Yoga

Yoga is a traditional Indian discipline that brings together a range of philosophies and spiritual practices. It now has many branches and styles, but at its core is a set of principles and practices meant to promote health and wellbeing by bringing body, breath and mind together. The word comes from Sanskrit and means to join or yoke together.

Description

Elements of practice

Almost all forms of yoga include at least one of three core elements: physical postures (asanas), breath control (pranayama) and meditation (dhyana), practised according to yoga's own models of health. Practice may also include relaxation, mudra (gestures), banda (energy locks), mantra (sacred sounds), bhavana (imagery) and sankalpa (intention), and teachers may give advice on a yogic lifestyle and diet and teach yoga philosophy.

In a posture-based class, each posture is held for a time and linked with controlled breathing. Postures may be lying, sitting, standing or inverted (upside-down).

Styles

There are many styles of yoga. The Victorian Government's Better Health Channel names Hatha, Bikram, Iyengar, Yin and Vinyasa as the most popular. Some styles are practised in a heated or humid room, which brings its own risks (see Safety and good practice).

A class

Sessions usually last 45 to 90 minutes. A typical class begins with breathing exercises or relaxation and a physical warm-up, moves on to postures, movements and stretches, and ends with relaxation or meditation. Some sessions are given over entirely to meditation. Yoga can be done seated on chairs or on a mat or cushions on the floor. In Australia it is often practised as group exercise, but it is also taught one to one, and people practise at home with videos or other recordings. Better Health says classes usually have 10 to 20 people, and that the teacher should guide and watch students carefully and change postures when needed.

What the evidence says

A 2015 review for the Australian Government found low-certainty evidence that yoga improves symptoms of depression and no clear evidence for any other condition. A 2023 systematic review for the Natural Therapies Review found moderate-certainty evidence for four findings. Yoga probably:

• lowers blood pressure in people with hypertensive heart disease
• improves emotional wellbeing in those living with anxiety
• reduces symptoms in people with depression
• improves health-related quality of life for those with low back pain.

The review found low-certainty evidence of benefit for other outcomes, such as stress in people with high perceived stress and headache frequency in people with headache disorders, and low-certainty evidence of little or no effect on some outcomes, such as lung function in asthma. For some conditions the effects were very uncertain or unknown. Its main searches ran to July 2020.

Scope

What it includes

• Postures, breath control, relaxation and meditation
• Group classes, one-to-one sessions and home practice
• Teaching of yoga philosophy and yogic lifestyle advice

What it is not

• Yoga is not the same as Pilates, although the two are often confused; Better Health notes that Pilates traditionally focuses more on control of movement and muscular endurance, while yoga connects body and mind through flowing movement.
• Yoga is not a substitute for medical care. The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) advises people not to use yoga to put off seeing a health care provider about a medical problem.

Traditions and lineage

Better Health describes yoga as an ancient Indian philosophy, thousands of years old, that was designed as a path to spiritual enlightenment. In modern times its physical side has become very popular as a gentle form of exercise and stress management. This shift explains why the word "yoga" can mean quite different things: a spiritual path in its home tradition, and often an exercise class in the West today. NCCIH likewise describes yoga as rooted in Indian philosophy and beginning as a spiritual practice. It notes that classical yoga includes other elements as well, but that yoga as practised in the United States usually emphasises postures, breathing and meditation.

Context

Within Spiritualism

Some Spiritualist bodies offer yoga as an activity. The Spiritualists' National Union (UK) says that its Lyceum, the body that educates members of all ages in Spiritualist principles, has since 1948 grown to include practices such as meditation, yoga and tai chi. In the United States, the Encyclopedia of American Religions lists among Spiritualist bodies the Universal Harmony Foundation, which grew out of an association founded in 1942 by two mediums from the Lily Dale Spiritualist camp and includes yoga among its fields of study.

The religion scholar J. Gordon Melton places yoga among the techniques taken up by the New Age movement, whose seekers, he writes, turned away from the Spiritualist focus on spirits and mediums. See also Meditation.

In Australian Spiritualism

Spiritfold has found no published source linking yoga with Spiritualism in Australia.

A Spiritualist perspective

Yoga is a traditional Indian discipline with its own philosophy and spiritual aims, and a Spiritualist teacher would want to honour that rather than treat it as merely a stretching class. At the same time, as the history above shows, some Spiritualist organisations have welcomed yoga as an activity alongside meditation, and Spiritualists are free to practise it in their own lives.

The two can sit together comfortably. Breath control, relaxation and meditation are useful preparation for development work, and a regular practice may help students come to the circle settled and steady. What a Spiritualist would keep clear is that yoga's teachings about the self are its own, while Spiritualist teaching rests on our principles: continuous life and evidence of survival through mediumship. Keeping the two distinct is a way of respecting both traditions. Choose a properly trained teacher, take postures at your own pace, and keep your doctor informed of any health concerns.

Yoga in Australia

A 2013–14 survey estimated that about 320,000 Australians took part in yoga each year, and a 2012 survey of Australians who practise yoga found that one in five did so for a specific health or medical reason.

Training and associations

Training of yoga teachers in Australia varies. Yoga Australia, the peak national body for registering and representing yoga teachers, requires more than 350 hours of yoga teacher training for full registered membership; people with at least 200 hours of training can become provisional members, which allows them to teach. The Australian Government's healthdirect service suggests Yoga Australia as a way to find a qualified teacher, and advises beginners and people with an injury or health condition to go to a class with a qualified instructor.

Regulation

None of the natural therapies examined in the Natural Therapies Review, including yoga, is regulated in terms of who can provide it.

Private health insurance

Since 1 April 2019, yoga has been one of 16 natural therapies that private health insurers can't cover. The Natural Therapies Review 2024 looked at the evidence again. Its Chair, Professor Michael Kidd, recommended re-inclusion for therapies with moderate-certainty evidence of effectiveness for at least one health outcome in one condition, and yoga was one of the seven therapies he recommended should become eligible again.

Safety and good practice

The guidance from health agencies comes down to working within your limits and keeping your teacher informed. Better Health says a posture should never cause pain: if it does, ease back or stop, and stay within your physical limits. Men over 45, women over 55, people who haven't exercised for a long time and people with a medical condition should check with their doctor or another suitably qualified professional before starting. Always tell your yoga teacher if you are pregnant, or have had a recent injury, illness or surgery, high blood pressure, heart problems or osteoporosis, and allow enough time between eating and a class.

NCCIH describes yoga as generally safe for healthy people when done properly under a qualified instructor, but injuries can happen, most often sprains and strains, especially of the knee or lower leg; serious injuries are rare. Older adults may need to take particular care. For beginners it advises avoiding extreme poses and techniques: its examples are the lotus position, headstands and shoulder stands, and forceful breathing. It also notes that hot yoga carries risks of overheating and dehydration, and suggests that pregnant women, older adults and people with health conditions talk to their health care providers and the yoga instructor about their needs. healthdirect says yoga is safe in pregnancy, although some positions may need to be changed, and advises stopping and asking the instructor for guidance if you feel pain. The 2023 systematic review did not assess safety.

Related modalities

• Meditation
• Pilates
• Tai chi
• Qigong
• Ayurveda

Further reading

• Better Health Channel. "Yoga – health benefits". Department of Health, State Government of Victoria, 2022.
• Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. "Natural Therapies Review 2024". Australian Government.
• Health Technology Analysts. Yoga for preventing and treating health conditions: evidence evaluation report. Australian Government Department of Health, 2023.
• healthdirect. "Health benefits of yoga and Pilates". Healthdirect Australia, 2025.
• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. "Yoga: Effectiveness and Safety". US National Institutes of Health, 2023.