Evelyn Underhill argues that mysticism is the core of religion, with personal religious experience inspiring and shaping other dimensions such as scripture, doctrine, ethics, ritual, and social institutions. She describes mystics as pioneers of the spiritual world and defines mysticism as the art of union with Reality.
Critics of Hindu postural yoga in Western Christian contexts raise issues of cultural misappropriation, commodification, lack of moral prerequisites, narcissistic attachment to bodily effects, occult influences, and doctrinal differences. The paper examines 3HO/Kundalini Yoga, showing that its grounding in Sikhism allows it to sidestep most of these criticisms. However, substantial concerns remain about doctrinal compatibility and religious syncretism, criticisms also leveled by some Sikhs against 3HO/Kundalini Yoga itself.