Open AccessPrevalence and patterns of meditation related unpleasant experiences among community based yoga practitioners
Author(s) -
Mahesh Kumar Singh,
Anil Kishore Sinha,
Ikreet Singh Bal
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
linguistics and culture review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2690-103X
DOI - 10.21744/lingcure.v6ns4.2053
Subject(s) - meditation , anxiety , clinical psychology , depression (economics) , mindfulness , psychology , medicine , psychiatry , philosophy , theology , macroeconomics , economics
Yoga is mainly known to restrain the emotional ripples in the mind but according to some studies, it may lead to some overwhelming challenges like uncontrolled emotional venting as meditation-induced adverse effects, along with benefits. This study intended to assess the prevalence and patterns of meditation-related unpleasant experiences (UEs), among 300 community-based yoga practitioners. In this mixed-methods study, a semi-structured interview schedule was developed to carry out the self-assessment survey. The Chi-square test of association was used for finding the pattern between the UEs and other variables. Total 114 (38%) respondents agreed to experience UEs. UEs were reported more in females ( 20 minutes of daily meditation (<0.05), perceived therapeutic effects of yoga in physical suffering (<0.01), perceived improvement in emotional well-being (<0.01), perceived reduction in negative emotional constructs like stress (<0.01), depression (<0.01), and anxiety (<0.01), due to yoga. The study suggests a high prevalence of UEs, which may be associated more with female yoga practitioners, longer yoga and particularly meditation practice, yoga-induced improvement in emotional well-being, stress, depression, and anxiety, and the therapeutic effects of yoga in the physical sufferings.