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Q & A
Christian meditation, yoga unite on DVD Mary Jacobs, Oct 11, 2007
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Janine Turner
As a dancer, Janine Turner loved the physical benefits of yoga. As a Christian, she didn’t connect with yoga’s roots in Eastern spirituality. Now she’s found a middle way.
Ms. Turner, the star of Leave it to Beaver and Northern Exposure, created the recently released Christoga (Westlake Entertainment, 74 minutes), a DVD exercise program combining yoga moves with Christian meditation. Fitness expert Mary Cunningham is the co-creator.
Ms. Turner is a member of White’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Southlake, Texas, and spoke recently with Staff Writer Mary Jacobs.
What led you to create a “Christian yoga” exercise video? I think that some die-hard Christians have not been able to enjoy yoga because they’ve been intimidated by the Eastern religion aspect of it. But yoga is a great form of exercise that your body remembers. It’s strengthening mixed with the stretching. It’s a wonderful opportunity, as you age, to stay limber.
I was attending a church when Mary Cunningham approached me saying she wanted to do Christian yoga. I said, “I think this a great idea!” So I started to do yoga with Mary and we produced this DVD.
Is that really a legitimate fear—that yoga conflicts with our Christian faith? I wouldn’t be afraid as a Christian to go to a yoga class. But there are a lot of Christians that are, and there are churches that are. Yoga was inspired by Eastern religions. What’s wonderful is that it works the body and the soul. I think that if Christians are going to do yoga, and if it is going to be spiritual, they’d like to be secure in knowing that it’s a spirituality that they endorse.
How’d you modify the yoga in the DVD to make it Christian? First, we changed the names of the poses, because they did have an Eastern connotation. We have poses called “salvation rotation” and “holy rollers”—names that are indicative of Christianity.
In the DVD, my face is in view and I’m quoting Scripture. So, as you’re holding a pose, your mind can meditate upon that Scripture. It’s divided into different categories with related Scriptures. So in the strengthening section, for example, I read quotes from the Bible about strength. In the stretching section, all the quotes are related to relaxation or hope. Everything has its category and it correlates with those Scriptures in the Bible.
The result is two workouts in one. You can work out the body and work out your soul at the same time. This gives one an opportunity to take an hour out for your physical body, and you’re also taking an hour to work out the soul, to truly meditate and pray with God.
Would you feel comfortable sharing a little about your personal faith journey? My father was Episcopalian and my mother was Baptist. So that was an interesting combination. On my own, I decided at age 14 to be baptized in a Baptist church in Saginaw, Texas. Over the years, I’ve been Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist. To me it’s all Christ.
My faith has always been a rock for me, a foundation. I would say that my walk with God has intensified since the birth of my child in 1997. I read the Bible, from front to back, in 2002. Now I’m attending White’s Chapel United Methodist Church. I just fell in the love with the church and the pastor and the music.
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Is that really a legitimate fear—that yoga conflicts with our Christian faith? 
