Mindfulness and Levels of Stress: A Comparison of Beginner and Advanced Hatha Yoga Practitioners

Abstract

The present study was designed to examine mindfulness and stress levels in beginner and advanced practitioners of Hatha Yoga. Participants (N = 52) were recruited through Hatha Yoga schools local to western Massachusetts. Beginner practitioners (n = 24) were designated as those with under 5 years (M = 3.33) experience and advanced practitioners (n = 28) as those with over 5 years (M = 14.53) experience in Hatha Yoga. The participants completed the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown and Ryan 2003) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen et al. 1983) directly preceding a regularly scheduled Hatha Yoga class. Based on two independent-samples t-tests, advanced participants scored significantly higher in mindfulness levels (P < .05) and significantly lower in stress levels (P < .05) when compared to beginner participants. Additionally, a significant negative correlation (r = -.45, P = .00) was found between mindfulness and stress levels. No significant correlations were found between experience levels and mindfulness and stress levels. Hatha Yoga may be an effective technique for enhancing mindfulness and decreasing stress levels in practitioners.

Regular aerobic exercise increases dispositional mindfulness in men: A randomized controlled trial

“…Likewise, another study contended that long-distance running, similarly to meditation practice, promotes "sustained, essentially nonjudgmental attention that can be directed at will toward a wide range of internal and external experiential cues" (Salmon et al, 2010, p. 150). However, compared with the relatively large body of research showing increases in mindfulness following mindful exercises (Brisbon & Lowery, 2011;Caldwell et al, 2011;Caldwell et al, 2010), there is very little empirical research examining the potentially positive effects of regular aerobic exercise on dispositional mindfulness.…”

“…This means that a person with high dispositional mindfulness is more often aware of his or her actions and thoughts in contrast to a more dissociative or "auto-pilot" mode. Dispositional mindfulness can be fostered by clinical interventions such as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) (Carmody & Baer, 2008;Kabat-Zinn, 1990) as well as by non-clinical mind-body practices such as yoga (Brisbon & Lowery, 2011), Pilates (Caldwell, Harrison, Adams, Quin, & Greeson, 2010) or tai chi (Caldwell, Emery, Harrison, & Greeson, 2011). In turn, such increases in dispositional mindfulness have been shown to lead to better psychological well-being and perceived health (Bränström, Duncan, & Moskowitz, 2011;Carmody & Baer, 2008;Murphy, Mermelstein, Edwards, & Gidycz, 2012).…”

The effectiveness of yoga for the improvement of well-being and resilience to stress in the workplace

“…These include increased cardiopulmonary and central nervous system (CNS) function and reduced respiration rate, blood pressure, fatigue, and symptoms of anxiety and depression (34)(35). Long-term yoga practice (2-5 years) has been shown to reduce perceived stress (36) and increase self-assessed well-being, however mechanistic links to reductions in physiological stress remain unclear (37). In view of this growing evidence, it is not surprising that recent research has suggested that yoga may be effective for improving well-being in the workplace (24)(25)(26).…”

Regular Yoga Practice Improves Antioxidant Status, Immune Function, and Stress Hormone Releases in Young Healthy People: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Controlled Pilot Study

“…[1][2][3][4][5] From a statistical survey conducted in the United States, about 7.5% of adults responded that they have experienced yoga at least once in their lifetime, and approximately 5% of adults answered that they did practice yoga in the last year. 6,7 For these reasons, yoga is known to be one of the most popular ways to maintain a healthy life.…”