The Center for Sectarianism under the Novosibirsk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church has published a message under the heading "Yoga - the path to death."
It reported on the alleged suicide of a girl in Novosibirsk who became interested in yoga with the mediation of psychologists from Novosibirsk State University. The head of the Center for Psychology at NSU was surprised at this information, saying that university psychologists had never been involved in promoting yoga.
The Information and Consulting Center on Sectarianism at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Novosibirsk on August 23, under the heading "Yoga - the Path to Death", published on its website the story of an Orthodox girl named Natalya. The story is based on a letter allegedly written to the center by the girl's relatives.
“In September 2010 Natasha went to psychology courses at NSU and at the same time began to attend yoga classes. We think that it was during the course that Natasha was sent to yoga. Natasha began to grow cold towards the Orthodox life, she began to go to church less and less often. In yoga, she was provided with literature on meditation OSHO, and Natasha began to go into this area headlong, - an Orthodox resource quotes relatives. The girl's surname is not given.
As a result, the girl became interested in meditation according to the system of the notorious guru Osho (Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh), who practiced, in particular, free sexual relations, the letter says, and the girl's behavior became inadequate.
"One woman, seeing Natasha in the church, said that 'she is all black." Several times Natasha came to the church, apparently she was looking for a way out of her grave condition, "the text says. After undergoing treatment in a psychiatric clinic, the girl in In 2012, she left in an unknown direction, after which her body was found in the Ob Sea, the authors of the letter summed up.
At the NSU Psychology Center, which conducts courses, they were surprised at the content of the letter. “We do not advertise and have a negative attitude towards all sectarian, esoteric and mystical things. I respect yoga, but the fact that we did not send anyone anywhere and did not invite anyone to learn yoga is a fact, we do not have such a habit,”said the director of the center, Pyotr Ryzhenkov.
He added that he had never heard of the history cited by the Orthodox center. In addition, the center conducts interviews and testing for newcomers to reduce the penetration of people with clinical problems in the psyche, because "psychology pulls unhealthy people," said the head of the center.
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