I came across this question and decided to share my opinion on it because there are lots of misconceptions about Yoga, mindfulness, religion just to name a few, here is my point of view to the above question.
If you look at it from a scientific point of view, that is, you experiment on the practices, if you notice a change by doing a particular practice, then keep working on that, if not, let it go and keep experimenting on others.
Yoga strictly means the state of union, the same way you can be in state of joy, state of anxiety etc. It has nothing to do with religion. They only attach religious beliefs because people need a way to express themselves. It’s just like psychotherapy, You don’t need a religion to undergo that. But if you are scared of what you experience then the teacher can tell all sort of stories. So that can build your mindset. And keep you working until you can finally stand on your own. If you see religion as different art forms, and not something to cling to, it would help you improve faster, but if you can’t, then you need to take the religion as a means of assistance, either way would do. That’s why in zen, it is said, that,
“when you get to the state of total abandonment of religion, then you suddenly find that religion is fun (it doesn’t matter the one you choose at that point)“
You can also decide to do away with religion, anything goes. Just because the fear is dead. You would then have the curiosity of a child, to be open minded. There are numerous physiological as well as psychological benefits. I hope this helps someone who needs this clarification.
Please feel free to share what you think in the comment section. I’ll be posting most questions like this and sharing my opinion on them once in a while. Thanks for reading through🙏.