Reference:Malaysia's Muslims told not to practice yoga, Bangkok Post, November 23, 2008

Yoga is a form of stretching and slow motion sustained movements of the human body that has been shown to have enormous health benefits. It is not a religion. Foribidding Muslims to participate in this healthful activity simplly because it is thought to have been derived from another religion is cruel and ignorant if not sinful. The alternatives to yoga proposed for Muslims - cycling, swimmming, and eating less fatty foods - though certainly healthy, and possibly good complements for yoga, are not by any stretch of the imagination substitutes for it. Muslim clerics who eschew helpful knowledge from sources deemed unislamic are cheating themselves and their brethren. One can only hope that sanity and rational thought will eventually prevail down there in Malaysia and Muslims there will be allowed  to take advantage of all proven healthful practices, even those that did not originate in Islamic culture. 

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand