Yoga Kernels: A Public Health Model for Developing and Disseminating Evidence-Based Yoga Practices

Yoga studio websites: are they an accurate first glance at the studio's mission, values, and resources?

BACKGROUND

Yoga, as an ancient and modern practice, increases physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social health. Yoga studio websites serve as a dissemination channel for studios to express their offerings, whom they employ, and whom they seek as clientele. Public health workers, physicians, researchers, and clinicians, can refer to existing studios to increase health among their patients or clients. The degree to which these websites can provide relevant information to these various stakeholder groups has yet to be defined.

METHODS

A pragmatic, sequential mixed-methods study was employed with quantitative data extraction, summarized as means and proportions, to score the studio websites (N = 28), and semi-structured interviews (n = 6) analyzed using the rigorous and accelerated data reduction (RADaR) technique, to confirm website content and staff intention. To explore urban and rural characteristics, yoga studios in southwest Virginia and Los Angeles were selected for inclusion.

RESULTS

Overall, community-based yoga studios websites included information on the type, duration, cost, and COVID mitigation strategies. The most common class duration was 60 min. Rural Southwest Virginia studios offered 8.5 classes per week whereas those in urban Los Angeles offered 24.2 classes per week. All studios used iconography and images to invite racial, ethnic, age, and body type and ability diversity. While studios in both areas specified that there were 200- and 500-hour registered yoga teachers, many of the instructor biographies did not include information on their training. Although only preliminary, the interviews (n = 6) confirmed that the websites generally represented the feel, intention, and offerings of the studio and that the primary purpose of the studio was to build relationships and ensure people felt comfortable in the space.

CONCLUSION

Website information was related to studio offerings and values; however, discussion with management or visiting the studio may provide a richer picture of the yoga practices offered in the space. Further suggestions for website content are provided.

Effects of Temperature and Tempo: Evaluating How Much Time in a Typical Community-Based Yoga Class Is Moderate-Intensity Aerobic Activity

The 2nd edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (PAG) recommends, in part, 150 min of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity. The PAG states that yoga may be able to help meet the guidelines for moderate-intensity aerobic exercise for adults and older adults. Our study aims to objectively measure the proportion of time participants' activity that is categorized as moderate-intensity aerobic activity based on heart rate data and to subjectively measure rate of perceived exertion (RPE). Participants completed the Stanford Leisure-Time Activity Categorical item to establish baseline PAG aerobic activity compliance. Participants then completed four separate 1-h yoga sessions at different tempos (cadence) and temperatures while wearing heart rate monitors. During and directly after the session they also marked their RPE on a modified 10-point scale. All participants reached moderate-intensity aerobic activity for at least some portion of a yoga session based on heart rate monitor data and RPE. The average duration of moderate intensity was 32.75% of the class across all four class types, with no significant differences by condition. Age was a significant factor in time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity for only the thermo-neutral Hatha classes (p = 0.010). Tempo, temperature, and baseline activity levels were not significant factors in time spent in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity based on Pearson Correlation and the Kruskal-Wallis test. Hatha and Vinyasa yoga classes, at room or hot temperatures, can be used to meet a portion of the PAG moderate-intensity activity recommendations.

Effects of vibrotactile feedback on yoga practice

Participating in physical exercise using remote platforms is challenging for people with vision impairment due to their lack of vision. Thus, there is a need to provide nonvisual feedback to this population to improve the performance and safety of remote exercise. In this study, the effects of different nonvisual types of feedback (verbal, vibrotactile, and combined verbal and vibrotactile) for movement correction were tested with 22 participants with normal vision to investigate the feasibility of the feedback system and pilot tested with four participants with impaired vision. The study with normal-vision participants found that nonvisual feedback successfully corrected an additional 11.2% of movements compared to the no-feedback condition. Vibrotactile feedback was the most time-efficient among other types of feedback in correcting poses. Participants with normal vision rated multimodal feedback as the most strongly preferred modality. In a pilot test, participants with impaired vision also showed a similar trend. Overall, the study found providing vibrotactile (or multimodal) feedback during physical exercise to be an effective way of improving exercise performance. Implications for future training platform development with vibrotactile or multimodal feedback for people with impaired vision are discussed.

Using a Studio-Academic Partnership to Advance Public Health Within a Pragmatic Yoga Setting

Objectives: To explore community-based yoga studio practitioners' psychosocial variables, behaviors, and studio satisfaction. Methods: Concurrent mixed-methods study consisted of a survey for demographic variables and psychosocial variables of interest (e.g., mindfulness, self-compassion, physical activity participation) and interviews regarding reasons for participating at the yoga studio. Results: Participants (N = 138) were, on average, 35.58 ± 14.09 years old and predominantly female (91.3%), married (40.6%) or single (37%), Caucasian (75%), and college (25.4%) or graduate/medical school (45%) educated, with 54% meeting physical activity recommendations. On a 5-point Likert-type scale, participants reported being moderately cohesive (M_sumscore = 3.87 ± 0.62), stressed (M_sumscore = 3.2 ± 0.39), mindful (M_sumscore = 3.4 ± 0.41), and self-compassionate (M_sumscore = 3.26 ± 0.56). A rapid content analysis of interviews (n = 18), indicated that participants primarily practiced at the studio for the sense of community. Conclusions: Yoga practitioners reported positive perceptions and behaviors; however, opportunities remain for interventions to improve mental and physical health among individuals already attending a yoga studio. Through an academic-studio partnership, studio offerings may include low-dose evidence-based interventions to improve access to and uptake of a yoga practice.