Beliefs About Yoga: A Survey in Mumbai

Abstract

Surveys about the beliefs and characteristics of yoga practitioners have been carried out in North America, Europe and Australia. To our knowledge no such survey has been carried out in India. 972 participants who returned correctly filled survey forms were included in the survey. They were recruited in the campus of Mumbai University; the average age was 26 years; and male: female ratio was 54.8:45.2. The survey was administered to persons encountered by the experimenter which comprised mainly students (28.9 percent) but other persons (<30 years of age; 73.4 percent) as well. It was not a systematic randomized sampling. The survey had 8 questions, which either required dichotomous (yes/no) responses or selection of one of many options. Results showed that 54.7 % participants practiced yoga whereas 45.3% did not practiced yoga. Among those who did not practice the majority (73.4 percent) was young (<30 years old); 45.2 percent were female and most had at least 15 years of education. 74.0 percent practiced yoga for general fitness; and continued practice for stress reduction, 21.0 percent had a difficulty in finding time for yoga practice, 57.0 percent considered that yoga meant mainly pranayamas while 16.0 percent each believed yoga meant meditation or asanas, and 83.0 percent did not associate yoga with religion. Chi square tests assessed whether the 6 levels of duration of practice or age significantly impacted the reasons for (i) starting yoga practice and (ii) continuing it. This preliminary survey showed certain common features as well as differences in this population in India.