Yoga and the three flows of compassion

Abstract

Yoga is increasingly recognised as an effective practice to support mental and physical health. A core component of yoga ethics, compassion is increasingly recognised as a protective factor for psychopathology and a potential meditating factor underlying yoga’s effects. However, despite conceptual similarities, there is a lack of research exploring the links between compassion theory and yoga. Chapter 1 presents a systematic review and narrative synthesis exploring yoga based interventions and self-compassion in Helping Professionals (HPs). Findings from 10 included studies found that self-compassion was improved through yoga interventions for HPs and HP students across different settings and yoga interventions. However, methodological limitations impacted the strength of the findings. In addition to improving study quality, recommendations for future research included the need to explore the clinical significance of findings and consideration of measuring compassion towards others. Implications for clinical and research practice were discussed. Chapter 2 presents a quantitative study exploring the differences between yoga practisers (YP) and non-yoga practisers (NYP) on measures of wellbeing, mindfulness, self criticism and compassion. The second part explored YPs and the limbs of yoga, namely ahimsa (ethics), pranayama (breathwork) and dharana (meditation). In total, 459 participants (184 YPs, 275 NYPs) completed an online survey. Results revealed that YPs reported significantly higher wellbeing, mindfulness, self-compassion and compassion from others, and lower self-criticism. Ahimsa significantly positively correlated with the three flows of compassion and was the strongest predictor of wellbeing and compassion. Implications and recommendations for the inclusion of the ethics of yoga in interventions and research is discussed

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ORCID for Alison Bennetts: orcid.org/0000-0003-2461-7868

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