EXPLORING PSYCHO-SOMATIC IMPLICATIONS OF YOGA PRACTICES – A STRATEGIC INQUIRY

Sudesh Bhardwaj, Nirmaljit K. Rathee

Abstract


Benefits of yogic practices are well documented, and its popularity is increasing day by day across the world. Yoga has gained new avenues and has started to explore the new facts and hidden benefits by objectively testing the potential benefits of yogic practices for human well-being and holistic health. The present research adopts a philosophical descriptive approach to analyze the popular belief regarding the psychosomatic qualities developed through yogic practices. An opinionnaire consisting to two broad themes was designed to obtain the responses from the surveyed yoga practitioners (N=400: Male=200 and Female=200), aged 18 to 25 years. Data was statistically analyzed to find out the somatic and psychological qualities that the subjects perceived were developed through yoga practices. The results indicated that the female participants believed that yoga practices will much contribute to their Stability and Balance, while the male subjects believed it will help them in developing their Core Strength. With regard to the psychological qualities, both male and female subjects listed Self-Confidence as their first preference. Overall, the subjects believed that the yogic practices can be quite useful to promote somatic qualities of stability and balance, and core strength. Regarding the psychological qualities, self-confidence and mental rejuvenation were found to be most favorable reasons to practice yoga. Implications of the study have been discussed and the recommendations for future research have been made.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter

DOI

Keywords


psychosomatic; yoga practices; core strength; mental rejuvenation

Full Text:

PDF

References


Arora, S. and Bhattacharjee, J. (2008). Modulation of immune response in stress by yoga. International Journal of Yoga, 1, pp. 45–55.

Ayala, S. G., Wallson, K. and Birdee G. (2018). Characteristics of Yoga Practice and Predictors of Practice Frequency. International Journal of Yoga Therapy. No. 28.

Brinol, P., Petty, R. E. and Wagner, B. (2009). Body posture effects on self-evaluation: a self-validation approach. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39, pp. 1053–1064.

Bussing, A., Michalsen, A., Khalsa, S. S., Telles, S and Sherman, K. J. (2012). Effects of yoga on mental and physical health: A short summary of reviews. Evidenced-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 12, pp. 1-7.

Carney, D. R., Cuddy, A. J. and Yap, A. J. (2010). Power posing: brief nonverbal displays affect neuroendocrine levels and risk tolerance. Psychological Science, 21(10), pp. 1363-1368.

Chen, K., and Tseng, W. (2008). Pilot-testing the effects of a newly-developed silver yoga exercise program for female seniors. Journal of Nursing Research, 16 (1), pp. 37-45.

Fayyad, J., De Graaf, R., and Kessler, R. (2007). Cross-national prevalence and correlates of adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Br J Psychiatry; 190: 402-409.

Garrison, K., Tang, D. and Schmeichel, B. (2016). Embodying power: a preregistered replication and extension of the power pose effect. Social Psychology & Personality Science, 7, 1–8.

Golec de Zavala, A., Lantos, D. and Bowden, D. (2017). Yoga Poses Increase Subjective Energy and State Self-Esteem in Comparison to ‘Power Poses’. Frontiers in Psychology, 9:149.

Gregg, E., Pereira, M. and Caspersen C. J. (2000). Physical activity, falls and fractures among older adults. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 48, 883-893

Impett, E. A., Daubenmier, J. J., and Hirschman, A. L. (2006). Minding the body: yoga, embodiment, and well-being. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 3, 39–48.

Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Christian, L., Preston, H., Houts, C. R., Malarkey, W. B. and Emery, C. F. (2010). Stress, inflammation, and yoga practice. Psychosomatic Medicine. 72, pp. 113–121.

Kok, B. E., Coffey, K. A., Cohn, M. A., Catalino, L. I., Vacharkulksemsuk, T., Algoe, S. B., Brantley, M. and Fredrickson, B. L. (2013). Psychological Science. 24 (7), pp. 1123-1132.

Kumar, S., Prasad, S., Balakrishnan, B., Muthukumaraswamy, K. and Ganesan, M. (2016). Effects of Isha Hatha Yoga on Core Stability and Standing Balance. Advances in Mind Body Medicine, 30 (2), pp. 4-10.

Matin, A. C. and Keats, M. R. (2014). The impact of yoga on quality of life and psychological distress in caregivers for patients with cancer. Oncology Nursing Forum, 41 (3), pp. 257-264

Oken, B. S., Zajdel, D., Kishiyama, S., Flegal, K., Dehen, C. and Haas, M. (2006). Randomized, controlled, six-month trial of yoga in healthy seniors: effects on cognition and quality of life. Alternative Therapies in Health Medicine, 12, pp. 40–47.

Rathee, N. K. (2014). Improving body mechanics and enhancing concentration. DAHPERD Annual Convention, 2014 – A workshop presentation.

Rathee, N. K. and Bhardwaj, S. (2017). Contemporary Yoga Education: Transforming the Body, Mind and Soul. A reference book for educators and yoga practitioners. European Scientific Institute (ESI), Kocani, Republic of Macedonia.

Rathore, M., Trivedi, S., Abraham, J. and Sinha, M. B. (2017). Anatomical Correlation of Core Muscle Activation in Different Yogic Postures. Intl. Journal of Yoga, 10 (2), pp. 59-66.

Ross, A. and Thomas, S. (2010). The Health Benefits of Yoga and Exercise: A Review of Comparison Studies. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 16 (1), pp. 3–12.

Schmid, A. A., Puymbroeck, M.V., and Koceja, D. M. (2010). Effect of a 12-week yoga intervention fear of falling and balance in older adults: a pilot study. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 91.

Shapiro, D., and Cline, K. (2004). Mood changes associated with Iyengar yoga practices: a pilot study. International Journal of Yoga Therapy. 14, pp. 35–44.

Smith, P. D., Mross, P. and Christopher, N. (2017). Development of a falls reduction yoga program for older adults-A pilot study. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 31, pp. 18-126.

Stepper, S. and Strack, F. (1993). Proprioceptive determinants of emotional and nonemotional feelings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64 (2), pp. 211–220.

Taylor, M. J. and McCall, T. (2017). Implementation of Yoga Therapy into U.S. Healthcare Systems. International Journal of Yoga Therapy. No. 27.

Van, P. M., Payne, L. L and Hsieh, P. C. (2007). A phase I feasibility study of yoga on the physical health and coping of informal caregivers. Evidenced-Based Complementary Alternative Medicine, 4 (4), pp. 519-529.

Weber, K., and Sculthorp, B. (2016). Yoga Therapy: Meeting the Needs of The Triple Aim. Yoga Therapy Today, Winter, 22–23

Woodyard, C. (2011). Exploring the therapeutic effects of yoga and its ability to increase quality of life. International Journal of Yoga, 4, pp. 49–54.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejpe.v0i0.1761

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2018 Sudesh Bhardwaj, Nirmaljit K. Rathee

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright © 2015 - 2023. European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science (ISSN 2501 - 1235) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All authors who send their manuscripts to this journal and whose articles are published on this journal retain full copyright of their articles. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).