LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - Yoga mats out and heads bowed, about 10 women listened intently as Tammy Douglas said a prayer aloud. The opening prayer set the tone for the Saturday PraiseMoves class, which is marketed as a Christian alternative to yoga.

The women met in the sanctuary of The Church, a newer faith community that meets on the south side of Lafayette.

After a set of warm-up exercises, the Christian yoga alternative began. They stretched in postures instead of yoga poses. Gone was downward-facing dog and in its stead, women glided gracefully into tent pose. They still focused on breathing, adhering to constant reminders from Douglas to inhale and exhale.

However, the mood was intentionally religious in nature as Douglas read corresponding scriptures while the women lingered in their postures. By the end, as they lay supine in a refuge posture instead of the traditional yoga corpse pose, Douglas assistants laid warmed cloths soaked in lavender essential oil over the faces of the women to aid relaxation.

Stay focused on God and your breath, Douglas said. Listen to that still, small voice.

Then she read Psalm 23 aloud.

After being certified to teach PraiseMoves by the programs founder and director, Laurette Willis, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Douglas started teaching local classes in mid-June. Douglas and Dan Reece, pastor of The Church where she attends and also serves as worship leader, believe that an alternative to yoga is needed because yoga is incompatible with Christian teaching.

Yoga is a mystic and ascetic Hindu discipline for achieving union with supreme spirits through works, meaning salvation through works, Douglas wrote in an email. As Christians we cannot receive salvation through works but by accepting Jesus Christ. And yes, some of the postures look the same, (but) the body can only bend in so many ways. PraiseMoves is a redemptive work of the Lord.

Reece agreed and said yoga shouldnt be taught in Christian churches. The Bible calls us to be a peculiar people and we should be that, he told the Journal & Courier (http://on.jconline.com/UL42xi ). We shouldnt blend in with the world.

However, some local yoga practitioners disagree. Some say yoga is spiritual but not religious and open to people of all faiths. Others say they too, are Christians and practice yoga as a way to connect to the Judeo-Christian God.

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PraiseMoves reignites debate over yoga's nature