Kalpana Sharma, Sunita Poudyal, Hem K Subba, Saurav Khatiwada
Metabolic syndrome and life style factors among diabetes patients attending in a teaching hospital, Chitwan
PloS one
objectives yoga multicomponent activity associated many health benefits different yoga styles contain different combinations durations components eg postures breathing meditation relaxation chanting better description quantification yoga components within different styles important understanding different yoga styles contribute health outcomes survey aims understand general characteristics components taught different yoga styles design online international survey sent yoga teachers 18 years 1 year teaching experience using snowball recruitment survey questions included demographic professional characteristics participants specialized yoga style details components typically taught class analysis included descriptive statistics comparison teachers traditional versus exercisebased versus therapy styles using 2 kruskalwallis tests results nine hundred sixtyeight yoga teachers 768 female mean age 438 111 years 64 countries participated survey grouped according primary yoga style taught 706 participants taught traditional eg hatha ashtanga 184 exercisebased eg vinyasa power 110 therapy eg restorative gentle styles nearly teachers included physical postures breath techniques chanting cleansing included significantly traditional teachers 952 683 258 respectively compared exercisebased 886 425 72 therapy teachers 930 430 100 variations reported time allocated class components physical postures took 500 total class time traditional styles 609 exercisebased 539 therapy styles p 0001 conversely breath techniques meditation relaxation chanting took significantly class time traditional therapy compared exercisebased styles however teachers styles regarded yoga poses breathing meditation relaxation equally important yoga class conclusions exercisebased yoga styles unsurprisingly dedicate time physical postures less time nonphysical components traditional therapy yoga styles however yoga teachers report valuing including multiple components yoga practice regardless primary style teaching reflective holistic nature yoga practice research benefits specific component combinations different yoga styles needed better understand full potential yoga practice health