Perceptions about the Benefits and Negative Outcomes of Yoga Practice by Yoga-Naïve Persons: A Cross-sectional Survey

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Understanding the way nonexercisers view the benefits and barriers to physical exercise helps promote physical exercise. This study reports perceived benefits and negative outcomes of yoga perceived by yoga-naïve persons. METHODS: The 2550 yoga-naïve respondents of both sexes (m:f = 2162:388; group mean age ± SD 23.5 ± 12.6 years) participated in a convenience sampling in-person survey conducted to determine the perceived benefits and negative outcomes of yoga. RESULTS: Among 2550 respondents, 97.4% believed yoga practice had benefits. The three most common perceived benefits of yoga were improvement in (i) physical health (39.8%), (ii) cognitive functions (32.8%), and (iii) mental health (20.4%). Among the respondents, 1.4% believed that yoga had negative outcomes. The three most common perceived negative outcomes were (i) apprehension that wrong methods may be harmful (0.24%), (ii) apprehension that excessive practice may harm (0.24%), and (iii) laziness (0.12%). CONCLUSION: The most common perceived benefit of yoga practice was “improvement in physical health,” with “apprehension that wrong or excessive practice could be harmful” as the most common perceived negative outcomes of yoga.