title: Why practice yoga? Practitioners' motivations for adopting and maintaining yoga practice.
abstract: We examined motives for adopting and maintaining yoga practice in a national survey of yoga practitioners (360 yoga students, 156 yoga teachers). Both students and teachers adopted yoga practice primarily for exercise and stress relief, but reported many other reasons, including flexibility, getting into shape, and depression/anxiety relief. Over 62 percent of students and 85 percent of teachers reported having changed their primary reason for practicing or discovering other reasons; for both, the top changed primary reason was spirituality. Findings suggest that most initiate yoga practice for exercise and stress relief, but for many, spirituality becomes their primary reason for maintaining practice.
authors.affiliation: University of Connecticut, USA Crystal.Park@UConn.edu.
authors.forename: Crystal L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: University of Connecticut, USA.
authors.forename: Kristen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.affiliation: Abt Associates Inc., 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bedesin
authors.affiliation: University of Connecticut, USA.
authors.forename: V Michelle
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D029181:Spirituality; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D015013:Yoga / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: motivation; spirituality; yoga