The Lived Experience of Yoga Practitioners

325 Pages·2010·2.28 MB·English

st
Yoga Practice in 21 Century Britain:
The Lived Experience of Yoga
Practitioners

Chizuko Hunt

Thesis submitted to De Montfort University
in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
in Health Study

2010
Abstract

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Yoga Practice in 21 Century Britain: The Lived Experience of Yoga
Practitioners

This thesis investigates the nature of ‘the self’ modern yoga practitioners cultivate. This
ontological question is further divided into three sub-questions to find the answer step-
by-step. They are: (1) How yoga practice influences practitioners' health and well-
being; (2) How yoga practice influences the management of life crises; (3) How yoga
practice influences the ‘sense of self’.

Modern yoga in the West has been expanding rapidly after the Second World War, and
the last 15 years in particular show an exponential growth. Although the numbers are
hard to estimate, there were reportedly over 2.5 million practitioners in Britain alone in
2004 (Singleton, 2008). Similar numbers of yoga practitioners were reported in other
countries (Strauss, 2004). However, the modern form of yoga practiced in Britain is not
the same as the Indian traditional form of yoga. In Britain, the British Wheel of Yoga
(BWY) officially represents the majority of the yoga population.

This study has used hermeneutic phenomenology, chiefly that of Heidegger and of
Merleau-Ponty, as a research methodology, because it enabled the researcher to
understand the subjective lived experiences of modern yoga practitioners. For data
collection, 15 in-depth interviews of BWY members, selected using the snowballing
and theoretical methods, were carried out. Through analysis, six major themes emerged.
They were: ‘Health and Well being’; ‘Management of Life Crises’; ‘Sense of Self and
Yoga Development’; ‘CAMs & GPs’; ‘Relationships’; ‘Spirituality’.

Following the analysis of the main themes, I explored the meaning of ‘the self’, and
discussed it from two points of view: the inner-self arisen from embodied practice of
yoga through relaxation and bodily proprioception, and the outer self situated in-the-
world in relation with other people, which was captured as social self, and considered
from various dimensions such as language and ideology, BWY lineage, globalization
and commercialism. In a nutshell, this study found that ‘the self’ for the BWY
practitioners was embodied, health orientated and secular.

‘The self’ of yoga was further compared and contrasted with four self development
models: Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra; Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs;
Dreyfus/Merleau-Ponty’s Skill Acquisition model and The Ten Oxherding Pictures of
Zen Buddhism.

Lastly, the value of yoga for public health was explored using the anthropological idea
of dis-ease. This study found that yoga’s therapeutic usefulness mainly came from
‘empowerment’, providing practitioners with yoga skills to take control of their own
body and health.
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Declaration

This thesis is the result of my own work without any collaboration with others. No part
of this study has been submitted for any other academic qualification.
This thesis conforms to the limits outlined by De Montfort University for PhD Theses in
Health Studies
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Acknowledgement

I would like to offer my deepest gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Denis Anthony
and Dr Tina Harris at De Montfort University for their unfailing support and
encouragement. Without them, I might not have finished this thesis.

My heartfelt thanks go to my yoga friends who have believed in me and helped me to
complete this study. I am also indebted to the BWY members and the participants for
allowing me to interview them. Because of their kind contribution and generosity, I was
able to gain an insight into their lived experience of yoga practice.

Finally, my special thanks go to my friends and family for supporting me and giving me
encouragement until the end.
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Abstract
Author Declaration
Acknowledgements

CONTENTS
List of figures 10
Glossary of terms and Abbreviations 11
1. INTRODUCTION 12
2. LITERATURE REVIEW 22
2.1. Introduction 22
2.2. Classification of literature on yoga 23
2.2.1 Historical literature of yoga 23
2.2.2 Modern approaches to the study of yoga 24
2.2.2.1 Scientific and experimental approaches, which use mainly quantitative 25
2.2.2.2 Medical approaches which have recently been proliferating mainly use quantitative
approaches. 26
2.2.2.3 Yoga as a Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM): 26
2.2.2.4 Psychological study of yoga and meditation: 26
2.2.2.5 Numerous textbooks written by yoga gurus and Hindu academics. 26
2.2.3 Modern yoga studies 27
2.2.4 Justification of this study 28
2.3. Yoga and the self 29
2.3.1 The BWY diploma teacher training course syllabus, Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga model 30
2.3.2 The various ideas about ‘the self’ in yoga 33
2.3.3 Some key features of modern yoga 34
2.3.4 The range of other alternative life choices 35
2.4. Modernity and the self 36
2.4.1 Modernity and yoga 36
2.5. Outline of phenomenological approach 37
2.5.1 Phenomenology and its key concepts for this study 39
2.5.1.1 Heidegger’s phenomenology 39
2.5.1.2 Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology 41
2.6 The close link between Yoga, Buddhism and Phenomenology 44
2.6.1 Yoga and Buddhism 46
2.6.2 Buddhism and phenomenology 47
2.6.3 Yoga and phenomenology 48
2.7. Development of the self in Phenomenology and Asian Thought 50
2.7.1 Dreyfus’s Skill Acquisition model 50
2.7.2 The Ten Oxherding Pictures of Zen model 52
2.8. The New Age Movement 55
2.8.1 Spirituality 55
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2.8.2 The New Age Movement 56
2.8.3 The self project 58
2.8.4 The social implications 58
2.9. The British Wheel of Yoga 59
2.9.1 A very brief guide to yoga texts 60
2.9.2 Modern Postural Yoga (MPY) 61
2.9.3 A history of the British Yoga 63
2.9.4 A short history of the BWY 65
2.9.5 The characteristics of the organization 67
2.9.6 Its yoga practice and the members 68
2.9.7 Yoga therapy 69
2.10. Summary 70
3. CHOOSING METHODOLOGY 71
3.1 Introduction 71
3.2 Choosing a Methodology 71
3.2.1 Qualitative research methodology 71
3.2.2 Comparing three qualitative methodologies 73
3.2.2.1 Ethnography 73
3.2.2.2 Biographical Narrative Interpretive Methods 76
3.2.3 Phenomenology as methodology 78
3.2.4 Descriptive phenomenology and Hermeneutic phenomenology 79
3.2.4.1 Phenomenological reduction 79
3.2.4.2 Descriptive phenomenology 80
3.2.4.3 Hermeneutic phenomenology 82
3.2.5 Methodological problem with design 83
3.3 Summary 84
4. HERMENEUTIC PHENOMENOLOGICAL METHODS IN CONTEXT 85
4.1. Introduction 85
4.2. Theoretical issues of research design 85
4.2.1 Overview for the data collection 86
4.2.2 Interview forms 86
4.2.3 How many participants do I need? 87
4.2.4 Sampling Methods 88
Selection of samples 89
Selection procedures for participants 89
Non-probability sampling strategy 91
Interviews in steps 92
Transcribing interviews 92
Verification of transcription 93
4.2.5 The role of the researcher 93
4.3. Ethical principles 94
4.3.1 General principles 94
4.3.2 Informed Consent 96
4.3.3 Confidentiality 96
4.3.4 Consequences 96
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4.4. Data collection in steps: How I did it 97
4.4.1 The design of data collection methods 97
4.4.2 Ethical Guidelines 98
4.4.3 Recruitment 98
4.4.4 Interviewing process 99
4.4.5 Interview guide 100
4.4.6 Duration of interview 100
4.4.7 Interview materials 101
4.4.8 Transcription notations 101
4.4.9 Rationale for Data analysis 102
4.4.10 Process of analysis for this study 104
4.4.11 The six emergent themes 112
HEALTH & WELL BEING 112
MANAGEMENT OF LIFE CRISES 112
SENSE OF SELF & YOGA DEVELOPMENT 112
CAM & GP 112
RELATIONSHIPS 112
SPIRITUALITY 113
4.5. Summary of the research group 113
4.5.1 An outline of the group 113
4.5.2 General characteristics of the group 114
Yoga skill statuses: 115
Gender: 115
Age group: 115
Nationalities: 115
Religion 116
Educational qualifications: 116
Yoga teaching: 116
Duration of yoga practice: 116
The place of learning: 116
4.5.3 An outline of the individual participants 117
4.6. Evaluation of the use of ATLAS.ti for this study 121
4.7. Research trustworthiness and transparency 122
4.8. Summary 123
5. MAJOR THEMES AND FINDINGS 125
5.1. Introduction 125
5.2. Health and Well-being 128
5.2.1 The stories of ill-health and recovery 128
5.2.2 The Participant felt that yoga practice enhanced their life 132
5.2.3 The importance of the breath 133
5.3. Management of Life Crises: Using Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Human Needs’ model. 135
5.3.1 Physical needs 137
5.3.2 Illness 137
5.3.3 Relational needs 138
5.3.4 Psychological needs 140
5.3.5 Spiritual needs 141
5.4 Sense of Self and yoga development: using Dreyfus’s skill acquisition model. 142
5.4.1 Becoming a novice: joining a yoga class 145
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5.4.2 Learning skills: practising postural yoga 145
5.4.3 Becoming an expert: Teacher training course and teaching 147
5.4.4 Further yoga training in specialized areas 150
5.4.5 Finding one’s own path 151
5.4.6 Finding oneself: developing theories of life 153
5.4.7 Becoming a super-expert (DCT): teaching next generation of teachers 155
5.5. CAM & GP 157
5.5.1 GPs and biomedicine 158
5.5.2 Some GPs were sympathetic to yoga 160
5.5.3 Yoga practitioners and CAM 162
5.5.4 Yoga at the NHS 163
5.5.5 Other CAM 164
5.6. Relationships 166
5.6.1 Relationship with the self 166
5.6.2 Relationship with the family 169
5.6.3 Relationship with yoga community 170
5.6.4 Relationship with society 174
5.7 Spirituality 177
5.7.1 What ‘spirituality’ was for secular BWY members 178
5.7.2 How ‘spirituality’ was expressed: awareness of the inner self 179
5.7.3 How ‘spirituality’ is achieved: importance of Embodiment 180
5.7.4 How they learned ‘spirituality’: transmission of yoga knowledge 181
1. Modern Yoga lineage of yoga learning 182
2. The impact of media transmission of yoga programmes 184
3. What the BWY members learned 185
4. Some views towards Guru-guided schools 186
5.8 Summary of the findings 188
5.8.1 Health and Well-being: 188
5.8.2 Management of life crises: 188
5.8.3 The sense of self and yoga development: 189
5.8.4 CAM and GP: 189
5.8.5 Relationships: 190
5.8.6 Spirituality: 190
5.9 Answers to the research questions 191
5.10 Summary 192
6. DISCUSSION 194
6.1 Introduction 194
Reappraisal of the literature 194
Summarizing the use of hermeneutic phenomenology in this study 196
6.2 Discussion of study findings in relation to research questions 197
6.2.1 Yoga and health 197
6.2.2 Yoga and management of life crises 203
6.2.3 Yoga and sense of self 205
6.2.4 The nature of the self 212
6.2.4.1 The embodied self 213
6.2.4.2 The social self 220
6.3 The self in the framework of four developmental models 230
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6.3.1 Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra: Classical Yoga 230
6.3.2 Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Human Needs’: Human Potential Movement. 232
6.3.3 Skill Acquisition model: Phenomenological Philosophy 233
6.3.4 The Ten Oxherding Picture: Zen Buddhism 233
6.3.5 Critical appraisal of ‘the self’ in the modern age 234
6.4 ‘Dis-ease’ and Yoga: the implications for public health 237
6.4.1 Secularization and medicalization of modern yoga 237
6.4.2 Empowerment 239
6.4.3 Yoga practice as a form of health care system 240
6.4.4 Yoga as a Complementary Medicine 241
6.4.5 Suggestions for health policy 243
6.5 Reflections and suggestions for future research 243
Reflections and limitations of the study 243
Recommendations for future study 245
7. SUMMARY 246
REFERENCES 250
APPENDICES 277
Appendix 1: Permission letter from BWY for interviewing the members 277
Appendix 2: A copy of the participant’s information sheet 278
Appendix 3: A copy of the participant’s consent form 279
Appendix 4: A copy of the interview guide 280
Appendix 5: A copy of the participant’s questionnaire 281
Appendix 6: Some excerpts from interview diaries 283
Appendix 7: Two examples of transcripts: Teacher B and Teacher E 285
Interview: Teacher B 285
Interview: Teacher E 299
Appendix 8: The BWY Diploma teacher training course syllabus. (Currently under review) 313

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List of figures

Figure 1: Ideas about ‘body and mind’ in yoga 34
Figure 2: Thematical grid. 111
Figure 3: Demographic information of the participants. 114
Figure 4: Six major themes. 125
Figure 5: Ill-health and recovery. 128
Figure 6: Hierarchy of needs in times of life crises. 136
Figure 7: Sense of self and yoga development. 143
Figure 8: Yoga, CAM & GP. 158
Figure 9: Dis-ease and its resolution 240
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