Living A Healthy Life through Yoga of Yoga Masters:
A Qualitative Inquiry
* Thaparat Rakpanusit, RN, PhD (Candidate)
Doctoral of Philosophy in Nursing (International Program), Faculty of Nursing
Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand, 90112
Tel: (66)0815401393, Fax: (66)074399899
E-mail: [email protected]
Urai Hatthakit, RN, PhD (Nursing)
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Nursing
Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Thailand, 90112
Umaporn Boonyasopun, RN, PhD (Nursing)
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Nursing
Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Thailand, 90112
* Corresponding Author
2
Living A Healthy Life through Yoga of Yoga Masters:
A Qualitative Inquiry
* Thaparat Rakpanusit
1; Urai Hatthakit
2; Umaporn Boonyasopun
2
1PhD student, Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University
2
Lecturer, Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University
Abstract
Background: Despite yoga being used increasingly in several purposes such as to enhance
health and well-being and to manage the effects of illness, little evidence is known of yoga
practice in daily life, which is an integrated system of practice. Yoga masters who are
knowledgeable and living healthily were interested in exploring them. Aim: The purpose of this
research was to describe the meaning of yoga and explore how yoga masters integrate yoga for a
healthy life. Method: Data were collected via audiotaped semi-structured interviews, participant
observations and field notes with twelve yoga masters, from September 2009 to September 2010.
All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed simultaneously based on Spradley’s
method. Findings: Three themes were developed reflecting the meaning of yoga. These were; a
tool to promote health; science and art of living a perfect life; and philosophy of life leading to
peaceful life and enlightenment. Yoga has been integrated in daily life in order to maintain health
and to relieve suffering. Daily practice of attitudinal- physical-mental training based on the Yoga
Sutra was adopted to achieve the goal of life. The Yoga Sutra and complementary therapies were
significantly used to deal with health problems, and bringing benefits of physical, mental, and
holistic well-being. Conclusion: Yoga practice in daily life as a self-care strategy helps promote
health and well-being by applying the Yoga Sutra complemented with Buddhist meditation,
achieving the life goal. This research adds to the overall body of knowledge about the value of
yoga in health promotion.
Key words: Healthy life, Yoga, Yoga master, Qualitative inquiry
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1. Introduction A shift of health problems from
infectious acute diseases to noninfectious
chronic diseases calls for more attention on
holistic health care and an integration of
complementary therapy care. In order to battle
these noninfectious chronic diseases, the Thai
government has implemented a new strategy
called the Thailand Healthy lifestyle Strategic
Plan (2007-2016)(Thailand country paper,
2011) which is a promotion of contented lifeway
and the use of complementary therapy to
promote a healthy and peaceful life. Several
techniques have been used to promote health
such as physical exercise (Sjogren, et al, 2006),
music listening (Biley, 2000), Tai Chi (Chen,
Hsu, Chen,Tseng, 2007), meditation and yoga
(Hadi & Hadi, 2007, Hodges, 2003; Ortner,
Kilner, & Zelaza, 2007; Thaweepkul, 2004).
Among those, yoga is most popular in terms of
effectiveness in achieving well-being (Hadi &
Hadi, 2007; Sharma, Gupta & Bijlani, 2008;
Telless, Naveen, & Dash, 2007). In addition it
modulates health by influencing almost all the
systems in the human body and improves the
quality of life of the practitioners (Oken, et al,
2006). Yoga is a scientific scheme of physical
and mental practices that originated in India
approximately 3000 years ago. The word
‘yoga’ derived from Sanskrit root ‘yuj’
meaning to control or to unite. Its original form,
yoga uses a complex system of spiritual, moral,
and physical directives to attain spiritual self-
realization (Feuerstein, 1998). Panatela, the
originator of yoga, enunciated Ashtanga Yoga
is composed of eight different practices: Yama
(abstention), Niyama (observance), Asana
(posture), Pranyama (control breath), Pratyahara
(abstraction), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana
(meditation), and Smadhi (liberation). The purpose
of yoga is to achieve our highest potential
leading to healthy life and happiness
(Sathyaprabha, 2010). Although evidence shows
that yoga benefits in many ways, most of yoga
practitioners use only asanas, pranayama and
relaxation technique as a kind of exercises
(Chaya, Kurpad, Nagendra, 2006; Hadi & Hadi,
2007; Moadel, et al., 2007; Oken, et al., 2006;
Smith, Hancock, Blake-Mortimer, Eckert,
2007). It has not been used at the maximum
level for potential benefits of the practice. Thus
the study explores the experience of yoga
masters, being knowledgeable and skilful and
who have successfully integrated yoga in their
daily life to promote health which is beneficial
in providing inspiration and guidance to others
on yoga practice. The purpose of this research
was to describe the meaning of yoga and
explore how yoga masters integrate yoga for
healthy life from their perspective.
2. Research questions The research was guided by four broad
questions: what meanings do yoga masters give
to their daily life practice?, how do they
integrate yoga into their daily living to promote
their health?, what are the factors influencing
yoga practice?, and how do cultural beliefs
influence their yoga practice?
3. Method Ethnographic methodology was used to
explore yoga masters’ perception of yoga and
the cultural context in which the meaning was
constructed and influenced practice decisions.
Ethnography was employed because its’
strength is on exploring the people’s cultural
knowledge and enhancing understanding of
social behaviors, people’s way of life and
meaning relevant to health (Roper & Shapira,
2000; Spradley, 1979).
3.1 Participants
Although the nature of ethnography
means that everyone with whom the researcher
interacted could be considered as a research
participant, some were selected purposefully
based on what they could contribute to the
research questions. Data collection included
interviews with twelve key informants and
twenty two general informants. Other sources of
data were field notes in which were recorded the
researcher’s observations and reflections. The
key informants consisted of ten female and two
male yoga masters. Their ages ranged from 40 to
66 years old. Most yoga masters were married
and lived with their families, and seven of them
had children living together in the same house
or separate houses within the same compound.
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Most of their houses had a small garden with
plenty of trees. There was only one yoga
master living in a condominium with a small
outdoor garden where she could experience the
energy of nature. All of them were Buddhist,
having education from college up to doctoral
degree and having enough income to make a
good living. They all were healthy and living a
contented life. General informants were family
members, friends, and students who had close
contact with the key informants.
3.2 Research setting
Fieldwork was conducted in two
different regions, the South where the
researcher was residing and central Thailand
which is the center of the country yoga
network. There was good cooperation among
yoga masters in both regions in the areas of
education, training, and sharing information.
According to a survey conducted by the Bureau
of Health Policy and Strategy organization,
yoga was a popular form of complementary
therapies that most Thais have used
(Terachaiskul, 2005). Recently, several
government and non-government organizations
have been responsible for promoting yoga as a
complementary way for general health
improvement and well-being (Thai Yoga
Institute, 2004). Yoga lessons and various yoga
training courses were easily accessible in
Thailand. Moreover, there were yoga teacher
courses offered by the Thai Yoga Institute and
some universities such as Prince of Songkla
University.
3.3 Data collection
Data was collected using audiotaped
semi-structured interviews, participant
observations, and field notes and reflections
with twelve yoga masters and general
informants, from September 2009 to September
2010. Over a year, 2-4 home visits were
conducted with each family with their
permission, to interview the yoga masters and
to observe their daily activities and living
habits. Since most of the key informants were
the researcher’s teachers for training either in
nursing or yoga (n=6) and colleagues (n=6),
good and trusted rapport already existed. They
were all very kind and willing to share their
experiences with the researcher, staying
overnight with their families when needed.
However, the close relationship between the
researcher and informants was also a
disadvantage as some relevant issues could be
overlooked or misinterpreted. For other
unacquainted informants, prior to in-depth data
collection, informal conversation, addressing
topics such as beliefs, life, and social
constraints, was initiated so as establishing
rapport and trust among them. Each informant
was formally interviewed 2-5 times in his/her
own home or working place upon their
preference for a period varied 90 minutes up to
5 hours. However, informal interviews were
done in a regular basis. The researcher
constructed an interview guide with open-
ended questions being used to guide data
collection. All interviews were tape-recorded
and addressed the study’s topics of interest and
information related to yoga practices the
investigator observed during the visits.
3.4 Data analysis
Qualitative data management and analysis
was accomplished in accordance with
Spradley’s analysis guide (Spradley, 1979).
Data analysis was conducted simultaneously
with data collection. Audiotapes were
transcribed verbatim. The transcripts, field
notes and reflective journals were read
repeatedly to foster insights regarding the
participants’ experiences within their context
and background. Brief narratives about their
lives, daily activities and yoga practice related
to health and well-being were reviewed to gain
understanding of yoga masters’ life patterns.
Data analysis was accomplished throughout the
process of coding the folk terms and symbols;
organizing symbols into domains with semantic
relationship; categorizing many domains into a
few domains; and conceptualizing themes as
set forward by Spradley (1979).
3.5 Ethical considerations
The study was approved by the Research
Ethics Committee of the primary researcher’s
university. The purpose and method of the
study were explained to each potential
informant prior to obtaining written consent
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and informed consent forms signed. All
informants’ information, audiotapes and
transcripts were identified by code numbers to
ensure informants’ confidentially and
anonymity.
3.6 Rigors of the study
Trustworthiness was established by
following several principles established by
Lincoln and Guba (1985) serving to ensure
credibility, transferability, dependability and
confirmability of the findings. All data was
checked through the use of triangulation; data
collection from different sources, at various
times, and different methods. Strategies to
ensure credibility was achieved when the
researcher’s descriptions were recognized as
valid by those who had that experience
including data from different sources and the
member checks during the interview process.
To ensure transferability, the detailed
informants recruitment and study context were
provided. However, no claim was made that
their experiences represented the experiences
of every yoga master in Thailand.
4. Findings Findings are presented within four major
categories: the meanings of yoga; the
integration of yoga in daily life; perceiving
outcome of yoga practice; and cultural beliefs
and factors associated with the practice of
yoga.
4.1 Meanings of Yoga:
Yoga masters have given three meaning
related to yoga practice in daily life.
Yoga is a tool to promote health.
This theme refers to yoga as used to
promote all aspects of holistic health including
physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual
health as well as ethical conduct and behaviors.
It related to self-care activities leading to
health. All informants indicated that every yoga
technique helped facilitate balance and a happy
life such as self-exploring, asana (postures),
mindfulness cultivation, being optimistic
toward life, and moral development. Self-
exploration throughout the body, mind,
intellect and ego leads one to learn about one’s
own experience or one’s own life. This inquiry
set out to learn how much to practice enough
for good health. The statement supported this
theme: “Yoga is a way of promoting health. Yoga
emphasizes on exploring self. Even though we
do not learn about the illness in yoga we
definitely understand the illness and its causes,
and realize how to be healthy. Every activity of
yoga is good for health. Practising yoga is
actually practicing self care. I will know the
answers by myself, how much to learn, how
much to practice, and finally how much I
understand myself.” (K2)
Asanas, pranyama and meditation were
used to maintain good health and mindfulness
cultivation leading to physical health, mental
health, and social health. A yoga master said:
“Nowadays, yoga is part of my daily life; it
used to maintain good health, balance of mind,
and maintain some relationships with friends.
When we want inner peace, we continuously
practice it, then an intense inner dynamism
which I have had a feeling that within itself.”
(K10)
Moreover, all yoga masters agreed that
yoga was used to help promote balance in life.
Yoga asanas and pranayama (breath control)
were found to be effectively united their body
and mind. After the practice, they felt flexible,
comfortable, and airy body and the mind was
cheerful and calm. It was used to control anger
behavior. Most yoga masters stated that the
more they practice yoga, the more benefits they
gain from the practice. This is supported by
their statements: “Nowadays, we use yoga to balance both
body and mind. Asanas solve uncomfortable
feeling. Even an hour of practice, I feel airy
and comfortable body and the mind quickly
becomes aware, cheerful, and calm. Yoga now,
we have to balance the body and mind.” (K4)
“I use yoga to balance both body and
mind and control the angered behavior.
Consciously breathe in and breathe out, the
mind is cheerful. Some people may understand
yoga as an exercise, for me it makes balance to
body-mind”. (K7)
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Yoga is science and art of living a perfect life.
This theme could be explained in term
of science and art. Yoga is a science because it
has been set in its way a practical, methodical,
and systematic discipline that have the lofty
goal of helping human beings to become aware
of their deepest nature by using experiment of
self-study. The Yoga sutra has been set up as a
mind map in practice. The practices and
benefits derived are prescribed; hence, this
could be scientifically verified by anyone. The
following statements support this theme.
“To me yoga is an intellectual science. It
makes me understand myself and uplift my
mind and spirit. I also believe that yoga is a
science. The desirable outcomes can be
expected as a consequence of the yoga practice.
Apparently, the result of yoga practice is being
more disciplined in life, more patients; and
better quality of mind has been changed”. (K5)
Yoga is also viewed as an art. It is an art in
using gentle body movement, breathing
technique, concentration, meditation and
ethical disciplines to achieve an individual’s
goal in life in different ways of practice. In
other words, yoga is an art in action which has
an intense inner dynamism in human beings.
Human in nature, we are caught up in the web
of lust, anger, greed, passion pride and
jealousy. The foundations of yogic way which
are friendliness, compassion and joy, and
happiness and virtue are conducive to mental
peace. Yoga practitioners can experience the
beauty of the practice and its consequences
which are growing in all aspects of life as being
expressed by the following statements. “Because of yoga I could control my
feeling and more detachment in facing
disagreed situations such as previously if a
colleague had been sarcastic words, I was
anger and immediately argued; however, by
yogic way made me no anger and not
recognized sometimes. If the situations are
really serious and it is not stored, I will
control my breath to calm my mind.”(K1)
“Yoga is both science and art of living. It
teaches us how to live happily in logical way,
how to value ourselves, and do something
right.” (K2)
Yoga is a philosophy of life leading to
peaceful life and enlightenment.
This refers to a whole set of beliefs and
knowledge about lives, life goal, and how to
lead lives to their life goal. Yoga guides a
person to understand himself and realize his
life goal. It helps for a brighter and clearer
mind or intelligence. The intelligent way helps
understanding one life, and then one will know
how to live and how to reach the desired goal.
The desired goal sought by every single
individual is divided into levels of health/well-
being and enlightenment. A union of both the
physical and mental is one of the mechanisms
promoting peaceful mind and further
enlightenment which is the goal needed that
everyone sought for his life. These ideas are
supported by the following statements. “Yoga is a philosophy of life leading us toward
our life goal which is simple happy life without
suffering and stress. It is a pretty good being
criteria of purity. This is the beginning of intellect
which promotes mercy. As a result of that helps
reduce conflicts both in his/herself and other
surroundings, so, we are friendly with everyone
and have a simply conventional happiness.” (K2)
“Yoga is a philosophy of life. It provides
principles to guide practice of human from
birth to death in order to help them achieve
their goal of life which is enlightenment and
further liberation.” (K5)
4.2 The integration of yoga practice in daily life
The findings highlight the integration of
yoga in daily life of yoga masters in 4 themes:
maintaining yogic healthy and humanistic
lifestyle, the objectives of integration of yoga
practice, integrating yoga and complementary
therapies to deal with health problems, and
daily practice of attitudinal-physical-mental
training for mind and wisdom development. All
yoga masters explained goal of the yoga
practice was happy and healthy lives. Details of
each theme are presented with illustrative
quotes to support their existences.
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Maintaining yogic healthy and
humanistic lifestyle
All yoga masters concerned with eating,
sleeping and living with others in the society.
Findings revealed that their daily diets were
mainly vegetables, fruits and proteins from
plants. The popular proteins from plants are
bean, tofu, and mushroom. Four yoga masters
admitted that they reduced eating meat due to
self awareness on humanistic values. They tried
to avoid killing animals. However, seafood was
preferred if there was no choice. All yoga
masters were also concerned with thoroughly
chewed food and moderation in consumption.
All food should be eaten in a calm and quiet
mood and should not be taken before or
immediately after yoga asana. Importantly,
they used their own experiences to learn how
much food should be eaten, and what kinds of
food should be consumed for their health. A
yoga master said: I formerly ate quickly and a lot.
However, after I studied yoga, I concern
about long chewing that we would eat less
and still be full. I do not force myself to eat,
the remaining just throw it away. Eating
vegetable makes my body feel light. I planted
my own vegetables and buy toxin-free
vegetables. I always ensure that I have five
essential group of nutrient. I eat unpolished
brown rice and fish. I used to eat meat and
chicken like my children. But now they are all
grown up so I turn to eat healthy food
instead. (K1)
“Although I am not a vegetarian, I
reduce eating meat so that animals are killed
less. I notice that reducing meat but
increasing vegetables consumption make me
feel physical comfortable and energetic and
the bowels working well.” (K6)
Adequate sleeping was stated to be
important, which averaged 7-8 hours. Deep
sleep also promotes the body restoring its
energy supply and making the restoration of
damaged tissues. A yoga master said:
“Health requires enough sleep; I don’t
sleep late at night. Usually, I go to bed
between 9 and10 pm and automatically
wake up at 4 am. , I sometime wake up
early, I didn’t get up but stayed on the pose.
If we don’t have enough sleep, our body
needs more rest because the biochemical
related to sleep are still being produced in
the body.” (K2)
Being a member of the society, each
person must have his/her own responsibility
and act in accordance with the rules of that
society to live happily. All yoga masters
actively participated in social activities and
devoted themselves to the welfare of the
community such as voluntarily teaching yoga at
their workplace for interested people, or a
group of meditative persons, helping
community members organizing made merit
Buddhist ceremony and so on. They usually
were friendly, paying attention to others,
having loving kindness and mercy, accepting
one’s role and responsibility. Seven yoga
masters highly agreed that such practices made
them live in society happily including
generating true friends. A yoga master said:
“We don’t be selfish, and take advantage
from others. There is no conflict with others.
Having loving kindness makes us happy. Our
mind is purified that is important foundation
for wisdom development”.(K2)
The objectives of the yoga practice:
All informants acknowledged the importance
of yoga practice for self-care and maintenance
of health, relief of suffering, and sharing of life
experiences. However the most significant
motivation for their yoga practice was for
health care and relief of suffering. The
suffering can appear in different forms
depending on cause and condition of each stage
of life. The yoga practice followed the Yoga
Sutra. However, it was started from asana,
pranayama, and meditation. These practices
improve physical health such as physical
flexibility and strength. A continuous practice
would affect other aspects of health such as
mind, emotion, society, and soul as being
expressed by the following statements. “Because I want to be good and happy, do
not want to suffer, have a simple life without
anxious, and have a comfortable body and
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clear mind. I regularly practise asana,
pranyama, and ethical conduct. Presently, I
reach the goal. I do not suffer. Every problem
can be solved. I have a wisdom to manage the
problems that is just making everything fits, live
sufficiently and reduce struggle (do not
desire)”. (K1)
“Yoga is used to maintain our good life
and I practise all aspects of the Yoga Sutra for
my health.” (K9)
“I started yoga practice when I had
tension and mental suffering. I want to be free
from suffering, so, I joined a meditation course.
That course, we practise yoga asanas and
breath control every morning. I have practiced
very hard (asanas) for a year. It was like being
full with magic and the allergy has gone.”
(K11)
Integrating yoga and complementary
therapies to deal with health problems:
According to yoga, any disease comes
from the fluctuation of mind while in
Ayurveda; diseases are attributable to
imbalance in the constituents of the body. Most
of yoga masters highlighted that their health
problems come from the imbalance of element
in their bodies. This does not mean all yoga
masters do not need any modern medicines at
all, but some yoga masters still used some
modern medicines complemented with
alternative medicine for their illness which root
cause did not a result of the mind such as senile
changes, infectious disease. Although all were
healthy by yogic way, they sometimes had
some health deviations and undesirable
symptoms. Some undesirable symptoms
occurred occasionally such as phlegm and cold,
constipation, and menopausal symptoms in
female informants. They tried to manage these
health problems using various yoga techniques
complementarily with some complementary
therapies. Asana, pranyama, anuloma viloma,
kapalabhati, and nasal cavity cleaning
technique were used to solve the problems of
respiratory symptoms. Most of them have done
nasal cavity cleaning technique once weekly
while four of them do so regularly in the
morning. Specific asana poses such as
Bhujangasana and Pavanamuktasana help
eliminate constipation. Moreover, they always
practise 14 basic asana and pranyama (Ujjayi,
Anuloma viloma, and Bhastrika) to balance
their physical body. Eight of them adjusted
balanced food by using cold effectiveness of
food and fruit to solve the problems dominant
of fire element producing illness. For all female
yoga masters who were in the perimenopausal
and postmenopausal stages managed their
menopausal symptoms with regularly
performed yoga asanas, consumed healthy
food, had adequate sleep, used nature cure
complemented with yogic way of
living(Rakpanusit, Hatthakit, Boonyasopun,
Bagga, 2012). As yoga masters expressed:
“Practicing asanas especially Cobra and
wind-releasing pose helps solve constipation that
I can excrete better but because of the discipline
of practice after all (14 basic asana pose)”. (K5)
“When I have a cold, I use Kaneti (nasal
cleaning) to clean my nose with saline solution.
When a cold begins, I practice kapalabhati and
the cold would be gone fast”. (K6)
“I practice yoga, eat lots of brown
unpolished rice and beans. I also go to bed
early at about 8-9 pm. and get up early at
about 4 am. Thus I have enough sleep and my
body is kept balance by all these activities. My
menstruation stopped for about 5 months and
came once and then stopped; however, I don’t
have any menopausal symptoms. I feel good
about that”. (K1)
Most yoga masters have applied not only
the main components of the Yoga Sutra but
also other complementary techniques such as
Ayurveda, nature cure for healthy life and
happiness. A yoga master said: “Whatever helps balance the body and
mind and fits well with our behavior such as
the nature cure and food adjustment with cold
effectiveness”. (K6)
Daily practice of attitudinal-physical-mental
training for mind and wisdom development:
The Yoga Sutra was set up as a mind map
in practising yoga for health and to reach the
goal of life. The informants admitted that it was
difficult to distinguish what component of yoga
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should come first. All yoga masters valued that
yama and niyama were foundational concepts for
attitudinal modification and initial mind
purification. Without those, the mind was not
pure and ready for further development. The
practice transformation based on yama and
niyama of the yoga masters was initiated by
some common actions in their daily life such as giving loving kindness and mercy toward
themselves and others, reviewing mistakes and
making changes to prevent repeated mistakes.
As yoga masters said: “Yoga teaches me to understand both
myself and others. It teaches me to be patient,
and persevering, as well as to know the
suitability, not to hurt myself and have loving
kindness toward myself and others.” (K1)
“In health care, we must not harm
ourselves and others. We must be disciplined
and patient to practise asana and pranyama.
We would quit and do not cling to the bad
things. We must have loving kindness. Being
annoyed hurts our mental health. We do not
blame others, would be harmlessness, honest
and do not deceive both our self and others. I
strictly practice these things. (K2)
All the informants practiced both asana
on-mat and asana off-mat. Asana off-mat was
practiced in daily life by uniting the body and
mind and balancing the pose in their daily
activities. The expected benefits of the practice
were to maintain correct physical postures and
more importantly to cultivate mindfulness.
Asana on-mat was preferable to be practiced in
the morning because it provides a mental peace
and emotional stability better than other times.
Pranayama (breath control) was another yoga
technique that helped concentrate the mind and
increase Prana (energy) in the body. All yoga
masters said that pranayama must be regularly
practised after asana. Both asana and pranayama
were practised for the ultimate goal that was the
mind development and wisdom. A yoga master
said: “I practice asanas every morning.
Pranayama is practised after asana. I never stop
practicing it because I can see the development
of my mind. I’m reading my own mind while
practicing yoga every day t in the morning
which is a best time because the mind has not
been disturbed by any upset emotions. It makes
my mind more easily concentrated.” (K5)
Concentration was practised to keep
peaceful mind before entering meditation for
wisdom development. Three yoga masters
valued that the human mind had a faster
change, being difficult to catch up. The best
way to keep concentration of mind was
listening to our own words, and our thoughts.
Meditation was done in the morning and before
sleeping time. As a yoga master said:
“In following the mind, we do not often
catch up with it because it is very quick.
Following mind is done from what we say, what
we want and do not want by listening this.
Listening to what our thoughts that make us see
what we need, then adjust it to our
suitability..”. (K2)
“I formerly practised asanas and
pranyama longer than now. Presently, I
practised them just enough to maintain the
normality and health. I gradually increase the
practice of meditation. I use concentration
technique (Dharana) to calm down my mind
before I go on sitting meditation”. (K6)
Seven advanced yoga masters complemented
meditation with vipassana (Buddhist
meditation) for the goal of freedom or
liberation. They practised yoga techniques to
prepare their minds and bodies readiness for
mental development. By the practice of yoga
of the mind is not activity and the body is not
comfortable sitting for long periods of
meditation. Then they practised vipassana to
reach the goal of enlightenment. As they
expressed: “I practice meditation to gain wisdom for
understanding the body and mind according to
the actuality. I use the four Satipatthana to be
firm and steadfast establishment for
understanding both body and mind. The more I
practice, the more my mind detaches to and the
self continually reduces leading to gradually
clear of the soul. I practice yoga and vipassana
together. While yoga sends me to the goal, the
answer of the mind later is searched from
Buddhism”. (K5)
“I practise both Buddhist meditation and
yoga. There is no conflict between these
practices. Vipassana practice (Buddhist
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meditation) is used to control over the mind
and its modifications for furthering
transformation to be liberated. Yoga
techniques help calm down the mind for
further vipassana. Thus yoga techniques are
used to assist vipassana meditation practice”.
(K9)
In summary, health and well-being were
obtained by regular practice of yoga asana,
pranyama and meditation, and being optimistic
toward life. Nutritional awareness and adequate
sleep with actively devoting oneself to social
welfare were included. Moreover, yogic
purification techniques and complementary
therapy were used to deal with re-curing health
problems. Importantly yoga practice
complemented with Buddhist meditation helps
achieve enlightenment.
4.3 Perceiving the outcomes of yoga practice:
The results obtained from regular yoga
practice were physical well-being, psychological
and emotional well-being, and holistic well-
being. All yoga masters perceived the positive
outcomes which were varied depending on how
much they practiced; however, most of them
mentioned immediate benefits of practicing
yoga were flexibility and energy in the body,
emotional stability and increased moral
integrity. Eight of yoga masters perceived that
practicing yoga brought wisdom development
and increased self-awareness, more realization
toward life leading to behavior changes and
more confidence in decision making. Four
yoga masters had perceived the improvement
of self-esteem and decrease in egotism
alleviating suffering. As they expressed: “The body is obviously seen at the
beginning of yoga practice. I felt light,
comfortable and flexible.” (K3)
It is good to practise yoga; life contemplation
and self-awareness are improved. The more I
concentrate the more I understand myself and
other. I have more wisdom and freedom
resulting in stillness, loving kindness, integrity
and sharing knowledge. All of these are good
qualifications. It is easy to clear up bad thing in
mind. Cleared mind make me search for need
in our inner self and we will know our own
identity; it is obviously getting towards the goal
of life needed”. (2).
“Since I’m living in a yoga lifeway, I’ve
been teaching any people both inside and
outside the hospital. People always come to me
and said that they still practised yoga taught by
me. This makes me so proud”. (K1)
4.4 Cultural beliefs and factors influencing
the practice of yoga
Several cultural beliefs and factors were
found to influence the yoga practice of yoga
masters. They were discussed in two subtopics;
cultural beliefs and factors facilitating yoga
practice and cultural beliefs and factors
inhibiting yoga practice.
Facilitating factors were mostly derived
from religious and traditional beliefs, and
social structure. The results revealed seven
factors related to cultural beliefs and personal
promotion of yoga practice. These were faith in
the yoga science, beliefs associated with
Ayurveda and religion, education level, family
support, and support of the organization.
Additionally, health conditions and positive
experiences obtained from the practice
motivated the continuing practice such as
comfort, better health, and being energetic. The
details are described as following. “My faith on yoga is that yoga can help
bring me toward enlightenment which is my
ultimate goal. This motivates me to practice it
regularly.” (K3)
“My family is important in providing me
good support by taking care of some house hold
duties for me and giving me a chance to
practise yoga continuously”. (K8)
All key informants highly agreed that
factors inhibiting their yoga practice mainly
came from laziness of own self and time
management for consistent yoga practice. It is
clear that yoga is a practical science that one
will attain benefit only by practice. Therefore,
it is important for the yoga practitioners to fight
with the barriers within selves. A yoga master
said: “In the early, time was the biggest barrier
to me because of many functions in the family;
however as results of the practice, I could deal
with everything. My family both husband and
children understand me. Clear mind after
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practice help me manage proper functions;
teaching in the class helps me continually
practise. Manage only my mind, everything is
suitable”. (K4)
“I am always discouraged from my own
laziness. However, something (benefits) helps
remind me. It is good then I just keep
practicing, and teaching helps me practise
sustainably. (K6)
5. Discussion
The findings of this study show yoga is
significant not only to promote health but it is
science and art of living and philosophy of life
leading to life goal also. Yoga masters in this
study, accepted yoga was significant to them as
they stated; it was used to promote all health
aspects, physical, mental, emotion, and
spiritual and ethical behaviors. When they felt
imbalance with any dimensions of health such
as uncomfortable body, emotional state, and
imbalance with social relationships, yoga is a
tool that helps them relieve those problems. For
instance, daily practice of asanas, pranyama,
and relaxation increased happiness and
achievement and interpersonal relationship in
both healthy and diseased subjects (Sharma,
Gupta & Bijlani, 2008); Pranyamic breathing
decreased oxygen consumption, heart rate and
blood pressure as well as increased
parasympathetic activity accompanied by
alertness and reinvigoration (Jerath, Edry,
Barnes & Jerath, 2006). Moreover, yoga
masters perceived yoga as science and art of
living. They expressed that yoga as a science
has the lofty goal of helping human beings to
become aware of their ultimate nature. It has
been set in its way of practice related to living
in a good sense. The techniques, benefits, and
the ways to overcome the obstacles are
prescribed so that everyone could follow. By
following the yogic principles recommended, a
sense of relaxation and happiness are
experiences (Harinath, et al, 2004). Yoga is
also a useful art of human well-being and
experimenting through observing self-study to
a science of life. It guides the practitioner to
look for goal of life being different in each
stage of life by making a brighter and clearer
mind. Then, one will know how to reach the
desired goal such as health, perfect life,
peaceful life and enlightenment. Because its
aims are to cultivate friendliness, compassion,
joy, indifference towards happiness as said in
the Yoga Sutra (I.33), it serves as science and
art of living to bring man a perfect life. These
findings are consistent with previous research
on yoga as meaningful to physical, mental,
social, and spiritual health (Coven & Adam,
2005; Moadel, et al, 2007; Shapiro, et al,
2007). Additionally, most yoga masters paid
more attention on practicing yoga as a tool to
promote health, especially physical and mental
development, maintaining a high level of
practice to attain liberation. Prolonged and
intense meditation leads them to the
superconscious state which transforms to
serenity, peace, and freedom, being the real
goal of yoga and similarly to desired goal of
life (as K2 said). In daily life we actually
experience either directly or indirectly, the
result of conflicts and emotional distress arising
in the conscious or unconscious mind,
therefore, yoga practice could help us to
become aware of those conflicts and to resolve
them, establishing tranquility and peace.
Yoga masters have integrated yoga
practice into daily life for a variety reasons,
each reason related to the activities for health
promotion and the meaning of yoga. They
started yoga practice from asanas or postures
encouraging the promotion of physical health
as well as preparing their physical bodies and
their minds for advanced mental development.
All yoga masters mentioned two fundamental
ethical precepts as guidelines; universal
morality and personal observances, which help
them to shape their attitude and behaviour
leading to good social relationships. Then they
moved toward pranayama and concentration,
these practices help them concentrate the mind
which is readiness for meditation. These results
consistent with previous research on the
benefits of yoga practice significantly improve
muscular strength and endurance, flexibility,
increase concentration, build self-esteem, and
help man to deal with stress in a positive way
(Cowen & Adams, 2005; Tran, et al, 2001;
12
Rocha, et al, 2012; Russell, 2002). However,
those benefits must be happened by patiently
practised (Vivekananda; 2010). Yoga masters
practice meditation more and more to clear
their minds until they experience the state of
self-realization. At this state, the mind is
controlled, the nervous excitement turned
down which brings calmness and enables them
to see things more clearly as they are. The
temperament as well as the health is better.
Furthermore, the yoga masters expressed that
their continuous yoga practice were benefits to
all aspects of health similar to previous studies
(Frield, 2011; Somtrap and Lertpaiboon, 2009).
Moreover, if the mind can continually
concentrate upon an object for a length of time
without distraction and be able to reject the
external part of perception, the state of real
happiness is reached.
Yoga masters perceived positive outcome
towards physical and psychological well-being.
Their perception of outcomes from yoga
practice concentrates on emotional stability,
self-understanding, and consciousness leading
to wisdom development and self-awareness.
All these affect behavioral changes such as
having loving kindness, having gentleness,
elimination of negative thoughts from the
mind, leading to live happily with others,
reinforcing self-esteem, easily detaching
themselves from their selves.
Moreover, the biggest barrier to yoga was
similar to that of many physical activities
(Johnson, et al, 1990), time and self-laziness
which were mentioned by most participants.
Somtrap and Lertpaiboon (2009) asserted that
time was barrier for the practice of yoga.
However, it is a small barrier to yoga masters
that they could overcome following
recommended in the Yoga Sutra and positive
experiences and faith in the yoga. The findings
confirmed that factors derived from traditional
beliefs and social structure influencing yoga
practice and its progression.
6. Conclusion and suggestion The findings from rich details qualitative
study show that yoga masters’ beliefs and
values have shaped the construction of
experience of yoga practice in the life of yoga
masters in Thailand. This was reflected in the
meanings of yoga and the integration of yoga
into daily life practice for healthy life. Yoga
practice in daily life provides a way to holistic
health and enlightenment. In order to be
obtained these benefits, the practitioners should
start with set off the goal of life and followed
by study yoga seriously. Disciplined in practice
begins with the five universal moral disciplines
and personal observances to deal with people
around us and how to optimally shape our
attitude and behavior. Asana and controlled
breath were practised together with
concentration. After that the mind as well as
body is relaxed and calm which is the
foundation for meditation leading to wisdom
and awareness and further enlightenment. In
addition, meditation starts with a few minutes a
day and gradually increases the time devoted to
meditation as much as possible to reach
optimal benefit. Meditation complemented
with vipassana recommended attaining goal of
life. Moreover, yoga complemented with other
religious meditation based on the practitioner’s
values and beliefs helps attained enlightenment.
Although yoga is proven for peace and good
health, there are some barriers in yogic journey
that needs to overcome such as incongruence
time, self-laziness. Positive experiences and
faith in the yoga could motivate the practitioner
to stepping over the obstacles.
These findings should help health
professionals understanding the significance of
yoga and how to integrate in daily living for
healthy life and happiness in Thai cultural
context. This knowledge will be significant to
nurses on independent nursing role for
integration yoga as complementary nursing to
promote healthy life and holistic care for their
customers or patients.
7. Acknowledgements This study was made possible through a
research grant provided by Faculty of Nursing
and Graduate School, Prince of Songkla
University, Thailand, and partially supported
13
by the Thailand Nursing and Midwifery
Council and The Nurses’ Association of
Thailand. The authors take this opportunity to
thank all the sources for financially supporting
present research.
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