Announcing the World Yoga Survey
the first international survey of yoga and meditation

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Introduction
Following the success of the Yoga in Australia survey, researchers at universities and yoga organisations around the world are collaborating to conduct the first international survey of yoga and meditation commencing in 2009. You are invited to be part of this history-making event.

Please contact us now if you would like to be involved, whether through academic collaboration, financial or in-kind support, or as an individual practitioner. Yoga and meditation teachers, and their teacher associations and groups are especially needed to register their interest and to encourage their students and members to participate. To be kept informed of developments, please register your email address. You can also use this handy tell a friend form to send e-card invitations to your friends and contacts.

Background
Between June 2005 and January 2006, researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne and University of Queensland conducted the first national survey of yoga and meditation in Australia. The entire project spanned four years, including an 18 month period of consultation with the yoga community in Australia followed by a 7 month survey period. The survey was conducted entirely online and collected nearly 4000 detailed questionnaires, making it the world’s largest yoga survey.

The early results from the survey were announced at the 1st International Ayurveda and Yoga Conference in Sydney in April 2006 and generated significant media attention focusing on the benefits of yoga and meditation. The final report was made available to participants early in 2008.

The Yoga in Australia survey aimed to determine the way in which yoga was practised in Australia, including:

• demographic and socio-economic characteristics of practitioners
• the traditions, styles and techniques practised
• reasons for practice; spiritual path, personal development, health or fitness
• related lifestyle choices and physical exercise co-factors
• health and medical conditions and the perceived benefits of practice
• characteristics of experiences of yoga teaching, affiliations and insurances
• frequency and reporting of yoga-related injuries
• subjective experience (Flow state) in yoga

A comprehensive website was designed to support the survey, developing an “on-line yoga community” of nearly 6000 members, promoting Australian research into yoga and dialogue between yoga traditions and lineages, both in Australia and overseas.

The design of the survey instrument itself was also a world-first; a multiple page, interactive, web-based questionnaire, allowing users to login and logout freely, to review and change previous answers to questions and to be able to complete the survey over multiple visits to the website, encouraging ongoing participation in the online community.

The Yoga in Australia survey was seen as a unifying event for yoga in Australia.  It raised the profile of yoga-related research while enhancing communication and co-operation between yoga teachers and practitioners of all styles and lineages of yoga.

The World Yoga Survey
Based on the successful Yoga in Australia model, researchers from universities around the world including Indian yoga universities and senior figures from many yoga traditions, supported by numerous yoga organisations around the world are now collaborating to expand the concept internationally to include India, USA, Canada, the UK, Europe and many other countries. It is expected that the website and survey will be made available in a number of languages.

The proposed terms of reference for the world yoga survey are initially:

• To map and describe the way in which yoga and meditation are practised around the world with focus on demographic and socio-economic characteristics of practitioners, reasons for practice, techniques and characteristics of practice, health and medical outcomes, yoga-related injuries, subjective experience, psychological characteristics of practitioners, before and after biochemical and psychological markers, and other research questions of the project partners as appropriate
• To create an international on-line yoga community promoting communication and collaboration, research and development across all yoga styles and traditions
• To enhance awareness internationally of the benefits of yoga and meditation for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health

The survey questionnaire is expected to contain a number of “core” modules and a number of additional/optional modules of questions in specific areas of interest developed by the research partners. A key design feature of the world yoga survey will be the ability to collect “before” and “after” information from participants on an ongoing basis.

The core modules will include:

• Demographic and socioeconomic
• Personal practice
• Lifestyle choices
• Health and medical conditions
• Yoga-related injuries

Certain qualifying questions in the core modules will determine whether a participant is offered optional/additional modules and the opportunity to participate in ongoing longitudinal research. These modules may include:

• Teaching (for yoga/meditation teachers and yoga therapists)
• Subjective experience (“Flow” state)
• Pranayama
• Meditation
• Spirituality
• Human movement
• Physical activity and fitness
• Social justice and environmental issues
• Before and after measures (eg: over 3, 6 or 12 months), of biological markers and validated psychological constructs, eg:
  • Oxidative stress and inflammation
  • HDL/LDL cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar
  • VO2Max
  • Quality of Life, eg: AQoL
  • Health, eg: SF-36
  • Anxiety, eg: State Trait Anxiety (STAI) and Taylor Manifest Anxiety scales
  • Depression, eg: Beck Depression Inventory
  • Cognitive Function
  • Sleep assessment
  • Nutritional assessment
  • Fitness assessment

Inviting your involvement
Your involvement in the world yoga survey is invited as a Participant or a Partner.

Participants
A participant is anyone who has ever practised yoga or meditation. We want to hear about your experience of yoga and meditation. To indicate your interest and to be kept informed, please register your email address. 

Partners
Partners are people or organisations who want to support and share in the international survey effort. A wide range of partners will be needed, including:

• Researchers
  Becoming a research partner means having direct involvement in certain aspects of the design of the survey, for example, designing a module of questions to be included in the survey specific to your area of interest and/or co-ordinating the survey effort in a particular geographic area. Research partners will most often be university researchers and will share applicable data and co-author academic papers and articles relating to the data.

• Supporters
  These are people, businesses and organisations wishing to support the survey project financially or in-kind, particularly providing funds, generating awareness, directing traffic to the website and by informing their membership or client base, providing editorial and media articles, and generally assisting the survey project to reach people interested in yoga and meditation around the world.
   
• Patrons
  Patrons are people and organisations wishing to lend their name and reputation to add influence and reach to the survey project. Suitable patrons would be government departments or authorities with responsibility for yoga, senior and respected figures in yoga, meditation, yoga therapy, spirituality, medicine, complementary and integrative medicine, ayurveda, physical, mental and life sciences, etc.

Some examples of appropriate partners may include:

• Governmental bodies interested in supporting and developing the international yoga survey
• Researchers at universities, research centres and institutes of higher learning
• Organisations fostering international cultural and research exchange
• Groups and associations representing yoga traditions, styles and yoga teaching
• Yoga centres, ashrams, yoga teaching institutions and retreat centres
• Yoga and holistic, complementary or integrative health magazines and journals
• Suppliers of yoga related props, clothes and accessories
• Travel agencies, airlines, accommodation and conference venues
• Yoga insurers and related services
• Health resorts and spas

Please let us know how you would like to be involved.

Researcher:                    Stephen Penman
Web:                             www.yogasurvey.com
Email:                            info@yogasurvey.com
Voicemail/Fax:                +61 (0)3 9445 9038

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Live Survey Counter: 4630 The Yoga in Australia survey is closed   Featured Article: Sign of the times (pdf). An overview of the survey results.

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