What is the Orthodox attitude to things such as:
1) yoga, especially in the spiritual aspects that it is a way to harmonize the body and achieve union with God. Yoga made me rethink the value of theism- I had really turned anti-theist for a while, and more of a quasi-Buddhist disposition to life, but I read the Panjatali's Yoga Sutra, which underlines some of the things in yoga, studied a bit of the ideas behind Hinduism in a bit more depth, and I saw how belief in a Creator could fit in with a search for inner peace, and how the Hindu religion has a fair number of its own saints and holy people. It made me question the reverence that much of the anti-theist Buddhism gets in the west, perhaps for being more "rational" sounding due to its suppossed lack of supernaturalism.
I was going through a tough period in my life, lots of emotional and physical pain, and I sought out yoga as a way to try to deal with the pain and regain some mental balance. Once or twice I just felt myself being absorbed into everything and letting go. However, it was short lived and I felt like something was often missing. I also started feeling that the Hindu idea of God perhaps refered to something real, but it was ineffable just what it was, like floating between existence and non-existence. Not quite a person, not quite a principle, not quite a metaphor, and not quite nothingness.
One thing I found interesting in the Yoga Sutra is one of the precepts, that a yogi must practice forgiveness. I wondered how a belief in karma impacted ones belief that there was anything to forgive, but the more I studied Hinduism, the more I realized forgiveness is there, it is just subsumed by a general fatalism from karma. Even with belief in karma, its still very possible to feel wronged and hurt, I discovered in the end. And to feel the need to cry out for justice. Unfortunately, i don't think forgiveness is something that just comes easily, I think it requires faith in God's goodness. And I wasn't ready yet, the toying with the Hindu belief in God was just toying with brief glimpses, not in my heart.
Here was a Hindu prayer that was said often where I took my lessons, and I started to pray it every yoga session in the morning. It is from the ancient Vedas, which Hindus believed were revealed by the gods to teach humans how to perform religion:
"Lord, lead me from darkness to light / From the unreal to the Real / From death to immortality / Om Shanti Shanti Shanti"
(shanti means "peace")
I still practice yoga postures because my physical therapist recommends them and gives me some instruction on what postures to do. I'm neutral to the religious aspects now. I think taking care of ones body can be important, though.
2) accupuncture. I tried this several times with decent results for a mystery illness I had, which resulted in uneven hormones, fatigue, and cold hands and feet. I became a believer in "qi" to a certain extent, and did qi gong with modest results, reading books on it and I practiced this years ago also under a Tai Qi teacher. I still think there is some merit to these ideas. But I don't think it's miraculous in the Christian sense. However, I didn't find it spiritually fulfilling.
3) reiki. I had this done once, on advice from a sex therapist (as a good place to start to deal with some psychological issues). it didn't involve sex but it did involve somebody placing their hands on my head, chest, and feet. Nothing miraculous happened but it was a good experience being touched and feeling loved by somebody else, even more surprising it was comming from this big bearded guy who turned out to have been a drifting hippy years ago. Everything about him seemed so gentle and peaceful. Love was the main thing I felt, and warm hands, and I'm told this is often what people experience in Reiki. Reiki is said to have come from a Japanese mystic, a lay Buddhist who was also curious about Christianity and the stories of Jesus performing healing miracles. He went on an ascetic retreat and went to a sacred Shinto mountain and believed he received a healing power.
I'm not just looking for "official" opinions from clerics, if there are any, but also opinions from ordinary Orthodox Christians.