The philosophy and practice of yoga have been the primary tools of Hindu, Buddhist, and New Age Movement missionaries. These missionaries first present yoga as an exercise, only later do they reveal it as a Pagan practice.
“Yoga” (coming from an Indian Sanskrit root word “Yuj” which means to union, yoke or connect) is a mystic and ascetic Hindu discipline for achieving union with Hindu gods through meditation, prescribed postures, controlled breathing, etc.
According to the text, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Hindu god, Shiva, is the lord of Yoga (Yogishwara) and the first hatha yoga teacher. According to Webster’s, Shiva is the Hindu god of destruction and rebirth.
