Can Yoga Become Mainstream?

The ancient Indian system of yoga that has been practiced by native Indians for over a millennia has today become a global phenomenon. With the efforts of modern-day yoga guru Ramdev and other contemporaries, yoga became a serious alternative healthcare practice during the first decade of the 21st century. And in the decade that followed, the growing popularity and efficacy of yoga pushed it further up in the healthcare ecosystem, from alternative healthcare to now a globally accepted method of treating diseases and disorders.

Doubts have been raised over the practice of yoga with many modern-day health gurus (ironically) discarding it altogether and comparing it with homeopathy. However, the yoga ecosystem has weathered this backlash and emerged stronger than ever. Today, not only in India, but people from all over the world are adopting yoga as a health practice. The UN recently recognised Yoga Day internationally, adding boost to the movement. 

Yoga today might have become a tool for cultural supremacy but traditionally it has always constituted a system of healthcare, and even today, in its unadulterated form, it remains so.

And can yoga make its way into mainstream healthcare? Let’s find out.

What is yoga and why yoga? Yoga as a practice is an umbrella, and healthcare is just one of its many aspects. In ancient India, yoga was recognised more as a spiritual movement than a healthcare one. However, for the purpose of this story, we will stick to the healthcare aspect of yoga. While yoga finds its roots in the pre-Vedic times, it was mentioned in the Rigveda, the Upanishads and, more importantly, in the most elaborate text on yoga, Patanjali’s Yoga-Sutra. Today, yoga is seen as a certain scheme of postures and asanas but even in its original form, yoga means the harmony of mind, body and soul. More than the asanas and postures, it is a system to control thoughts, enhance well-being, realise inner spiritual being and, more importantly, a means to enlightenment. As it is said, a body in harmony with itself is free from all sorts of diseases. And from there, the healthcare aspect of follows. Health as an aspect thus becomes one of the many inclusive qualities of yoga. Take, for example, the Ujjayi breath technique. The technique does not only help in controlling thoughts and emotions, it is also a meditative technique which helps curb various forms of physical and mental ailments. That’s the inclusivity of yoga.

Research shows the way The 2017 National Health Interview Survey in the US offered insights into the benefits of yoga. The survey showed that the practice of yoga by US adults increased significantly from 2012 (from 9.5 per cent in 2012 to 14.3 per cent in 2017). The key findings of the survey were as follows: 

• 86 per cent respondents said that it reduced stress.  
• 59 per cent said that it improved their sleep. 
• 67 per cent said that they felt better emotionally. 
• 39 per cent said that yoga made it easier to cope with health problems. 
• 82 per cent said that it improved their overall health and made them feel better. 
• 63 per cent said that it motivated them to exercise more regularly.
• 43 per cent said that it motivated them to eat healthier.  
• The most common health conditions for which people practiced yoga were back pain, stress, and arthritis.  
• Only one-third of adults who practiced yoga told their health care providers about it.  

While a similar survey is not available in India, a 2017 study by ASSOCHAM found a 20 per cent increase in the number of yoga practitioners in urban India. A report by the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) found evidence supporting yoga as a treatment or adjunctive treatment for depression. In 2014, Journal of Clinical Oncology reported, “Randomized, controlled trial of yoga in women with breast cancer undergoing radiotherapy.” This trial showed yoga can have benefits for women being treated for breast cancer. 

According to research published in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, Svetlana Bershadsky and colleagues from the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine tested the effect of yoga on 51 pregnant women, and found that practicing yoga while pregnant can reduce stress, improve mood and even reduce postpartum depression symptoms. There is ample evidence based on research which prove how effective yoga can be. But is this enough to suggest that it can be prescribed in clinics all over the world as a mainstream healthcare practice?

WHO on yoga

Dr Nata Menabde, Executive Director of the New York Office of the World Health Organization, has previously said, “Yoga is a practice that can be relevant to all ages, relevant to all cultures, irrespective of what socio-economic status people represent. It can be used to unite our complex and difficult world to promote not only healthy lifestyles but to promote peace and security in the world”