Churches blend the discipline of yoga with biblical theology
By BARBARA KARKABI
Houston Chronicle
June 3, 2006

Christian music plays in the background as the women take their places on cross-shaped mats.
For the next hour, Laura Gates gently leads them through exercises that may look like yoga but are known as "PraiseMoves: The Christian Alternative to Yoga."

Instead of referring to the "downward-facing dog," a yoga posture that encourages flexibility and helps the flow of blood to the head, Gates calls the move the "tent" and recites a portion of Isaiah 54:2 ("Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings").

During the class at Second Baptist Church's North campus in Kingwood, Gates' students may do as many as 23 different moves. Each posture has an accompanying Bible verse to put the focus on God. Classes begin and end with prayer. the rest