Spirituality among Non-Ashtang Yoga practitioners and Non-Yoga Practitioners

Abstract

Most of the research and researcher’s focus on the Physical and Therapeutic benefits of Yoga Asanas and Pranayama’s, but very few focus on the practice of entire Ashtang Yoga (eight-limbed yoga) solely and their effects on Spirituality. The current study was undertaken to assess the level of Spiritual well-being among Non-Ashtang Yoga practitioners who practice basic Yoga Asanas and Pranayama’s and Non-Yoga practitioners who doesn’t Practice yoga at all. The sample comprised of 100 participants (50 Non-Ashtang Yoga practitioners and Non-Yoga practitioners each) belonging to the age range of 19 to 25 years. The Spiritual Well-Being scale by Paloutzian & Ellison (1982) was used for the purpose of assessing Spirituality, which has 2 subscales namely Religious and Existential well-being. Research is Exploratory in nature and the Sample Survey Research Design was adopted. The obtained results were analysed using Independent Samples t-test. The findings indicated that there is no significant difference in the level of spiritual well-being among Non-Ashtang Yoga practitioners and Non-yoga practitioners. However, the study also revealed that the level of Religious well-being is comparatively high among Non-Ashtang Yoga practitioners than Non-Yoga Practitioners. Practicing only Yoga Asanas and Pranayama’s, may not have much effect on Spiritual development of an individual, but practice of all the eight limbed yoga’s may have.