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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Brandon Eggleston, MPH, Applied Health Science, Indiana University, HPER 116, Bloomington, IN 47405, 8128560532, bmeggles@indiana.edu

Biopsychosocial Assessment of Ashtanga and Restorative Yoga

The use of yoga and ayurveda to increase an individual's health has been studied for years. The benefits of ashtanga and hatha yoga include improvements of physical, psychological, emotional, and social levels of health. The health belief model has been a foundational health theory that helps identify multifaceted levels of health benefits. The health belief model along with other Western medicine measurements was used to assess the biological, psychological, and social benefits and changes of two different styles of yoga, ashtanga and restorative (a type of hatha). Participants were measured over the course of 6 months at 4 different time points to measure multidimensional health changes and compared against each other and a control group (no participation in yoga classes or practice). The results of the study identify that ashtanga and hatha yoga does decrease blood pressure, resting heart rate, improve flexibility, and decrease overall stress levels, which supports findings in current literature. However, new benefits include an increase in self-esteem over time correlated with yoga practice and also a decreased sense of loneliness over time. The previously established physical benefits are further supported and new psychosocial benefits of yoga practice have been identified with the findings of this study.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the change in social health attributed by yoga practice.
• Desribe the change in self-esteem over time of yoga practice.
• Apply the Health Belief Model to Ashtanga and Restorative Yoga Practices.

Keywords: Alternative Medicine/Therapies, Mental Health

Related Web page: www.healingspirityoga.com

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation