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Welcome to the yoga survey website.
To
read an article about the results of the Yoga in Australia survey,
click here (PDF 5
pages). To download the full 280 page report, you'll need to login
here.
Following
the success of the Yoga in Australia survey in 2006, researchers
at RMIT University in Melbourne and University of Queensland, Australia,
are now collaborating with universities in India, the UK and USA
to conduct the first world survey of yoga and meditation.
You are invited to be part of this history-making event. Partnerships
are currently being established with many yoga related organisations
with a view to officially launch the world yoga survey in 2008,
however, please register your email address
now so we can tell you when the survey goes live.
Academic
and professional collaboration, sponsorship and support is invited.
Please contact us now if
you would like to be involved in the design, methodology and reporting
of the survey data in your country or field of expertise. Yoga and
meditation teachers, and teacher associations are especially needed
to register their interest and to encourage their students and members
to participate. Use this handy tell
a friend form to send e-card invitations to your friends, students,
clients or members.
To be kept informed, click here.
Visit
soulconscious.net
for free inspirational powerpoint slideshows. A consciousness-changing
website.
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Results
of the Yoga in Australia survey are now available!
 Please click here to register or update your account details and login. Once you are logged in, you will be able to download the full 280 page report.
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Why
do a survey about yoga and meditation?
Professor
Marc Cohen, head of Complementary Medicine at RMIT University, says "While
there is considerable research into the health benefits of yoga, little
is known about the actual practice of yoga, whether as a spiritual
path, a lifestyle, a form of exercise or as a therapy for a range of medical
conditions including heart disease, asthma, depression, diabetes, and
arthritis. The results of this survey will be of special interest to anyone
practising yoga, as well as yoga teachers, therapists and the wider health
community."
Why
do a web-based survey?
"The rate of household internet connections is growing
rapidly and in most OECD countries, at least 1 in 2 households has access
to the internet", says Stephen Penman, RMIT researcher and yoga teacher.
"Using the latest web-based survey technology will allow us to reach
hundreds of thousands of yoga enthusiasts around the world on a scale
which would otherwise be impossible. At this time, we especially need
yoga teachers to register their interest so that we can contact them by
email in the future at which time they will be able to tell their students
about the survey. You can help us spread the word by using this handy
tell a friend form."
Yoga
as a spiritual path
Yoga
has its modern roots in the ancient Indian scriptures known as the Vedas,
dating back about 5000 years. Prior to that, yoga was an oral tradition
pre-dating our current knowledge, its origins unknown. In the traditional
terminology it is the joining of Jivatma, the individual self or consciousness,
with Paramatma, the universal consciousness, through a system of development
that addresses the physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual
layers of the personality.
By virtue
of its holistic philosophy, yoga offers many health enhancing techniques
which have often been singled out and practised in isolation from the
"whole-istic" spiritual path of yoga. In
the west, yoga asanas or postures are commonly used as a physical activity
while specific yoga techniques are sometimes used for their health benefits
as a therapy. Very often it is for these reasons that people first
come to experience yoga. However, some people progress to a deeper understanding
and practice of yoga
as a path to self-realisation, bringing freedom from repetitive thoughts
and behaviours and a lasting sense of inner peace and happiness, despite
the stresses of modern life.
Yoga
as a physical activity
In Australia, more people participate in yoga than play Australian
Rules football. Based on participation rates published in 2006
by the Australian Sports Commission[1],
we know that 487,000 people had participated in yoga at least once in
the previous 12 months compared to 445,000 for Aussie Rules (see table).
From the same data we also know that about 91% of those yoga participants
were women.
Participation
in Exercise, Recreation and Sport in Australia 2006.
Australian Sports Commission [1] |
| Sport
/ physical activity |
%
of the population |
More
people participate in yoga than play Aussie Rules! |
| Walking |
36.2% |
| Aerobics |
19.1% |
| Swimming |
13.6% |
| Cycling |
10.1% |
| Running |
7.4% |
| Tennis |
6.8% |
| Golf |
6.8% |
| Bushwalking |
4.7% |
| Soccer |
4.2% |
| Netball |
3.6% |
| Basketball |
3.3% |
| Cricket |
3.2% |
| Weight
training |
3.1% |
| Yoga |
2.9% |
| Aussie
Rules |
2.7% |
In the USA,
American Sports Data reported in 2003[2]
that participation in "kindler, gentler forms of exercise like yoga
and pilates had displaced traditional exercise forms". Yoga and pilates
were found to be experiencing enormous growth and attracting younger,
first-time exercise converts (see table below), however we don't know
to what extent this trend is being mirrored in other countries or why
people start or stop practising yoga or meditation.
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Sports Trends. American Sports Data 2003. [2] |
Pilates
is the top growth
exercise activity in the US |
 |
The
greatest growth activities in exercise in the US were pilates, cross
trainers, exercise bikes and yoga. |
|
Pilates
increased 92% over the 2001 level, with 90% of those women. About
67% were first-year converts to exercise. |
|
Yoga
or tai chi increased by 95% over the period 1998 to 2002, yoga with
4.4% of the population, 83% of them female. |
|
The
average age of yoga participants declined from 41.5 years in 1998
to 37.1 in 2002. Similarly, the average age of pilates participants
declined from 43.6 to 35.1 in just 2 years. |
Yoga
as a therapy
We
are also observing that yoga as a therapy, whether in its own right or
as part of an integrated approach to medicine, enjoys a high level of
acceptance amongst the medical profession. A 2004 study of Australian
general practitioner's (GPs) attitudes to complementary therapies[3]
found that most GPs considered yoga and meditation to be highly effective
and safe therapies, achieving levels of acceptance amongst GPs similar
to acupuncture and massage, with 10% of doctors practising yoga themselves.
Similar attitudes amongst health care professionals have been recorded
in other countries.
However,
despite strong support for yoga therapy in a range of medical conditions,
it appears there is scope for further integration of yoga and meditation
into traditional "western" healthcare system. For example, the
now famous Dean Ornish Lifestyle Heart Trial[4]
found that intensive lifestyle change based around the principles of yoga
lifestye could reverse heart disease, but the extent to which this has
been taken up by the yoga and medical professions around the world is
unclear.
Yoga-related
injuries
In
Australia in 2004, Medibank Private (the Australian national health insurer)
issued its annual Sports Injuries Report[5]
which put yoga under the spotlight, reporting that "more than one
quarter of all participants surveyed have been injured while practising
yoga". This headline grabbed media attention around the country,
suggesting that yoga was a relatively dangerous pastime. On further investigation
it was discovered that the Medibank report was based on a national telephone
survey in which just 18 participants answered the yoga question demonstrating
an urgent need for reliable figures in this area. Medibank Private since
removed the section on yoga injuries from the report.
More
(Australian Yoga Life article)
Summary
The
world yoga survey will establish the extent and type of yoga and meditation
practice in many countries, in particular, India, the UK and USA, and
the spiritual, lifestyle, medical conditions, health or exercise reasons
for which it is practised along with the outcomes of that practice and
the extent and nature of yoga-related injuries.
References
1.
Australian Sports Commission, Participation in Exercise, Recreation and
Sport (ERASS) in Australia. http://www.ausport.gov.au/scorsresearch/research.asp.
2.
American Sports Data, Inc. Superstudy by Sports Participation. http://www.americansportsdata.com/pr_04-15-03.asp.
3.
Cohen M at al. The integration of complementary therapies in australian
general practice: results of a national survey. Accepted for publication.
J Alt Comp Med.
4.
Ornish D, et al. Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease?
The Lifestyle Heart Trial. Lancet 1990; 336(8708):129-33.
5.
Medibank Private. Sports Injuries Report 2004. http://www.medibank.com.au/healthandwellbeing/sports_injuries_report.asp.
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