As we know from health experts today; exercising is a very important part of healthy living. Since the disciples of Jesus and for instance St. Paul and the Old Testament prophets had nothing good to say about it; why is such an important part of living and good health completely absent from the Bible? In fact the word ‘exercise’ is mentioned as more less derogatory.
I do not regard the Old Testament as an example of good holy scripture. It's very confusing, often because of the translation problems you already mentioned. But it also seems to praise extremely brutal actions, which is weird, maybe it's all a metaphor. Probably. But very confusing objectively.
The New Testament, right, I don't remember much about exercise, except that Jesus and the disciples were walking all the time to different places, so actually exercise was an inherent part of life back then; there were no machines, everything was done by human labor, so there was no need to exercise, except for athletes, gladiators, soldiers and so on.
I don't know about other scriptures praising physical exercise, except the writings of Yogananda.
Yes Paramahansa Yogananda had his close disciples practice yoga postures, which he often displayed at public occasions. He also invented the energization exercises which I attempt to practice every day quite religiously. Besides that he recommended one half hour of vigorous exercise a day. I can say I have had many friends tell me that I most likely survived melanoma and high blood pressure because of yoga, and it is taught in the SRF lessons by Paramahansa Yogananda, and is blessed by Paramahansa Yogananda.
Amma also includes stretching exercises in her IAM technique. Hatha yoga is taught at all her retreats. She often gave similar bleedings to devotees that cured them as I’ve experienced fro her and Paramahansa Yogananda.
Hatha Yoga - after all - was developed to help devotees to a be comfortable with long hours of meditation. Yogananda stated that a bent spine is the enemy of meditation. He also included food to gain weight for those to thin and exercises to lose weight for those to heavy.
Eastern thought has been way ahead of Christianity in the science of exercise and energizing the body. Spirituality is combined with the exercises and enlightened experiences are at times a result of such practices. In fact in my younger years I had multiple kundalini experiences due to practicing hatha yoga which were so euphoric I could not stand up, most often from the Salute to the Sun, although other postures and stretches saved me from being incapacitated in a motorcycle accident.
The statement from Christianity to ‘ love thy father with heart soul and mind is important, but we can also love God in our physical routines. Both Paramahansa Yogananda and Amma have exercises and energy routines to do so; Reading the SRF lessons and learning the IAM techniques you will be exposed to such helpful life saving techniques. And no doubt there are many other Eastern Gurus and sages who encouraged it.
Beyond what I have just said, I also practice mantras with jogging and swimming. As for instance Hong to the inhalations and Sau to the exhalations.
Matthew 22:36-40
