Delivering yoga to people with hypertension in the UK: A qualitative study to explore yoga providers' knowledge, experiences, and attitudes

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Yoga has become increasingly popular in the world and the UK for improving health and well‐being. A growing body of research suggests that yoga could be used to improve the management of hypertension in addition to current management strategies. Previous cross‐sectional studies have also reported that hypertension is one of the most commonly disclosed health conditions in yoga sessions in the United Kingdom. Therefore, semi‐structured qualitative interviews were conducted with yoga providers in the United Kingdom (n = 19) to explore their knowledge, experiences, and attitudes toward delivering yoga to people with hypertension. METHODS: Interviews were audio‐recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed thematically. RESULTS: Eight themes were identified. Yoga providers were generally aware of the health conditions of their attendees, and they had a reasonable knowledge of the causes, signs and symptoms, and management of hypertension. While most had received some information about hypertension as part of their initial yoga teaching training, this was generally felt to be limited. They mentioned the biopsychosocial benefits of yoga on hypertension but also expressed their concerns about the lack of regulation, the wide disparity in what is being delivered under the label of yoga, and the competency of some yoga providers. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that yoga provision in the United Kingdom should be regulated with a better link with health service providers. A manual and training for yoga providers in the United Kingdom for managing hypertension using yoga would be helpful to address the training needs of yoga providers. However, there is a need for more robust studies before recommending the implementation of yoga in the management of hypertension in the United Kingdom.