Yoga and health: Yogic leaders' perceptions in southeastern Brazil

Yoga and health: yogic leaders’ perceptions in south-east Brazil

Siegel, Pamela* e Barros, Nelson F.*

*Laboratory for Alternative, Complementary and Integrative Practices

in Health / Department of Preventive and Social Medicine / Faculty of

Medical Sciences / State University of Campinas (Unicamp) / Brazil

Abstract

Yoga is practiced in almost all urban centers nowadays, by people of

different social, economic and cultural status, who promote health and

prevention, by using psycho-physical practices and developing

self-knowledge and self-care. This paper's objective is to present the

perceptions of yogic leaders, belonging to the 15 most developed Yoga

traditions in the city of São Paulo, on Yoga and health. Fifteen

leaders responded semi-structured interviews, with the duration of 1,5

hours each, which were recorded, transcribed and analyzed according to

the qualitative methodology. The question we chose to focus on in this

paper was nº 12) of the Questionnaire: “Please comment on the effects

of Yoga upon your health.” Three different categories emerged from the

answers: a) the ones who reported never being ill and who don’t need

medical care; b) the ones who mentioned the existence of specific

health problems before they started practicing Yoga which improved due

to it, according to their perception; c) general effects, like, for

instance the mind becoming calmer and life more regulated. It was

concluded that Yoga is seen as a useful physical and philosophical

practice for the health field, because it tackles both general and

specific health problems.

Key words: Yoga; Complementary and Alternative Medicine; Qualitative

Research