The Effects
of T. Krishnamacharya Style Yoga Class on Body Image of
Female College Students
Submitted
for publication
A. Wheeler
Department of Kinesiology,
California State University- San Bernardino, San
Bernardino, CA
Healing Yoga Foundation, San Francisco
Key
Words: Yoga, Body Image
Objective:
It is
the norm in society today to show advertising images of
scantily clothed bodies, often air-brushed to perfection.
It follows that it can be challenging when women compare
their more natural and human forms to those shown in the
magazine ads. The purpose of this study was to determine if
taking a 10-week yoga class could have a positive impact on
the perception that college aged women have of their
bodies.
Methods:
Each
college-aged yogini (n= 67) was asked to fill out a
questionnaire pertaining to how she perceived her body at
the beginning of a 10-week yoga class. Examples of
questions included, “I like the way that I look in a
swim-suit”, and “I feel at ease with my body when I walk in
front of a group of people”. The class met twice a week for
90 minutes. The class was taught in the tradition of T.
Krishnamacharya and had a strong focus on the
synchronization of breath and movement. At the end of the
10-week quarter, each student was asked to fill out the
same questionnaire regarding how she perceives her body.
The questionnaire consisted of 12 questions, was proven to
be a reliable and valid measure of body image, and used a
Likert-scale of 1 to 5. One was labeled as low perception
of body image and 5 as high perception of body image. Data
was analyzed using SPSS 14.0 with paired-sample t-tests at
a 95% confidence interval.
Results:
Results
showed that the perceived body image of college-aged women
changed in a statistically significant manner, in the
positive direction. Reported average levels of body image
at the beginning of the quarter were a 2.67 on a scale of
1-5 (1= low and 5= high). After the 10-weeks of bi-weekly
yoga in the T. Krishnamachary Tradition, the average score
increased to 3.12. This is statistically significant,
t(66)= -5.6, p<.000.
Conclusion: These
data demonstrate that a twice a week group yoga class does
have a significant impact on the body image of college-aged
females.
