Exploration of how therapeutic practitioners experience and perceive the influence of their yoga practice : an interpretative phenomenological analysis

• Main Author: Weaver, Yana
• Published: Regent's University 2012
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.646061

This study explores how therapeutic practitioners subjectively experience and perceive their yoga practice. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven participants. Transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) which aimed to describe and interpret participants' particular and shared subjective meanings. Meanings of the yoga experience were co-created between the participants and the researcher drawing on language used and both bodily felt sense and expressions. Analysis was iterative and inductive involving sustained reflective engagement. Findings suggest that yoga practice has some effects in ail domains of existence: physical, personal, social and spiritual. The emergent meanings cluster around the ways yoga helps participants become aware of their bodies and through that awareness become more conscious of their needs and psychological pain. The participants feel grounded and better connected with themselves and others as a consequence of their yoga practice. Three super-ordinate themes emerged from the data with associated themes: i. 'Connecting with the Self' (Embodying Experience; Being Selfaware; Being Spiritual and Being Grounded); ii. 'Connecting with Others' (Relating to Others; Belonging); and iii. 'Connecting with the Profession' (Connecting Yoga and Therapy; Being Present; Self-caring). The value of the IPA method for explicating idiographic meanings is discussed. It is argued that the outcome of this study has implications for clinical work as it provides some insight into how therapeutic practitioners could be trained in attentive listening and encouraged to build their awareness of the need for self-care.