Article is here and here.  Interesting that Father Gabriele Amorth, who for years was the Vatican’s chief exorcist, cites Hinduism as the reason for yoga being satanic because as a religion Hinduism is far older than the Catholic church. I don’t even think that Satan as a documented “being” was yet established at the time yoga was developed. Right?  According to the all-knowing-God-like Wikipedia: 

During its early history, Christianity grew from a 1st century Jewish following to a religion that existed across the entire Greco-Roman world and beyond. Catholic doctrine teaches that the Roman Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ at the Confession of Peter.  The oldest surviving Hebrew Bible manuscripts, which first mentions Satan or Lucifer, date to about the 2nd century BCE.  The oldest record of the complete text survives in a Greek translation called the Septuagint, dating to the 4th century CE and the oldest extant manuscripts of the vocalized Masoretic text upon which modern editions are based date to the 9th century CE. The earliest evidence for prehistoric religion in India date back to the late Neolithic in the early Harappan period (5500–2600 BCE). The beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era (1500–500 BCE) are called the “historical Vedic religion”. The Vedic religion shows influence by Proto-Indo-European religion. Modern Hinduism grew out of the Vedas, the oldest of which is the Rigveda, dated to 1700–1100 BCE.

In contrast to Christianity and Islam, Hinduism does not recognize any central evil force or entity such as the Devil opposing God and man. Though, Hinduism does recognize that different beings and entities can perform evil acts, under the temporary dominance of the guna of tamas, and cause worldly sufferings. The Rajasic and Tamasic Gunas of Maya are considered especially close to the Abrahamic concept, the hellish parts of the Ultimate Delusion called “Prakriti”. An embodiment of this is the concept of Advaita (non-dualism) where there is no good or evil but simply different levels of realization.

The Vedic Samhitas contain references to ascetics, while ascetic practices (“tapas”) are referenced in the Brāhmaṇas (900 to 500 BCE), early commentaries on the Vedas. The more technical linguistic sense of the term “yoga”, describing a system of meditation or contemplation with the aim of the cessation of mental activity and the attaining of a “supreme state” arises with early Buddhism. In Hindu scripture, this sense of the term “yoga” first appears in the middle Upanishads, such as the Katha Upanishad (ca. 400 BCE). Shvetashvatara Upanishad mentions, “When earth, water, fire, air and akasa arise, when the five attributes of the elements, mentioned in the books on yoga, become manifest then the yogi’s body becomes purified by the fire of yoga and he is free from illness, old age and death.” (Verse 2.12).

As for being satanic?:  the “precursors of perfection in yoga” are namely lightness and healthiness of the body, absence of desire, clear complexion, pleasantness of voice, sweet odour and slight excretions.  

The eight-limbed concept of yoga derived from the 29th Sutra of the 2nd book, and is a core characteristic of practically every Raja yoga variation taught today. The Eight Limbs include:

Yama (The five “abstentions”): non-violence, non-lying, non-covetousness, non-sensuality, and non-possessiveness.  <———SUPER SATANIC!

Niyama (The five “observances”): purity, contentment, austerity, study, and surrender to god.  <——HELP!!!  I’M MELTING!

The Bhagavad Gita also mentions three types of yoga: 

Karma yoga: The yoga of action.

Bhakti yoga: The yoga of devotion. 

Jnana yoga: The yoga of knowledge.

Wow.  So how can yoga be evil and satanic when Satan technically wasn’t invented yet?  According to the second article listed above, in 1999 a document “warned Roman Catholics of the dangers of yoga, Zen, transcendental meditation and other ‘eastern’ practises….they could degenerate into a cult of the body that debases Christian prayer….yoga poses could create a feeling of well-being in the body but it was erroneous to confuse that with the authentic consolations of the Holy Spirit.”  

Whoa. 

(disclaimer: this article was written whilst being interrupted every two minutes by two separate children. So really- every minute. It has typos and I could have quoted it better. But my kids want dinner. If you’re a little confused while reading this post, so am I. However, it would be absolutely satanic for me to not make dinner and instead continue correcting typos and refining points.)