The effects of a complex yoga-based intervention on healthy psychological functioning

BACKGROUND: Yoga based interventions were found to have a positive impact on various indicators of psychological functioning, such as perceived stress, satisfaction with life, positive and negative affectivity. Additionally, such interventions improved bodily or interoceptive awareness and spirituality. METHODS: The present study assessed the effects of a 3-month long complex yoga-based intervention compared to a passive control group in a Hungarian community sample. The final sample consisted of 44 intervention (Mage = 47.5, SD = = 8.76) and 29 control participants (Mage = 47.4, SD = 9.47). The aforementioned constructs were measured 1 week before and after the intervention. RESULTS: The intervention reduced participants’ perceived stress (p = <0.001, η(p)(2) = 0.153) and negative affectivity (p = 0.019, η(p)(2) = 0.113), improved spirituality (p = 0.048, η(p)(2) = 0.054) and various aspects of interoceptive awareness such as noticing (p = <0.001, η(p)(2) = 0.169) attention regulation (p = <0.001, η(p)(2) = 0.211), self-regulation (p = 0.002, η(p)(2) = 0.190) body listening (p = 0.010, η(p)(2) = 0.097), trusting (p = 0.026, η(p)(2) = 0.070), but did not impact positive affectivity and satisfaction with life. CONCLUSION: A 3-months long complex yoga-based intervention has a positive impact on many aspects of healthy psychological functioning.