Modern postural yoga as a religion

Modern postural yoga is practised for multiple reasons. It is a form of exercise based largely on asanas, yoga postures, improving fitness and flexibility, but in addition it is connected to India and to religions including Hinduism. It has both spiritual and ritual aspects, but it is often claimed to be in modern terms spiritual but not religious. Scholars have investigated this claim, noting that it has many similarities with religion.

Yoga sessions have a three-part structure that matches Arnold van Gennep's definition of ritual, namely a phase of detaching from the world outside, as the yoga hall is entered; a phase of transition, as the class follows the teacher's instructions physically; and a phase of incorporation, as the practitioners relax in savasana.

Yoga has faced conflicting pressures, from the saffronising "Take Back Yoga" campaign to rejection by some Christians who see it as coming from Satan. It is permitted by some religious groups, where for example Muslim Saudi Arabia has lifted restrictions. It is practised as a largely secular form of exercise in the West, without erasing what the historian of yoga Stefanie Syman describes as Haṭha yoga's "ecstatic ... transcendent ... possibly subversive" elements.

Yoga has multiple religion-like features, and is used in religion-like ways. Yoga spaces are often arranged with a somewhat Indian aesthetic, with statues such as of the Hindu god Shiva, artwork, incense, and music; they are usually clean, bright, and quiet. Classes often include a Sanskrit invocation to ancient gurus, Sanskrit names for asanas, and Indian philosophical concepts, while several asanas have the hands in prayer pose, hinting at spirituality. Yoga gurus sometimes use the cover of a devotional culture to get away with sexual assaults. People feel free to assemble a combination of religious teachings to obtain whatever combination of exoticism, authenticity, and the hope for hidden truths that they like.