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Introduction: The prevalence of physical inactivity is growing at an alarming rate and is strongly associated with metabolic disorders. While the health consequences of physical inactivity are well-documented, identifying the factors which lead to physical inactivity in individuals is an important step. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the most common barriers in regular yoga practice. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 644 adult participants from Pune district, Maharashtra, India, during the International Day of Yoga celebration. The survey questionnaire was written in both English and Marathi. The questionnaire was divided into two parts, i.e., sociodemographic details and the most common reason for not being able to practice yoga regularly. Results: The results showed that physical illness was more common in females (n = 35, 29.7%) than males (n = 25, 6.1%). Not finding correct yoga teacher and lack of clarity regarding yoga was also found to be the most common barriers in females as compared to males. A greater proportion of females (n = 62, 52.5%) were unable to do yoga regularly due to other priorities. Other common factors which limited most of the participants from practicing yoga regularly were varying eating times, lack of motivation, and doubt regarding yoga benefits. The percentage of other barriers for practicing yoga regularly was negligible. Conclusions: The results of this study concluded that there are eight most common barriers for practicing yoga regularly among the study participants.
Keywords: Barriers, physical activity, yoga
How to cite this URL:
Verma A, Shete SU. Barriers for regular yoga practice among adult population of India: A cross-sectional study. J Appl Sci Clin Pract [Epub ahead of print] [cited 2023 Mar 29]. Available from: http://www.jascp.org/preprintarticle.asp?id=358982 |
| Introduction | |  |
In recent times, physical activity is declining among adolescents and children due to various reasons such as lifestyle changes, dietary habits, and life preferences.[1] Moreover, the prevalence of physical inactivity is growing at an alarming rate.[2] Furthermore, several epidemiological studies have shown that physical inactivity is strongly associated with cardiovascular diseases,[3] obesity,[4] and diabetes[5] and is an independent risk factor for metabolic disorders.[6],[7] While the health consequences of physical inactivity are well documented, identifying the factors which lead to physical inactivity in individuals is an important step. Nevertheless, many individuals are showing interest in yoga practices to remain active and attain good health.
Majority of people practice yoga for physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Interestingly, June 21 has been declared as the International Day of Yoga by the United Nations General Assembly, following a resolution from the Government of India.[8] Since then, yoga is gaining immense popularity throughout the world. Further, yoga has been found to be effective in number of medical conditions such as diabetes,[9],[10] obesity,[11],[12] asthma,[13],[14],[15] fibromyalgia,[16],[17] musculoskeletal disorders,[18] depression, and anxiety.[19],[20],[21] Majority of studies have been conducted in patients, schoolchildren, healthy adults, and geriatric population focusing on their mental and physical health.
Although yoga's popularity is growing, research is primarily limited to longitudinal, observational, randomized controlled studies among healthy populations. However, in spite of well-recognized benefits of yoga, people are unable to practice it regularly due to various reasons. Lack of time, motivation, and modern lifestyle are the major challenges for people to adhere to regular yoga practice.[22],[23] Evaluating perception, knowledge, and barriers causing nonadherence to yoga practice would help in the development of evidence-based interventions, aimed at maintaining physical and mental health of an individual.
It is evident from research studies that modern lifestyle is adversely affecting the physical and mental well-being of an individual.[24] Yoga being inexpensive, easy to practice, and effective in various musculoskeletal, metabolic, and lifestyle disorders, primary care physicians could motivate people to practice yoga on a regular basis. Primary care physicians could play a major role in counseling the patient and convincing them to overcome the obstacles experienced by them in adhering to regular yoga practice. As the patient has complete faith and trust in their health-care provider, there is a possibility that they will adopt a healthy lifestyle by including daily yoga practice in their day-to-day schedule.
Qualitative research methods are an invaluable tool in evaluating individual's perceptions. They help to generate a wide range of different observations from a population over a short period of time, in contrast to a structured questionnaire-based study. However, there is a dearth of studies focusing on the causes of nonadherence to yoga practices in daily life. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the most common barriers in regular yoga practice.
| Material and Methods | | |
Study design
This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2017 during the International Day of Yoga in Pune district, Maharashtra, India. Yoga classes were organized at various locations in Pune, India, for the celebration of the International Day of Yoga. One well-trained and experienced yoga teacher was appointed by Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute, Lonavla, at each location to conduct yoga classes. Totally 1000 questionnaires were distributed to collect data from various regions of Pune district. No standard method of randomization was used to select participants. The yoga teachers were briefed about the survey questions and trained to administer the survey questionnaire. Male and female participants of more than 18 years of age were included in the study. The final sample included 644 respondents, out of which 411 were males and 233 were females, with an overall response rate of 64.4%. This study complies with the Declaration of Helsinki, and all participants provided written informed consent before undertaking the survey.
The survey
The survey questionnaire was written in both English and Marathi, the local language. The questionnaire was divided into two parts, i.e., the first part was related to sociodemographic details such as respondent's age, gender, marital status, occupation, education, socioeconomic status, yoga experience, yoga practice, and physical activity other than yoga. The second part of questionnaire was regarding the most common reason for not being able to practice yoga regularly. To ensure the appropriateness of questions on barriers to regular yoga practice, the participants were initially asked a close-ended question, i.e., “Do you find any difficulty in practicing yoga regularly?” Participants answering “yes” were further asked about the three most common barriers to regular yoga practice experienced by them. On the basis of review of literature, discussion with fellow researchers and yoga teachers, 21 common barriers to regular practice of yoga were identified. The participants who stated that they were practicing yoga regularly did not fill the questionnaire ahead. The most common barriers for not being able to practice yoga regularly were (1) physical illness, (2) mental illness, (3) lack of clarity of correct method, (4) not having found a correct teacher, (5) doubt about the benefits, (6) varying eating, sleeping, and waking times make it difficult, (7) due to other priorities, there is no time for yoga practice, (8) beliefs about food habits, for example, yoga would mean avoiding nonveg or avoiding onion garlic, (9) beliefs about yoga as a religion, (10) belief that the body has to be flexible to do yoga, (11) belief that yoga should not be practiced during menstruation, (12) expectation of spiritual benefits not achieved, (13) difficulty in practicing yoga if your family or friends are not practicing, (14) extreme weather, for example, cold, hot, and heavy rains, (15) air pollution, (16) occasional absence because of functions, travel, examination, or any emergency situation, (17) belief that yoga should be practiced in an open space like a park/garden, (18) safety concerns that certain yoga practices are not safe, (19) belief that yoga is meant for Sages and Rishis and not for general public, (20) preferring other forms of activities such as going to gym/aerobics, and (21) I like to practice yoga but lack the motivation and enthusiasm. The baseline characteristics of respondents are presented in [Table 1].
Data extraction and analysis
Survey data were sorted for different characteristics such as age, gender, occupation, education, socioeconomic status, yoga experience, yoga practice, and physical activity other than yoga. The data were coded appropriately and each entry was checked by two researchers independently. The values were converted as a percentage of the whole within each category. All data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version, 25.0, Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
| Results | | |
Participant characteristics
A total of 644 adult participants completed the survey questionnaire and were included in the analysis [Table 1]. The percentage of male participants (n = 411, 63.8%) who completed the survey was more than that of female participants (n = 233, 36.2%). Majority of the participants were married, i.e., male (n = 353, 85.9%) and female (n = 193, 83.9%). Most of the male respondents (n = 353, 85.9%) were employed, whereas 60% of the female respondents (n = 138, 60%) were unemployed. In the case of education of respondents, it was found that most of the participants both male (n = 145, 35.3%) and female (n = 77, 33.5%) were graduates. It was observed that most of the respondents, i.e., male (n = 259, 63%) and female (n = 89, 38.7%), fall in the category of Rs. 17,000–40,000 salary/month. Majority of male respondents (n = 290, 70.6%) and female respondents (n = 138, 60%) had no previous experience in yoga practices. Further, the results indicated that most of the participants were inactive and did not participate in yoga or other physical activities in the recent past. This suggests that majority of the participants were not practicing yoga regularly.
Barriers for regular yoga practice
All the participants were asked to select the three most common barriers to regular yoga practice. The results showed that physical illness was more common in females (n = 35, 29.7%) than males (n = 25, 6.1%). Not finding correct yoga teacher and lack of clarity regarding yoga was also found to be the most common barriers in females as compared to males. A greater proportion of females (n = 62, 52.5%) were unable to do yoga regularly due to other priorities. Other common factors which limited most of the participants from practicing yoga regularly were varying eating times, lack of motivation, and doubt regarding yoga benefits. The percentage of other barriers for practicing yoga regularly was negligible. In fact, out of 21 identified barriers, only eight most common barriers were found to be similar in both males and females [Table 2].
| Discussion | | |
The results of the present cross-sectional survey conducted on June 21, 2017, i.e., the International Day of Yoga, suggest that there are eight most common barriers for not being able to practice yoga regularly. Commonly perceived barriers to yoga practice were physical illness, lack of clarity of correct method, not having found a correct yoga teacher, lack of time for yoga practice due to other priorities, occasional absence because of functions, travel, examination, etc., and lack of motivation and enthusiasm.
The barriers to physical activity are consistent with previous literature reporting factors such as physical illness/tiredness and lack of motivation.[25],[26] To overcome such barriers, efforts have to be made to motivate people to participate in yoga programs. Primary care physicians can emphasize the benefits of practicing yoga regularly and motivate the patients. It is evident from past studies that yoga promotes spiritual well-being as well as physical and psychophysiological health.[27],[28] The barriers such as varying eating, sleeping, and waking times are related to lifestyle problems. Similar, findings were recorded in an online survey wherein barriers in path of yoga practice were explored.[22] The results also suggest that there was a lack of consensus and clarity with regard to correct method to be engaged in yoga practice. The results are in accordance with a previous study wherein knowledge and perceptions of diet and physical activity were explored in diabetic patients.[29] Although several studies have shown beneficial effects of regular yoga practice, the results of the present study showed that doubt about the benefits of yoga was one of the barriers in regular practice of yoga. In fact, primary care physicians can enumerate the physical and mental health benefits of regular yoga practice and encourage the patients to adopt daily yoga practices.
There are limitations to the present cross-sectional study. The respondents self-reported all information; therefore, the data may be biased.[30] Nonetheless, this study provided an important information related to the most common barriers in regular yoga practice. This may provide an opportunity to identify strategies to overcome these barriers.
| Conclusions | | |
The results of this study conclude that although there are various barriers in the path of regular yoga practice, the study found the eight most common barriers among study participants to be regularly active in yoga practices.
Acknowledgment
The authors are grateful to Shri O. P. Tiwariji, Secretary, Kaivalyadhama, S. M. Y. M. Samiti, Shri Subodh Tiwari, CEO, Kaivalyadhama, and Prof. R. S. Bhogal, Joint Director of Research, Kaivalyadhama, for giving constant encouragement to complete research activities. The authors are thankful to yoga teachers of Kaivalyadhama for providing dedicated yoga sessions and assistance in successful completion of survey study.
Financial support and sponsorship
Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute, Lonavla, India, funded the survey study.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
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Correspondence Address:
Sanjay Uddhav Shete,
Department of Scientific Research, Kaivalyadhama, Swami Kuvalayananda Marg, Lonavla, Pune - 410 403, Maharashtra
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None DOI: 10.4103/jascp.jascp_13_22
[Table 1], [Table 2] |
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