A Qualitative Comparison of Expression and Performance of Yoga Instruction
T. Reeves1
1. The University of Memphis
Key words: Yoga, instruction, philosophy, strategies
Objective: The instruction of yoga has grown rapidly in last few decades. According to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), in 2007 yoga was the sixth most popular ‘complementary health activity and is on the rise (Barnes & Bloom, 2008). However, most of this research has relied on outcomes. The current work focuses on instruction, to identify instructor understanding and performance of yogic philosophy.
Methods:
In order to gain a rich description of yoga instruction a qualitative case study using grounded theory (Charmez, 2003) and comparative analysis was used. The participant for this work, chosen through purposeful sampling (Patton, 1990), is a popular yoga instructor, RTY200, who teaches classes in numerous studios and a regularly held recreation center class at a mid-south university. Data collection included interviews that were semi-structured as conversational partners (Rubin & Rubin, 2012) and participant-observations with audio recordings across eight classes. The interviews and classes were transcribed verbatim. Iterative coding with thematic analysis, using a theoretical lens derived from yoga, were used to identify themes in both interviews and classes.
Results:
Within the instructor interviews, expressed understanding of yoga instruction themes of energetic state, personality of instruction, inviting experience and student vulnerability were identified. Within the class observations, observed instruction themes of scoping, cadence, silence, and inviting practice were identified. Overlap in expressed understanding and observed instruction were found in each theme. An example of the expressed understanding of a thematic concept is inviting experience: “If someone comes in the very first time and the teacher is very invasive and says, ‘Do this.’ And the next pose the teachers is hovering over them, you are not going to go back. You are going to hate it so much. [I] let people be really all over the place at the beginning as long as they are safe. [I] allow them that kind of freedom, initially.”. This was supported in the observed instruction; an example of this is: “We're going to play with [a posture]. … that firmness in your abs, engage the core so a foot might lift. Maybe both feet.” And “… with the arms firm, maybe the legs straighten.”
Conclusion:
The current study yields preliminary insight into yoga instruction strategies to support further development of yoga curriculum and instruction.