Impact of a short-term Iyengar Yoga program

Juliane Vogler

doi:10.25907/00333

The population in all western countries, including Australia, is rapidly ageing. People are living longer and the proportion of older people in the population is steadily growing. Keeping this ageing population healthy in mind, body and soul is thus a concern for countries, communities and individuals. In 2000, the Australian Government declared that there was a need for holistic research into health and well-being whilst ageing. This research project was conducted to assess the impact of an eight week Iyengar Yoga program on the holistic health and well-being of physically inactive people aged 55 years and over. The theoretical perspective for the project was interpretivism. Participants were recruited from a retirement village on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. A total of forty participants were randomly assigned to either the intervention group or the control group. Thirty-eight participants completed both pre- and post-intervention assessment. The participants in the Yoga group engaged in twice weekly Yoga classes and were asked to do three further days independent home practice. Participants in the control group continued with their usual daily routine. Before and after the Iyengar Yoga program all participants were assessed for various physical health indicators including muscle strength, active range of motion, resting blood pressure, FEV1, salivary IgA and salivary lysozyme levels. Their self-perceived physical, mental, spiritual and social health and well-being were assessed using the Life's Odysseyâ„¢ Questionnaire and the SF12v2â„¢ Health Survey. In the post-intervention assessment the participants were also asked an open-ended question about any noticeable changes in their health and well-being. Overall muscle strength (p<0.0001), active range of motion (general scan upper extremity (p<0.001), trunk rotation (p<0.001), hip flexion (p=0.008), hip abduction (p<0.001) and hip extension (p=0.003)) improved significantly in the Yoga group compared to the control group. In addition, self-perceived physical well-being (p=0.003), self care (p=0.001) and emotional well-being (p=0.04) improved significantly in the Yoga group. There was no difference in change in blood pressure, IgA or lysozyme levels between the two groups. Spiritual and social health and well-being showed a trend of improvement in the Yoga group, although this was also not statistically significant. Most of the participants of the Yoga group reported improvements in their health and well-being in the open-ended question. The short-term Iyengar Yoga program was found to improve some aspects of holistic health and well-being in the elderly. The greatest improvements seen were in muscle strength and flexibility, although many participants additionally reported improvements in various aspects of self-perceived health. Further studies should be undertaken with a larger sample size and over a longer period of time to assess whether a longer-term program will have more profound effects, for example, on immune function or lung capacity. Whilst this was a relatively small study, the results suggest that making Iyengar Yoga programs available to the elderly could have a beneficial impact on their health, thus reducing their reliance on already over-burdened public health systems.

Impact of a short-term Iyengar Yoga program

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