| Titel: | The Impact of Practicing Yoga on the Organization: A Study on Stress Reduction from the Participants' Perspectives |
|---|---|
| Autor: | Miao Hall, Tina |
| Mediengruppe: | dissertation |
| Herausgeber: | --- |
| Zeitschrift: | Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Jahr: | 2010 |
| Band: | 71 |
| Heft: | --- |
| Seiten: | --- |
| Sprache: | English |
| Abstract: | The following is an investigation into how yoga impacts the health of individuals within an organization and the health of the organization as a result of group yoga exercise. Those elements of yoga's impact that this research hopes to learn more about include both psychological health (attitude, morale, performance and perspective) as well as physical health (blood pressure, posture, flexibility and stamina) of the participant. The research was conducted using open-ended interviews of twelve participants from the Bay Area who have been practicing yoga for over two years. The participants included members of seven different organizations and of varying employment levels (entry level, middle management, supervisors). From these interviews, various themes emerged and some general trends about what was effective about the yoga practice were derived. Based on the interviews, themes of how yoga benefited the individuals included: self-awareness, stress management, improved physical health and improved psychological health. The interviews also established that individual stress levels negatively affected the organization so that both the quality of work suffered and the work environment became inhospitable as a result of stressed members. Yoga was found to be of benefit on three levels: it allowed for greater bonding, mental or psychological flexibility and working out conflicts with less competition. Finally, yoga was found to benefit the organization's health insofar as client confidence grew and better work relationships were developed. The results of the study demonstrated that yoga had beneficial effects in terms of managing stress through breathing techniques and increased self-awareness. There was also a fairly direct correlation between stress and negative work performance. The research also strongly suggested that yoga improved the individual's relationships with other members of the organization as well as improved the client/vendor relationships. Overall, the study found that yoga could improve the mental and physical health of its members and therefore, positively impact the organization to which the members belong. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) |