort. Concerns were dismissed by suggesting that Brooke is simply overtired and has been taking on too much lately. My classmates reported Brooke joked sarcastically about the incident saying it was her “Lazarus moment” which is insensitive to those who were truly concerned for her safety and careless to those impacted spiritually (not to mention, irreverent to scripture).During immersion, I witnessed false teaching, failed leadership and extensive spiritual wounding, confusion, and distress occur among the 109 paying students at this retreat and I believe this is unacceptable. Leadership’s response was insufficient and was not ever completely truthful. My prayer at this point is that moving forward HY chooses transparency and attempts to repair the damage done in every way possible.Clearly Brooke is not well and is not in a healthy place to be leading a Bible Study or preaching at immersion. If she is struggling with mental or physical illness, addiction or withdrawal, she may not have the insight to take a step back or seek professional help when needed. It is a disservice to Brooke’s physical and spiritual wellbeing for her inner circle (HY Global trainers and HY Foundation/Leadership) to continue to deny the seriousness of her condition. I truly hope those close to her encourage her to seek competent help and complete healing before teaching again.Brooke is in need of wise counsel and discernment about how overwhelming her current responsibilities by ‘pushing through’ to continue to teach at immersions can have devastating effects on the quality of training provided, the emotional and spiritual wellbeing of her students and HY’s reputation as a whole. As you know, Christian yoga is an extremely sensitive area of ministry. Accountability and counsel in every ministry is a safeguard for your students and testimony (Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed -Proverbs 15:22).In the best interest of your students, the future of the HY brand and all Christians practicing yoga, I encourage HY as a whole to reevaluate the organization’s statement of faith and prayerfully consider if there has been a deviation from HY’s spiritual grounding in Biblical truths.My husband and I expended extensive time and financial resources for me receive this training (online and in-person) and I am extremely disappointed in the overall quality of the training, lack of basic professionalism and poor judgement demonstrated by Brooke as well as HY leadership. Since returning from immersion, I’ve sadly heard multiple similar immersion and HY experience accounts of spiritual abuses, unprofessionalism and Brooke’s instability and have therefore lost my faith in HY as a reputable training school or Christian ministry at this time.

This wonderful book is accompanied by a DVD, which is under the back cover of the book.I ordered this book with the DVD 8 days ago and it has already positively changed my life. I wish so much I had found Holy Yoga sooner. Before motherhood, I had wanted to be a yoga instructor, but I felt uncomfortable with it because some of the teacher trainings included Eastern religious practices and music, and I am a Christian. I felt there were benefits to the exercise, but the goal of “emptying the mind” was not peaceful to me when I knew I really wanted the Holy Spirit to fill my being. Holy Yoga changed everything. In the book, Brooke explains exactly what Holy Yoga is, how to practice it, as well as the history of yoga. She also explains the different types of yoga. She even has written and illustrated routines, such as for morning and evening. Holy Yoga is Christian and instead of “emptying our minds”, we actually open ourselves fully to the Holy Spirit. I feel so at peace. I have already taught my husband and children how to do Holy Yoga, while the specific instructions were taught by Brooke Boon on the DVD.I also purchased Holy Yoga TV and I will likely become a Holy Yoga instructor.Very thankful for Brooke Boon’s book and DVD and all the love and devotion she has poured into this.One thing I really enjoy about this is when we have morning quiet time with God (Bible, prayer, journal and reflection), sometimes words are not enough and I feel the desire for movement or syncing my body with the reflections on Bible verses and prayers. I have felt the process of Holy Yoga bring my entire body, mind, and spirit into connection with the Holy Spirit.

Loved it! Will be reading again and again! And I will continue to use this book for future reference!I love how Brooke was able to really capture her personal experience between her physical yoga practice and her authentic living relationship with our Lord! Her love for the Lord and her relatability made this book an enlightening page Turner!!I am so very thankful and blessed to have stumbled upon Brooke Boon & Holy Yoga!! I am so thrilled to say I am currently enrolled in Holy Yoga's teacher training program!! It's been a little over a month since I started and I have truly enjoyed every moment!! I'm learning more and more about God, my faith, and myself.. physically, mentally and spiritually! Holy yoga has shown me a group of incredible people who genuinely love God and love and encourage other believers and non believers alike!! Thank God!!So thankful for such an amazing community to look up to and learn from!! Thank you Brooke Boon & Holy Yoga team for all that you do!! You have all already touched my life in ways I can't begin to describe!!So back to the book review.. if you're new to yoga or experienced..this book is easy to understand and you'll learn something new. I know I learned a bunch of new things and I've been practicing for 4 years now!!As for the Christian perspective.. I am new, brand new, to my walk with the Lord and this book felt like the most authentic, honest, pure expression of one woman's love for God and how she brought her personal relationship with the Lord into her physical yoga practice!!Truly inspiring!! And I loved all of the scripture sprinkled throughout the book! With Holy Yoga I can feel Christ at the center of it and the main focus.I look forward to learning more and following Christ with this like spirited tribe!!

Great book! Really interesting and thought provoking. I am a Christian and i have reconciled myself some time ago to yoga poses being no problem for Christians to do. For instance, most Christians have no issue at all with Pilates, yet many of the stretches and moves Mr Pilates took straight from yoga. However I had never really considered a Christian approach to involving the whole body in worship with the poses, aka Holy Yoga. I love the concept. I totally disagree with the other reviewer saying you can't Have Christian yoga - it would be like saying a particular religion had an exclusivity on prayer or an atheist couldn't fast, We might do these things with a different understanding of what they mean to us, but we can all recognise them by the terminology used as to a rough idea of what we mean. Christian yoga is opposite in many ways to Eastern yoga. It is focused on Christ not on self. We would not look within to find the answers, but to God, and when we mediate we fill our minds with scripture and godly thoughts, not emptying our minds. There's loads of great resources at holy yoga.net, including Holy Yoga TV, which is awesome. It's a subscription service that allows access to a number of great quality yoga training sessions. I really enjoyed this book. If you are sceptical about Christian Yoga, you should read it. It addresses some of the concerns about yoga, but also gives the vision for how it helps and e physical and other benefits to practising yoga and how it can help us grow closer to God. It does also outline some of the issues with practising yoga that is not Christian yoga, for Christians.

This book is wonderful. I ordered it as 'used', but it appears it has not been used at all.It is a very good book that has taught me the benefits and how to do faith based yoga.

No better way to do Yoga and follow your God Given purpose. meeting God and Jesus on the mat has never been easier.