Word Poverty

 “Word poverty” was one of the first concepts I learned in my Master’s program after switching careers from journalist to special education teacher. I did not fully understand it, however, until my 5th year into teaching. And quite unexpectedly, the meaning dawned on me as I was listening to a playlist of church hymns while preparing for school. 

But before I get into that, for the uninitiated, “word poverty” has a huge role in a student’s success, both in school and in their career to come. It occurs when a child is not exposed to a wide range of vocabulary in their formative years at home. Researchers have discovered that “the size of a child’s vocabulary is an accurate predictor of academic achievement and even upward mobility over the course of a lifetime.” (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)

Although researchers have tied low-income households to this issue, I don’t think we can definitively say that just because someone is poor means that they will not be exposed to vocabulary. I am a single parent, and my son was exposed to many vocabulary words, as I read to him starting the day I brought him home from the hospital as a newborn. Rather, I think the researchers are tying low income to the level of education, which makes more sense. Low education = fewer opportunities for higher paying jobs = low income, but high education can still land you in a low-paying job. At any rate, I digress. The point is that I see many students in my classes dealing with the effects of word poverty.

One morning as I was preparing my room for my first class, I was listening to a YouTube channel with hymn instrumentals, and the words of each hymn came flooding into my mind. It was at that point I realized that why I, as a daughter of poor Salvation Army officers, had been “rich” in vocabulary as I grew up.

In my home, the sounds of a piano and my father’s strong “Irish tenor” voice filled the rooms. He would practice his solos for church, and the songs became embedded in my brain for as long as I can remember. I realized that morning in my classroom that these songs were written mostly in the 1800s – and some even dated to the Reformation. They reflected the language of bygone eras and the words that people regularly used in centuries past.

Let’s look at a hymn that most people might recognize … Martin Luther’s Mighty Fortress:

“A mighty Fortress is our God,

A Bulwark never failing;

Our Helper He amid the flood

Of mortal ills prevailing:

For still our ancient foe

Doth seek to work us woe;

His craft and power are great,

And, armed with cruel hate,

On earth is not his equal.”

Now think about a 5-year-old singing that song with her father in the car on her way to kindergarten. I may not have understood all of the words – and probably substituted many of them for those that I already knew – but over time, I understood it. There were countless hymns like this growing up.

There were many other sources of my vocabulary enrichment. I had to learn the Salvation Army doctrines by heart at age 11. I can still cite them from memory. As a good example, let’s just look at just one of them:

“We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Not only did I memorize these, but my mother explained them with large, colorful visual aids in Sunday School, kids’ church, Wednesday night kids’ activities, and summer Bible school. Repeatedly.

This doesn’t even take into account the multiple conversations to which I was privy between my parents as they drove us to visit multiple churches in western Pennsylvania or as we went back and forth to the Salvation Army for their duties. It doesn’t count how my father used to force me to debate him at the dinner table on theological and social issues to drill my independent thinking skills. 

When I realized the breadth of the words to which I was exposed, it was no wonder that I easily segued into a 30-year career as a news journalist and then as a special education teacher. In my case, the “rich” words equated to successful career pursuits.

So what does this mean for my students? Just that as I go into my 6th year of teaching, I am much more empathetic to their struggles. I have more motivation to research evidence-based practices to widen their vocabulary understanding and to impart to them the importance of embracing literacy and vocabulary retention. And I will remind them that if they did not grow up with reading at home or other activities, they still can learn many words that will enrich their lives. 

Here’s hoping there will be ripple effects from this realization.

Is the practice of yoga an invitation to demons into your life?

 “Is the practice of yoga an invitation to demons into your life?”

The question seems preposterous. This is what I was thinking when I saw a popular Instagrammer make the claim. 

For about two decades, on and off and depending on my health status, I have practiced yoga. I also am a believer in Christ. The Instagrammer made it clear in her posts that you can’t be a Christian and practice yoga at the same time. She is a new Christian, but many of her posts are on point. It was for this reason that I sat back in my chair and took a deep breath … and wrestled with the assertion. 

But, if “iron sharpens iron,” then it was important to me to look into it. 

Before joining in on the fray ensuing on her post, I decided to reflect deeply and do some research in Paul’s letters. No, yoga is not specifically mentioned in Paul’s letters. However, a similar argument about abstaining from a practice – specifically, eating meat sacrificed to idols – is. 

But before I dive in on the connection, let me give you some context on how and why yoga was prevalent in my life. 

 In my 30s, when I first started, it was simple physical stretching before and after a long run. I was a runner for about seven years during that decade of my life, and yoga allowed me to exercise on days when I needed to rest certain muscles or strengthen others. It also allowed me to prepare my leg muscles before a run and cool down after I was finished. I was in the best shape of my life, and I was addicted physically to both running and yoga.

In my 40s, yoga became necessary for my health. I relied heavily on cobra pose to rebuild my abdominal strength after four different abdominal surgeries. I also no longer was a runner (my knees were shot at that point), and yoga gave me a hard workout that I craved. Also during that time, I had to escape an abusive marriage and was suffering emotionally from PTSD. I increased my yoga practice exponentially as I worked through my divorce and subsequent anxiety. 

How can I say this? Yoga allowed me to connect the physical body to the emotional turmoil. When I practiced yoga, I almost went into a state of hypnosis. I would leave each yoga session feeling both physically and emotionally drained, but in a good way. I processed a lot of my emotions as I moved through each asana. My therapist lauded my efforts and continued to encourage me to go. You might be asking, “Did you solely rely on yoga to be healed emotionally?” Of course not. I also was growing deeper in my faith walk with Jesus and felt that yoga was a tool I had been given to help work through the arduous task of becoming whole again.

At one point during this time, my mother called and said one of her friends had shared that practicing yoga was “demonic” and that I should stop immediately. Knowing how it was helping me, I waved that off and laughed. No, I told her, there was nothing “demonic” at all about what I was doing. It was purely a physical exercise.

It’s for this reason that I had huge misgivings when I saw the posts recently by the Instagrammer, because I felt that she was using her platform in a well-meaning but judgmental way. However, I did have to admit that there was one incident during this yoga period of my life that rang true with what the Instagramer was saying:

It happened about 10 years ago, when I was visiting a friend in Denver. Unlike where I live in Kentucky, Denver is a yoga-lover's paradise, with studios peppering the city. I was thrilled when I discovered that one such studio was next door to my friend’s home. During the session, though, something unsettling happened. The yoga instructor started singing and chanting. Those in attendance answered with lilting melodies and chants. I almost felt like I was sitting in church. It was, again, hypnotic and beautiful. Incense filled the room, and the rhythm of the song matched my heartbeat and breath. I felt suspended and enveloped … but highly unsettled. See, although the singing was in a foreign language, I heard the name, “Krishna.” And I realized in that moment that they were singing to a Hindu god. So for them, it really was like “church.” 

When I left, I felt as if I had participated in idol worship. I’ve never really explained this before, so bear with me. In 21st Century America, our culture is not used to the worship of idols. At least, I’m not. I have read about idol worship in the Old Testament since childhood. But I had never seen it in practice. I repented that day, but I shook off the idea that all yoga studios were encouraging idol worship. I rationalized that, in Kentucky, it still was just a place for physical exercise and stretching, nothing more. There was no singing to Krishna or prayer chants. And I continued to go to yoga studios at home, telling myself that if I ever encountered another “church-y” yoga studio, I would eschew it. 

I finally stopped practicing yoga, but not for the reasons you might think. My body couldn’t handle it anymore. Over time, my lower back started to feel worse and worse after each yoga practice. When I did not do yoga practice or stretches, the back pain went away. So I stopped it completely about 4 years ago. Every now and then, I would do a few stretches to see if I could try to return to it. But each time I tried, my back would scream at me.

Now let’s fast forward to when I started contemplating the Instagrammer’s post. When I encounter a spiritual debate among Christians, I try to take it apart and reassemble it using Scripture to see if it has any validity. I’ll walk you through my steps and then give you my final view on whether, as she claimed, yoga invites demons into your life.

For my research, I chiefly relied on two sources: 1) the extensive footnotes in my Nelson Study Bible (New King James Version) and 2) the blog, “Bible Topic Exposition.” If you would like to cross reference it, the site is: https://bibletopicexpo.wordpress.com/2015/09/16/aphrodites-diner-romans-14/. (When I quote the blog, I will put Bible Topic Exposition in parentheses after the sentence.)

Paul encountered a similar issue when 1st Century Christians were arguing about whether they should eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Remember that at this time, Greek and Roman gods (same mythology, different names) were worshiped throughout the Roman Empire. “It was said…anciently the worship of pagan deities could be engaged in on almost ‘every street corner.’” (Bible Topic Exposition) 

It worked this way: Suppose you are offering your sacrifice at Aphrodite’s Temple in Corinth. Next to the temple was a restaurant. (Bible Topic Exposition creatively calls it “Aphrodite’s Diner.”) Christians were struggling with whether to eat this meat. And remember, since temples were all over the place, it was highly likely that if you ate any meat, you probably had unwittingly ingested something that had been a sacrifice. They often became vegetarians to avoid the issue altogether. (Romans 14:2)

For those who were brand new Christians, this troubled their consciences greatly. For those who had been in the faith longer, it didn’t, and they typically made fun of the newbies for thinking it was a problem. 

Paul presented a very logical solution to this debate. I’ll just quote it here from I Cor. 8: 7-13:

“Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.”

So in a sense, my first question was answered. If a new believer who practiced yoga in the past sees this as demonically induced, then when I am in that believer’s presence, I should not practice or discuss the benefits that yoga had to me. I know that my conscience is clear from the years I practiced: I never was practicing to worship a Hindu god or goddess.

However, there was a second question: What about the incident that happened in Denver 10 years ago? With that incident, I can fully see why and how this Instagrammer came to her conclusion that you can’t practice yoga and still be a Christian. If you are going to a studio where part of the practice is chanting or praying to a Hindu god or goddess and there are physical idols in place (as was the case for me in the Denver yoga studio), yes. You are engaging with idol worship, which, by extension, is demonic. 

How do I know this? Paul also addresses that here in I Cor. 10: 19-22:

“What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?”

Whoaaaaa. 

I had never seen that verse before looking into this. But Paul himself wrote it, that yes, idol worship is actually demonic worship … which is what the Instagrammer has been preaching. 

So. Where do I sit now on this entire question?

Well, first of all, I can’t practice yoga anymore because of physical limitations. But if I could, would I?

Again, it’s not a one-size-fits-all answer. If a yoga stretch is just that – a physical STRETCH after a long walk or a long sleep or to heal an injured body part – then that’s all it is.

However, if I meet up with a new believer whose conscience would be defiled knowing I do yoga stretches to ease the pain in my lower back, I’m not going to throw that in their face. I’m going to just listen with compassion to their journey and accept that is where they are.

On the other hand, if I’m in a group of people who are doing yoga stretches … say, a mindfulness activity for teachers at my school … and someone starts chanting a prayer to a Hindu god or goddess … yes, that is idolatry. That’s dancing a little too close to the line, just like I would not use a Ouija board to engage with unseen spirits. 

I do know that the Lord Jesus healed me emotionally after my abusive marriage and that yoga was a big part of helping me process those emotions. But I also know that at that time, I didn’t have this knowledge from I Cor. 10. That has been a game changer for me.

Whatever you decide to do, I’d only suggest to keep God in the midst of your choice. Consult Him. And use wise and sober judgment. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit by inviting something into your life that will draw a wedge between you and Him. And be mindful – and kind – to those who, in 1st Century A.D. parlance, are afraid of “eating meat sacrificed to idols.”