I would be very cautious about these movements which tend to not be orthodox. Years ago, before I knew better, I was highly interested in this type of thing. I was duped by some Hindu “gurus” before my conversion and so this spirituality was a natural attraction for me at first, being a blend of Hindu meditative practices and Catholic imagery.

One of the chief figures in this movement was a British Benedictine monk named Bede Griffiths that became somewhat of a priest/guru in India. He’s a fascinating character, actually. I began reading some of his works, and although I believe he meant well in the beginning, his experiement crossed the line into indifferentism and a sort of neo-Gnosticism. The more I learned and grew to love the authentic Church teaching and tradition, the more I could sense something was not right with the writings of Dom Griffiths.

He felt that Western Christianity was spiritually impovershed due to a lack of the mystical and that he’d found that missing link in the spirituality of Hinduism. If only he’d turned instead to the authentic traditions of the Eastern churches, he may have found what he was looking for.

This is also the sort of thing that inspired aspects of the “centering prayer” movement as well as many of those confused nuns who began to teach yoga at retreat houses.