CB writes: “I have been hearing a lot about manifestation yoga lately. Is it really yoga or just another New Age gimmick?Yes to both questions! Manifestation yoga is really yoga – and it’s also a New Age gimmick.
Let me explain.
Manifestation yoga goes by a variety of names such as “embodiment manifestation,” “manifesting on the mat,” and “yoga for receiving.” They all mean the same thing - a new modality that incorporates the Law of Attraction’s intention-setting, visualization, affirmations, and the belief that one can ‘align’ or ‘raise’ one’s energy - into traditional yoga routines.
The original version of manifestation yoga, which was not related to the Law of Attraction, began in 2014 with Jennifer Pastiloff, best-selling author, speaker, yoga instructor and visual artist who suffers from hearing loss. She describes herself on her website as someone who “reads lips, and mishears almost everything, but what she hears is usually funnier (at least she thinks so). She has transformed that experience into one of the most distinctive frameworks for her work: that listening with your whole body, not just your ears, is the path to genuine human connection.”
In an effort to help people overcome their own psychological obstacles she began to incorporate journaling, reflection on fears and desired life outcomes into her yoga classes as a way to facilitate opening up to oneself. Her classes do not include what she describes as New Age “woo woo,” and are more like self-development workshops that stress envisioning one’s desires and taking action to make it happen rather than relying on attracting it through some kind of energetic vibration.
Unfortunately, more recent versions of manifestation yoga contain considerably more “woo woo.”
For example, this site offers a class in embodiment manifestation yoga which it describes as a full-body vinyasa practice that helps one to “connect with your intentions, motivation, and inner sense of possibility,” and to “feel grounded, empowered, and aligned with the version of yourself you are actively calling in.”
Another article, appearing on the Samanya Yoga website, takes it a step further by connecting yoga and the law of attraction much more explicitly.
“Yoga provides a good foundation to start working with the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction is an extremely powerful spiritual law and works on the basis that ‘likes attract like’ and ‘what you think about will come about,” the site says. “Ultimately, it works on the concept that you can manifest and attract into your lives whatever it is you put focus on.”
However, before one can start to manifest, they need to have the appropriate foundations in place in order for the manifestation process to be effective, which is where the yoga enters the picture. “One of the key foundations is being present and this is what your yoga practice encourages,” the site explains.
The Sri Sri School of Yoga explains this connection in even more detail, claiming yoga provides an ancient “science” for manifestation by instructing students on how to control the mind, breath, energy and inner state so that desired realities can be attracted.
For example, it presents the practice known as Sankalpa, which is the focusing of the will, as a way to focus on one’s desires. It suggests using pranayama (breathwork) in its traditional spiritual context of prana (life force) in order to influence consciousness and create the mental state necessary for successful manifestation. It asserts that yoga can also help one achieve the right energetic state through the yogic concept of Sattva (purity, clarity, harmony) which makes a person a more pure “broadcast signal” for resonance with the universe.
Perhaps the clearest metaphysical element in the description involves the use of yogic mantras and vibration. Mantras aren't presented simply as psychologically calming repetition. Their effectiveness is said to derive traditionally from an “inherent sonic power” or “pure cosmic vibration.” Sacred sound supposedly purifies the mind, affects subtle energy pathways and connects individual consciousness with a “higher frequency.”
The article frequently refers to existing neuroscientific studies on neuroplasticity to lend credibility to the overall concept of using yoga for manifestation purposes. While it’s true that breathing affects the nervous system and repeated mental practice involves neuroplasticity, claims that these practices can create an energetic state that attracts external circumstances from the universe has absolutely no scientific support.
It also blends psychologically plausible claims, such as how meditation can train attention, and visualization can sometimes improve performance, with assertions about prana as divine reality, cosmic vibration, subtle energy pathways, and “trusting the universe” to arrange the outcome.
For the Catholic, the obvious question arises – who, or what is this universe that allegedly receives our intentions and responds to our energetic alignment in order to arrange desired circumstances?
Coupled with the many problems associated with the use of yoga and the Law of Attraction by Christians, adding a practice that involves the direct invocation of the false god of the “universe” should be plenty of reason for Catholics to take a pass on manifestation yoga.
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