From practice to lifestyle: conceptualizations of yoga in regular Ashtanga yoga practitioners using reflexive thematic analysis.
Daniela Ramirez-Duran, Margaret L Kern, Helen Stokes
Frontiers in psychology January 1, 2025 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1582275
Summary
While often seen as physical, for many regular yoga practitioners, yoga extends far beyond fitness. A study using reflexive thematic analysis with 200 Ashtanga yoga enthusiasts revealed yoga is profoundly viewed as a path for personal growth and a spiritual quest. Participants defined yoga philosophy as ancient teachings guiding life, and their practice as an adaptable daily ritual permeating daily existence. This highlights yoga as an integrated, embodied journey for self-knowledge and spiritual development.
Abstract
Yoga is usually defined and researched as a mind-body practice used for stress reduction, fitness and general health and wellbeing. While there are widely accepted definitions found in traditional texts and contemporary literature, as a millennial tradition yoga has evolved throughout time, places and people. Less is known about how regular yoga practitioners perceive, experience, and define yoga today. This study focused on a group of regular Ashtanga yoga practitioners (n = 200) to explore their conceptualizations of yoga in general, yoga philosophy, and their yoga practice using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Yoga was defined as a practice for health and wellbeing, a method for personal inquiry and growth, a way of living, and a spiritual quest. Yoga philosophy was defined as the collection of ancient teachings for understanding human functioning and consciousness, providing a foundation for yoga practice and living life. Yoga practice was defined as the formal daily yoga ritual, adaptable, ever-changing, permeable and permeating into daily life. Three common threads revealed the entanglement of different elements and the significance of yoga as (1) an embodied integrated practice, (2) an embodied path for self-knowledge, and (3) a path for spiritual development. This entanglement and shared meanings underscore the relevance of considering participants' perspectives of yoga in research and applied settings to challenge assumptions and the prevailing image of yoga as mainly a physical and stress-reduction activity.