Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:17:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luanda Achoa.pdf: 511258 bytes, checksum: 38d34e3905504ee545190325c1effa92 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-03-24 / In the past few years the press has published innumerable articles on the importance of Yoga, which have contributed to spreading the adoption of the practice, while at the same time engendering countless stereotypes of the oriental body. This dissertation develops a study on the presence of the process of consciousness in the human being and its implications in terms of perception and communication arising from the theory and practice of Yoga in order to elaborate a more consistent debate on the theme. The concept of bodymedia developed by Christine Greiner and Helena Katz serves as the basis for this study. According to this concept, the body and the environment relate to each other in the course of a constant interchange of information, in a co-evolutionary process that occurs in the present. The first chapter presents a study on consciousness and the body-mind continuum in contemporary cognitive science the investigations made by António Damásio are particularly relevant here and it traces a relation between these recent studies and the thousand-year old Yoga theory of consciousness. It establishes a dialogue between the concepts of Atma in the theory of Yoga and of central consciousness and self in the theory of Damásio. In the second chapter, this study investigates the practice of developing consciousness in Yoga from the perspective of psycho-physical training, using Yasuo Yuasa s theory of consciousness and Damásio s theory of emotions and feelings to do so. The objective of this study is not to orientalize contemporary science nor turn the theory of Yoga into a science, but to discuss the phenomenon of consciousness and perceive that distant universes do have points of convergence, above all because these points are pertinent approaches to one of the most intriguing human phenomena: consciousness. This implicates the very foundation of corporal communication and thus becomes a key to understanding what it means to be in the world, establishing communicative links with the environment. As a result of this study, this dissertation proposes that when Yoga is analyzed from the perspective of bodymedia, it can be subdivided into questions of a fundamentally ethical nature to create possibilities that permit the dialogue between the oriental and western cultures in the contemporary world / Nos últimos anos, a imprensa tem publicado incessantemente artigos acerca da importância do Yoga. Esta moda colaborou para a divulgação da prática, mas engendrou inúmeros estereótipos em torno do corpo oriental. Esta dissertação coloca-se como questão a possibilidade de relação entre as teorias e práticas milenares do Yoga e algumas teorias científicas contemporâneas, de modo a elaborar um debate mais consistente em torno do tema. O conceito de corpomídia desenvolvido por Christine Greiner e Helena Katz (2005) serve como base para este estudo. De acordo com este conceito, corpo e ambiente relacionam-se em um fluxo constante de troca de informações, em um processo co-evolutivo que ocorre em tempo presente. No primeiro capítulo, é efetuado um estudo sobre a consciência e sobre o continuum corpo-mente na ciência cognitiva contemporânea - para tanto, são especialmente relevantes as investigações realizadas por António Damásio - e traçada uma relação entre essas recentes pesquisas e a teoria milenar do Yoga da consciência. É estabelecido um diálogo entre os conceitos de Atma na teoria do Yoga e de consciência e de self central na teoria de Damásio. No segundo capítulo, esta dissertação investiga a prática do desenvolvimento da consciência no Yoga a partir de treinos psicofísicos. São utilizados, como alicerces fundamentais, a teoria da consciência de Yasuo Yuasa e a teoria das emoções e dos sentimentos de Damásio. O objetivo da pesquisa não é o de orientalizar a ciência contemporânea, tampouco cientificizar a teoria do Yoga, mas discutir o fenômeno da consciência e perceber que universos distantes encontram pontos de convergência. Trata-se, antes de tudo, de abordagens concernentes a um dos mais intrigantes fenômenos humanos: a consciência. Esta implica nos fundamentos da comunicação corporal e se torna, portanto, uma chave para se compreender o que significa estar no mundo, estabelecendo vínculos comunicativos com o ambiente. Como resultado da pesquisa, esta dissertação propõe que, ao analisar o Yoga à luz da teoria do corpomídia, é possível desdobrar a discussão para questões de natureza ética, fundamentais para criar possibilidades de diálogo entre as culturas orientais e ocidentais no mundo contemporâneo

Improved health indicators, mental and physical health outcomes, and sustainable lifestyle practices have been found among yoga practitioners. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of mixed styles of yoga practice on the health and behaviors of yoga practitioners. The relationship between yoga and body mass index (BMI), self-reported disease diagnosis, participation in other types of physical activity, adoption of healthy and sustainable lifestyle and dietary behaviors, perceived improvements in medical conditions that yoga was used to treat, quality of life resulting from yoga practice, and the reasons for beginning and continuing yoga were observed and tested in this study. Participants (N = 383) were adult yoga practitioners who were recruited using systematic sampling in Facebook social media. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression, ANOVA, McNemar Chi square, and Spearman's correlation. Mean BMI for all yoga styles were in the normal range; however, ashtanga yoga was a significant predictor of low BMI. Self-reported disease diagnosis was significantly lower after beginning yoga practice. The majority of participants also engaged in other types of physical activity and adopted many healthy lifestyle practices. However, general/hatha and other styles of yoga were associated with adopting a greater number of other physical activities and general/hatha, ashtanga, and yoga therapy styles were associated with adopting a greater number of healthy and sustainable lifestyle and dietary behaviors. Medical conditions that yoga was used to treat and quality of life were perceived to be improved as a result of yoga practice. Results of this study confirm previous research findings that demonstrate numerous positive health outcomes from yoga practice.

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a significant public health issue. Up to 20% of women are affected by depression following childbirth. PPD is associated with anxiety, poor adjustment and health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and may lead to a woman's personal suffering, conflict with family members (especially in the relationship with partner) and developmental delays in children. Given the high prevalence of PPD and deleterious effects on both women and their families, adequate treatment is critical. While existing PPD treatments have strong efficacy data, the treatment literature suggests that many depressed postpartum women either do not receive treatment or receive suboptimal care. Further, barriers to care including medication side effects for breastfeeding women, stigma, and treatment preferences influence treatment decision-making. Thus, it may be worthwhile to examine the efficacy of a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatment option for PPD that is associated with minimal risk and consistent with maternal preferences. The current investigation examined the efficacy of a Gentle Vinyasa Flow yoga intervention for PPD. Fifty-seven postpartum women with a score of ≥12 on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups − yoga n = 28) or wait-list control (WLC) ((italic)n(/italic) = 29). The yoga intervention lasted 8 weeks, and consisted of 16 classes taught by a certified yoga instructor in a studio and the recommendation to practice once a week at home with the use of a DVD that included a 30 minute yoga sequence. The primary outcome, depression, was assessed using the clinician-rated HDRS and self-report measures. The HDRS was administered over the telephone by blinded raters at baseline and after 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks of treatment. Secondary outcomes were anxiety, postpartum adjustment, and HRQOL, with exploratory outcomes including mindfulness and physical activity. These outcomes were assessed using self-report measures completed on the same schedule as that for the HDRS. Growth curve modeling was used to test the hypotheses that women in the yoga group would experience a significantly greater rate of change over the course of the 8-week intervention on primary and secondary outcome measures, relative to the WLC group. As predicted, controlling for age and social anxiety at baseline, women in the yoga group experienced a greater rate of change in depression and well-being scores over the course of the 8-week intervention. The yoga group also experienced a significantly greater rate of improvement on scores of anxiety, postpartum adjustment, HRQOL, and mindfulness over the 8-week intervention, relative to the control group. These findings support yoga as a promising CAM intervention for PPD; large-scale replication studies are warranted. The findings also shed light on potential mediator and intervention-relevant variables for future research. Yoga is an acceptable and low-risk treatment option that may have broader clinical implications for the PPD treatment literature, and the field of CAM more generally.

This thesis explores the personal and social challenges of teaching yoga in addiction recovery from a social work perspective. It is informed by an action research perspective using interviews and focus groups with yoga teachers and allied health professionals and the personal experiences of the researcher teaching yoga in an addiction recovery centre as well as a literature search on existing yoga and meditation programs used in addiction recovery and corrections. The research explores whether yoga could be applied as a complementary therapy in social work and how yoga assists in addiction recovery. Further it explores what programmatic requirements are needed for a constructive yoga program that addresses the needs of yoga teachers in this field and the participants who are very marginalised. The emerging themes and issues from the data and literature were explored and triangulation was used to draw one conclusion that was found consistently across all research methodologies. This was the importance of Kriya yoga. or the yoga of action, to achieve results with yoga as a complementary therapy. Kriya yoga has three elements: a commitment to regular practice, allowing time to reflect on how this practice is affecting your life and having faith in the yoga process. Undelying this notion of kriya yoga is the importance of the yoga teacher-student relationship and the value of a yoga community that supports the student in their commitment to practice. Recovery from addiction is viewed as a journey involving many stages in which the yoga student deals with relapses. The exemplary yoga programs are forms of karma yoga or the yoga of selfless action. The development of a karma yoga network that forms an on-line bridge between the yoga communities and addiction recovery services is suggested by the research as one way forward in promoting yoga as a complementary therapy in addiction recovery.

Cette recherche s'intéresse au travail de yoga, tel qu'il est enseigné à des adultes amateurs dans le cadre de l'enseignement de la danse contemporaine de Toni D'Amelio, à l'école Peter Goss (Paris 10e). C'est la nature de l'expérience corporelle vécue par les élèves ainsi que les modalités de sa construction qui font l'objet de cette analyse. Ancrée dans une approche anthropologique, elle se caractérise par l'utilisation de la technique de l'entretien d'explicitation - méthodologie inédite dans la recherche en danse - pour interroger l'expérience subjective des acteurs.Les propos des élèves ont fait émerger le rôle central des consignes, ainsi que la manière dont ce travail de yoga s'articule autour d'un " dispositif savant ", qui cristallise pour les élèves l'idée d'un savoir adéquat. Or, ce dispositif s'est avéré insuffisant pour expliquer la nature de l'expérience corporelle qu'il produit. L'étude met ainsi en évidence la manière dont ce dispositif est concrètement mis en œuvre et dont les consignes fonctionnent, dans la pratique, comme " embrayeurs d'action et de perception ". Enfin, l'analyse montre comment la parole de l'enseignante, à l'insu pour ainsi dire des élèves et d'elle-même, crée un véritable enchantement du dispositif.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the additive therapeutic effects of a yoga intervention on the anxiety, depression and behavioral problems of conduct-disordered male adolescents in residential treatment. In addition, the moderating effects of callous-unemotional (CU) traits on outcome measures were assessed. The program consisted of a four-week intervention program in which participants were randomly assigned to either the yoga group (n=25), in which they practiced yoga with an instructor, or the control group (n=19), in which they met for a supervised study hall. The study included pre-testing on symptoms of anxiety, depression and CU traits, and post-testing on anxiety and depression measures only. Behavioral data were unavailable due to unanticipated program changes. A repeated measures MANOVA was utilized to investigate the benefits of yoga practice on a combined mental health variable that consisted of two dependent variables, anxiety and depression. A significant effect for time, but not for the interaction between time and group, was found. This indicated that both groups' scores decreased over time on the depression and anxiety variables, but that there was no statistically significant difference between the treatment groups' depression and anxiety scores over time. In spite of non-significant results, additional exploratory analysis was conducted. Results indicated a trend towards significantly greater decreases in anxiety outcomes for the yoga group vs. the control group over time. The moderating effects of CU traits on the relationships among the treatment conditions and anxiety outcomes were found to be non-significant. Limitations of the present research, including low sample size and statistical power, are discussed.

<p>Syfte och frågeställningar</p><p>Syftet är att undersöka yoga och dess förhållande till hälsa ur ett fysiskt, psykiskt och själsligt perspektiv.</p><p>Frågeställningarna är:</p><p>- Hur beskrivs vägen mot tillståndet yoga enligt YogaSutras utifrån ett fysiskt, psykiskt och själsligt perspektiv?</p><p>- Hur beskrivs tillståndet yoga enligt YogaSutras utifrån ett fysiskt, psykiskt och själsligt perspektiv?</p><p>- På vilket sätt förhåller sig yoga enligt YogaSutras till hälsa utifrån ett fysiskt, psykiskt och själsligt perspektiv?</p><p>Metod</p><p>Metoden består av en textanalys ur en innehållsaspekt. Boken som används heter YogaSutras är skriven på sanskrit och översatt till engelska. Texten har bearbetats genom meningskoncentration och kategoriseras utifrån perspektiven fysiskt, psykiskt och själsligt, som en del utav det övergripande begreppet hälsa. Resultaten har sedan analyserat med stöd av Katie Erikssons hälsoteori.</p><p>Resultat</p><p>Resultatet visar att YogaSutras beskriver olika metoder och tekniker som individen kan utföra på vägen mot det slutgiltiga tillståndet yoga. Dessa innefattar fysiska, psyksiska och själsliga perspektiv. De tre perspektiven sker också i samverkan av varandra. I det slutgiltiga tillståndet yoga är de tre perspektiven integrerade. Detta överstämmer väl med Erikssons definition av hälsobegreppet.</p><p>Slutsats</p><p>Det står det klart att det finns minst ett förhållande mellan yoga och hälsa, vilket är att yoga bidrar till hälsa hos individen. Detta får även stöd av presenterad forskning. Det slutgiltiga tillståndet yoga kan även anses vara jämförbart med det optimala hälsotillståndet, eftersom tillstånden överensstämmer med varandra.</p>

Syfte och frågeställningar Syftet är att undersöka yoga och dess förhållande till hälsa ur ett fysiskt, psykiskt och själsligt perspektiv. Frågeställningarna är: - Hur beskrivs vägen mot tillståndet yoga enligt YogaSutras utifrån ett fysiskt, psykiskt och själsligt perspektiv? - Hur beskrivs tillståndet yoga enligt YogaSutras utifrån ett fysiskt, psykiskt och själsligt perspektiv? - På vilket sätt förhåller sig yoga enligt YogaSutras till hälsa utifrån ett fysiskt, psykiskt och själsligt perspektiv? Metod Metoden består av en textanalys ur en innehållsaspekt. Boken som används heter YogaSutras är skriven på sanskrit och översatt till engelska. Texten har bearbetats genom meningskoncentration och kategoriseras utifrån perspektiven fysiskt, psykiskt och själsligt, som en del utav det övergripande begreppet hälsa. Resultaten har sedan analyserat med stöd av Katie Erikssons hälsoteori. Resultat Resultatet visar att YogaSutras beskriver olika metoder och tekniker som individen kan utföra på vägen mot det slutgiltiga tillståndet yoga. Dessa innefattar fysiska, psyksiska och själsliga perspektiv. De tre perspektiven sker också i samverkan av varandra. I det slutgiltiga tillståndet yoga är de tre perspektiven integrerade. Detta överstämmer väl med Erikssons definition av hälsobegreppet. Slutsats Det står det klart att det finns minst ett förhållande mellan yoga och hälsa, vilket är att yoga bidrar till hälsa hos individen. Detta får även stöd av presenterad forskning. Det slutgiltiga tillståndet yoga kan även anses vara jämförbart med det optimala hälsotillståndet, eftersom tillstånden överensstämmer med varandra.

This dissertation examines the concept of living liberation in the Tirumantiram, a work recognised as one of the Tamil Saiva canonical texts composed around the ninth century. Modern scholarship has thus far attempted to comprehend the Tirumantiram in terms of the post-Tirumantiram traditions that developed after the thirteenth century: Tamil Saiva Siddhànta and Tamil Siddha. Consequently, the unity and coherence of the text are subjected to question, and the dual literary and cultural roots of the Tirumantiram remain largely uninvestigated. Besides, the significance of the Tirumantiram as one of the earliest vernacular works directly dealing with the question of soteriology for Tamil speaking populace, most of whom are not qualified for liberation and preceptorhood according to the Saivàgamas with which the text identifies itself, is not fully recognised. This dissertation argues that the concept of living liberation constitutes the unifying theme of the Tirumantiram, which is an outcome of the synthesis of Tamil and Sanskrit traditions, and demonstrates that the Tirumantiram-which does not apparently promote the ideology of temple cult around which the Tamil bhakti movement and Saivàgamas of Southern Saivism developed–exemplifies an alternative religious vision centred on the human body. This dissertation consists of four chapters. The first chapter examines the Tamil legacy to the concept of living liberation. The second examines the ambiguous relations between the Sanskrit traditions and the Tirumantiram. How the Tamil and Sanskrit traditions are fused together to produce a unique version of yoga, the means to attain living liberation, is the concern of the third chapter. The final chapter establishes through an analysis of sexual symbolism expressed in connotative language that the Tirumantiratm is an esoteric text. Thus, the Tirumantiram reflects the blending of an esoteric tantric sect with the leading mainstream bhakti religion, probably to win approval of and recognition in the Tamil Saiva community during the medieval period.

Globalization of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) has posed an unprecedented threat to the existence of an Indigenous Knowledge system. There is an increasing amount of appropriation of indigenous knowledge, whereby corporations from rich countries are claiming proprietary rights over knowledge that has belonged to cultures and people of indigenous communities for hundreds of years. IPRs have been inappropriately utilized hindering development and perpetuating poverty within indigenous knowledge−holding communities. This thesis attempts to frame the current debate at the intersection of IPRs and indigenous knowledge, bringing in the case studies on the appropriation of traditional Yoga of Hindu and the Zia sun of Zia−Pueblo of New Mexico. By bringing two case studies on appropriation, this project employs legal−critical scholarship to analyze how the current IPR regime supports commodifying traditional knowledge and artifacts such as Yoga and the Zia sun, and recommends for customary law as a viable alternative to the IPRs.