Body awareness, eating attitudes, and spiritual beliefs of women practicing yoga.
This research evaluated attitudes about body image and eating in women practicing postural yoga. Study 1 described scores from questionnaires on variables related to body awareness, intuitive eating, spirituality, and reasons for practicing. Scores were favorable on all measures with significant correlations (p < .01) among all main variables except between spiritual readiness and intuitive eating, and between BMI and both body awareness and spiritual readiness. Reasons for practicing did not affect scores. Study 2 evaluated interviews in a sub-sample. Qualitative data reported improvements in body satisfaction and disordered eating due in part to yoga and its associated spirituality.
Dittmann
K A
KA
Department of Nutrition, Food Science, & Packaging, San Jose State University, San Jose, California, USA.
Freedman
M R
MR
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D001364:Awareness; D001828:Body Image; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012649:Self Concept; D029181:Spirituality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015013:Yoga; D055815:Young Adult