Join The Yoga Abbey
Cultivate a deeper connection with God on your yoga mat without rushing to a gym, trying to keep up with the advanced yogis, or wondering if you belong.
CHRIST-CENTERED YOGA
Learn a New Way to Pray
You love God, and you want to feel good in your body. But life is full, and time is short. Given the choice between spending time with Jesus or going to the gym, you always feel like you’re making a frustrating trade-off.
Perhaps spending time with Jesus feels more like a “should” than a genuine desire. You’ve been told it’s what God wants, but when you sit down to pray or read your Bible, overwhelm sets in.
Or perhaps going to the gym or a yoga class feels more like a “should” than a genuine desire. You’ve been told your body needs to look or move a certain way and that yoga will help. But what if you can’t touch your toes? What if you can’t keep up? What if the instructor uses words you don’t understand or chants in a different language? What if it doesn’t feel safe or good to be in your body?
We know what this feels like because we’ve been there too.
We’ve avoided time with Go, and we’ve avoided being in our bodies. We’ve felt the exhaustion of stress, shame, and sickness. We’ve tried scrolling our way into feeling better, but inevitably, we end up feeling more disconnected than when we started.
So we’ve given up trying to be perfect Christians or expert yogis and embraced Jesus’ invitation to come as we are.
We step onto our mats to surrender all the heaviness we’ve been carrying and draw near to The One Who Sees Us. We offer our yoga as prayer and exhale deeply into the freedom and joy of being seen, known, and loved just as we are.
Our bodies feel stronger and our spirits feel lighter.
This is an embodied faith experience.
Katie
Yoga Abbey classes have helped me come home to my body.
Your classes have helped me very much on a journey coming home to my body and prioritizing mental, physical, and spiritual health at once instead of compartmentalizing them (or ignoring them). At first, I saw the digital yoga community as a substitute for being able to participate in my gym’s yoga classes as I had for several years before the pandemic. However, whether I return to the gym or not, the content on The Abbey meets a totally different set of needs and is not something I would even compare – I would no longer see them as things I would have to choose between, and will continue to enjoy the classes, meditations, and other monthly content you provide.
Anybody. Anywhere. Anytime.
Membership in The Yoga Abbey provides:
On-demand videos ranging from 15-60 minutes so you don’t have to rush to the gym or feel guilty because you only have 20 minutes to spare.
Low-impact yoga classes accessible to most bodies, so you no longer feel like you don’t fit in because you can’t keep up or touch your toes.
Guided meditation practices, Lectio Divinas (sacred scripture reading), creative contemplations (and more) so you no longer have to will the words to come when you pray.
Peace of mind knowing you’re nourishing your body, mind, and spirit, connecting deeply with God, and growing in faith, hope, and love.
Joel
God has used The Yoga Abbey to really help me through some very challenging seasons.
I struggle with anxiety and the peace and closeness to God that I have found available here with Him is just wonderful, a light in the dark.
I can finally say I’m healthy now, but when my anxiety hit an all time high in 2020, I was literally spending 1 1/2 hours a day doing these yoga videos and meditations. It was my life raft from God.
We long to know God’s peace and presence at all times and in all things, but how do we cultivate that knowing?
Maybe you’ve gone through a major life change recently – an illness, job change, divorce, new parenthood, relational loss – and whenever you turn towards God to pray, you just feel stuck. The questions, confusion, and pain feel more present than any kind of peace.
Maybe you’ve experienced deeply personal and significant trauma and you feel disconnected from your body, as if it’s easier to just numb out through over-exercising or avoiding movement at any cost.
Maybe you’ve done all the Bible reading, Bible studies, prayer groups, and quiet times – which are all good things – but still sense a chasm between yourself and an intimate, ongoing relationship with Jesus.
Perhaps the last time you really “felt” something was when you dropped into a yoga class at the gym and found tears running down your face in savasana.
Those tears were telling you that *something* happened, but you’re not sure what and you can’t go back too often because paying per class adds up, and you felt out of place the entire time.
Plus, you’re a little nervous to continue practicing yoga because well-meaning loved ones warn you that you’re worshipping Hindu gods.
It doesn’t feel worth it to summon the energy to go to a class after work or long day when you’ll just feel self-conscious and uncertain halfway through.
With all you have going on, you long to come away from an experience feeling refreshed and cared for, not like your efforts aren’t good enough.
You don’t need one more box to check or hoop to jump through. You just long to know the peace and presence of Jesus with your whole self as your whole self.
A sanctuary for your body, mind, and soul
Our culture has lost sight of the ancient practices of movement and meditation that connect us to the Holy Spirit within. We’re all head knowledge, some heart knowledge, and neglectful of the miraculous body that carries our head and heart through the world.
Yoga means to yoke or union. Yoga unites the body, mind, and spirit – connecting us to Immanuel, God with us, the God who put on flesh and bone just like us, to unite us the One who enlivens our flesh and bone with the breath of heaven
This is why we feel so good when we leave the mat.
We feel connected. We feel whole. We have invited our whole selves into surrendered worship.
There is something especially safe and accessible about practicing yoga from the comfort of our homes. This is why we built a library of on-demand yoga practices ranging in length from 15-60 minutes.
You can practice anywhere, anytime.
Encountering the peace and presence of God is closer than you know.
Hello, hello. I’m Caroline Williams—founder of The Yoga Abbey.
I discovered yoga over 15 years ago, and it was there, more than anywhere else, that I felt and heard God’s voice so clearly. On my yoga mat (in a secular yoga studio), God brought peace to my anxiety, healing to my body injured from long-distance running, and wholeness to my heart crushed with disappointment and loss.
I have been guiding people into deeper connection with God on their yoga mats through my YouTube channel for over 8 years now. The free yoga and meditation videos there have been watched over one million times by people all over the world. I am also an E-RYT-200 and RPYT with over 600 hours of training.
Before yoga, I felt immense shame around my prayer life and “daily quiet time.” “Quiet” is not a word anyone would ever have used to describe me, so the thought of sitting in silence with God first thing in the morning was torture. But once I learned how to pray through yoga and movement, sitting in stillness and silence with God became a place I longed for rather than a place I feared. Relationship with God became something I didn’t have to depend on others to facilitate for me, but something I could step into the sweetness of all day, every day.
This is why I started The Yoga Abbey in 2018. I wanted to create a space that tended to the whole person – body, mind, heart, and spirit.
Four Myths About Yoga
And why it’s okay for Christians to practice it
Yoga is a Hindu practice.
There’s no denying that yoga is deeply culturally intertwined with Indian culture, but it is not only practiced in India. In fact, the origins of the movement practice can be traced back over 5,000 years and has roots in many ancient Eastern countries. The word yoga can be translated as “to yoke,” and the practice is used to connect body, mind, and spirit.
Yoga is, in essence, meditation-in-motion and is meant to be the bridge activity preparing the body for resting meditation. The practitioner chooses the subject of meditation. In the Christian tradition we practice in The Yoga Abbey, yoga is used to surrender our striving and connect with our true identity in Jesus Christ.
Yoga poses worship Hindu gods.
Nope, this just isn’t true. For starters, any kind of worship starts with intention. The Bible tells us repeatedly that God looks at our hearts (our motivations, our desires, our intent) and not the exterior like man does. When we step on our mats with the intention of drawing near to God, yoga becomes worship.
What you will discover is that some yoga poses are named after Hindu deities. Remember how yoga originated in India and flourished amidst their culture? Naming poses after characters from well-known stories in the Bhagavad Gita or other sacred texts would have clued the practitioner into the inspiration behind the shape.
For example, Downward and Upward-Facing Dog poses mimic the movements dogs make when they yawn and stretch. The Warrior poses are named after a powerful warrior, Virabhadra. To the original practitioner, this would have brought to mind a story of a fierce, courageous, and powerful warrior.
This is not unlike how we name our children after Biblical characters like Moses or Hannah, hoping that they will adopt certain characteristics of those people. In naming our children after these heroes of the Bible, we’re not worshiping these characters, but drawing inspiration from them.
Just because some shapes are named for Hindu deities doesn’t mean you are worshiping them by making that shape with your body. God is the creator of our bodies and giver of our breath and no other belief system can lay claim to that when we step on our mats with the intention of drawing near to God.
Yoga is in the same category as all that phases-of-the-moon, crystal-loving, sound-bathing, salt-cave-sitting, crunchy-granola, “woo woo” stuff.
We get it. Practicing yoga in a fitness class at a traditional gym feels fairly safe. You might try some weird breathing exercises, but it feels like any other fitness class. Outside the gym is a different story. Yoga can get lumped in with all kinds of subcultures ranging from “a little out there” to the occult.
Fear is a natural response to new and potentially uncomfortable experiences. We value two things at The Yoga Abbey to help combat that fear. First and foremost, all our content is Jesus-centered. And secondly, we encourage a posture of curiosity.
We ask you to approach new-to-you experiences with openness. Try an imaginative prayer practice, for example, may feel too “woo woo” for you, and that’s okay. For others, it may be the experience that helps them break through and create a deeper connection with God for the first time. That’s the beauty of the Imago Dei. We are all beloved and vital reflections of God.
Yoga isn’t in the Bible.
Okay, you got us on this one. No, Downward Dog isn’t in the Bible, but embodying your faith through sacred rituals and different methods of prayer is. Through the blueprint of the Tabernacle, God’s people were given a visceral way to draw near and be with Him. Then there is Jesus, God in the flesh, walking among us, teaching us about who God is, and how to pray and live our daily lives slowly and with purpose.
God With Us didn’t come to an end when Jesus stopped walking this earth. But with the distractions of daily life, it’s hard for us to connect with the Divine. The word yoga means to yoke. Yoga is a way to unite body and mind so we can more easily connect with the Spirit of God within and around us. It’s a way to calm our racing thoughts and release the tension of all the hard things we bring to the mat so we can hear that still small voice.
The Yoga Abbey is your online sanctuary where you can cultivate an embodied life of faith and walk in wholeness – body, mind, and spirit.
INCLUDED IN MEMBERSHIP
Membership Features
One month in The Yoga Abbey costs less than most single yoga classes. All our members receive the following benefits each month.
New Content Each Month
We release new content each month, all based on a single theme. This year, we are devoting ourselves to Embodying Friendship with Jesus by looking deeply at the intimate relationships Jesus had with His disciples. Each month, we study scriptures found in the Gospels with a fresh look – noticing how Jesus encounters those around Him with lovingkindness. The invitation is to open our hearts to Jesus, our faithful friend.
Members get new content each month based on the theme. Each content piece allows you to embody the love of Jesus in a different way.
4 New Yoga Videos
On-demand, accessible, Jesus-centered yoga flows including a 60-minute slow flow, 30-minute slow flow, 60-minute power flow, and 30-minute power flow
2 New Meditation Practices
On-demand audio offerings include a 15-minute meditation and 10-minute Lectio Divina (sacred listening of scripture reading)
2 New Playlists
You can listen to the Spotify playlists while practicing your yoga flows or to enhance any spiritual practice.
1 New Devotional
The 10-minute devotional prepares your heart for the month ahead
Other Benefits
Library of On-Demand Videos
Hundreds of yoga, meditation, and other spiritual direction practices are ready to view in our library when you need them. You can filter by the type and length of practice you’re interested in. You only have 30 minutes to practice? No problem! With a few clicks, you have a list of practices to choose from at your fingertips.
Private Facebook Group
The spiritual life is meant to be lived in community, and our members-only Facebook group is a place to connect with your fellow Jesus-loving yogis.
Pilgrimage Guides
Pilgrimages are digital checklists that, once completed, earn you stars that can be redeemed for fun rewards! From lock screens to Yoga Abbey merch to discounts on yoga teacher training, Pilgrimages guide you through a series of practices and celebrate your dedication to embodied living.
Discount on Live Events & Training
We offer quarterly opportunities to practice or take live classes from our founder, Caroline Williams, and other Yoga Abbey Leaders. You get special discounted pricing for these events as a member!
BONUS WITH MEMBERSHIP!
Foundations of Yoga Series
This video series is designed to help you learn the basics of yoga and discover a deeper connection with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Our founder, Caroline Williams, created this series because she talked to so many people who were afraid to try yoga because they worried they weren’t flexible enough or they were concerned about spiritual influences that might conflict with their faith.
We believe anyone can do yoga, and God is big enough and good enough to meet us when we step onto our mats with a desire to worship and connect with him.
The 14-video series includes:
- An introduction to yoga, its history, and how we can use it as a tool to deepen our Christian faith.
- Pose breakdowns of the seven foundational yoga poses: Mountain, Chair, Warrior 1 and 2, Downward Dog, Plank to Low Plank, and Cobra/Upward Dog. Instruction is given on ways to modify these poses so they are accessible for all.
- 4 yoga classes incorporating these seven foundational poses so you can practice how they flow together. These classes range from 15-60 minutes and are paced slowly and gently. Featured in these videos are students with a wide range of abilities.
- 2 meditation practices to help you “be still and know.”
DIVERSE VOICES
Meet Your Guides
We have more than 30 brilliant, thoughtful, and wise instructors contributing content in The Yoga Abbey. Here’s a few of them!
RYT 200
RYT 200
E-RYT 200 & RYT 500
Yoga Philosophy Teacher
RYT 200
Yoga Therapy
Ayurveda
E-RYT 200
Spiritual Director
Power Vinyasa
E-RYT 500
Alignment Oriented
Trauma Sensitive Yoga
RYT 200
RYT 200
RYT 200
RYT 200
Spiritual Director
RYT 200
RYT 200
Spiritual Director
RYT 500
Trauma Informed Yoga
Spiritual Director
E-RYT 200
Functional Movement
Specialist
Yoga Anatomy &
Physiology Teacher
Karen
I love all the content and have been so blessed by what I find there each month.
The Abbey certainly helps to keep me grounded and connected to God, especially during the times when we have been isolating due to COVID-19.
I love all the instructors and different people who share their gifting in different ways. Such a talented bunch of folk.
LIFE-CHANGING INVESTMENT
Join The Yoga Abbey
Monthly
$24 / month
- Access to hundreds of yoga & meditation classes
- 4 new yoga classes every month
- 2 new meditation classes every month
- Invitation to our private Facebook group
- Flexible membership, cancel anytime
FAQs
What people ask before joining The Yoga Abbey community.
THE YOGA ABBEY
You Belong Here
Walking in the peace and presence of God isn’t just for ministers or monks, super yogis or marathon meditators. There is a deeper experience of freedom and wholeness that only comes when we invite our physical bodies into our spiritual lives. Our bodies are not meant to be ignored but embraced and welcomed into fellowship with God, just as they are.