How Can Yoga Best Support Mental Health?

Focus groups identified key aspects of yoga classes designed for mental health

Background

Yoga has been recognized as a helpful adjunct therapy for anxiety, depression, and general stress. Anxiety, depression, and stress are common psychological issues among the general population. Medications often have negative side effects, so therapies like yoga, with minimal or no negative side effects, have been embraced by both patients and mental health professionals. Less research has been done however on yoga as an adjunct therapy for other mental health disorders, like psychosis and mood disorders.

Preliminary research on yoga as an adjunct therapy for schizophrenia showed potentially positive effects. However, more research is needed to understand how yoga could best support those with other mental health challenges besides anxiety, depression, and stress, which have been more commonly studied.

Additionally, there is considerable variability in yoga practices. So, an additional uncertainty surrounds which yoga practices would best support these patient populations as well as what frequency and duration of yoga practice would be appropriate. The study that we summarized here was a preliminary study that used a qualitative approach to begin investigating some of these questions.

Research question

What is most important for yoga practice to support mental health patients experiencing psychosis or mood disorders?

Research methods

Researchers recruited patients and staff from a mental health center in the local community. Separately, they recruited yoga teachers from local studios. Researchers conducted two focus groups with mental health patients. Eight patients participated in each group. Similarly, the researchers conducted two focus groups with mental health staff. Thirteen staff participated in each of those groups. The researchers queried yoga teachers through one-on-one interviews over the phone. Five yoga teachers participated in these in-depth interviews.

In all focus groups and interviews, researchers asked participants about how they thought yoga practice could best support mental health patients. Specifically, their questions fell into six categories: specifics of a yoga practice, home practice, environment for yoga practice, yoga teacher, recruitment strategies, and data collection. The researchers recorded all focus groups and one-on-one interviews and then transcribed them. They then used a specific technique for analyzing qualitative data (the Braun and Clark, 2006 six-step thematic analysis process) to identify common themes within the participants’ responses to their questions.

Results

The research team coordinating this study identified several key themes and sub-themes from focus groups and interviews with each group involved (patients, staff, and yoga teachers).

Mental health patients

Patients identified these general areas as important for supporting the psychological health of patients with yoga:

• Understanding of, and experience with, mental health by the yoga teacher and students
  • Teacher’s ability to guide students when experiencing mental health symptoms
  • Support and rapport from a yoga teacher through a therapeutic relationship
• Importance of creating a safe space
  • Private, quiet location with sufficient personal space
• Importance of particular elements being included in the yoga practice
  • 30 to 60-minute length classes twice per week, with support for home practice, was seen as achievable

Mental health staff

Staff identified these general areas as important for supporting the psychological health of patients with yoga:

• Understanding of, and experience with, mental health by the yoga teacher
  • Ability of the yoga teacher to support students when experiencing mental health symptoms and/or effects of medications
  • Checking in with students and providing pre-yoga information based on an understanding of student needs and concerns
• The environment of the yoga space
  • Quiet, spacious room with soft lighting and music where students are allowed to choose their preferred spot in the room to place their mat
• Importance of particular elements being included in the yoga practice
  • 45 to 60-minute length classes either once or twice per week, with an optional home practice routine, were seen as achievable
  • Breathing practices, mindfulness, and meditation practices were considered essential components of a yoga practice to best support mental health patients

Yoga teachers

Yoga teachers identified these general areas as important for supporting mental health patients with yoga:

• The environment of the yoga space
  • A safe, quiet, calm, and welcoming indoor space
• Importance of particular elements being included in the yoga practice
  • Yoga teachers suggested that working up to a 75 to 90-minute length class once or twice a week with support for home practice would be a good fit for this student group
  • Teachers considered breathing practices, mindfulness, and meditation practices along with basic asanas and a short relaxation period as essential components of a yoga practice to best support mental health patients

Why is this relevant to yoga practitioners?

At its core, yoga practice is much more than a physical health and wellness tool. It supports our mental, emotional, and spiritual health too. So, whether we or a student has a diagnosed mental health issue or not, our yoga practice still positively impacts our mental health. When we understand which aspects of yoga practice best support mental health issues, we can better tailor our personal practice or that of a student to address those needs.

Reference citation

Snaith, N., P. Rasmussen, T. Schultz, and M. Proeve. 2020. The practicability and relevance of developing a yoga intervention for mental health consumers: A qualitative study. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. 29:622-631.