Yoga as Entrée to Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Medically Pluralistic Practices

Abstract

Yoga is increasingly ubiquitous in the United States and globally. The growth of yoga's popularity alongside Indian healing philosophies, including Ayurvedic medicine, makes yoga an important influence on conceptualization of health in holistic terms. Because of these philosophies, the growing use of yoga has implications for how healthcare is sought and utilized. Yoga practitioners are likely to engage in pluralistic health care-seeking practices, yet, the underlying perspectives that drive yoga practitioners to engage in particular health practices are poorly understood in anthropological and public health literature. This study examined perspectives on health care-seeking among long-term yoga practitioners in a yoga community in Florida. Based on semi-structured interviews conducted in 2010 with 26 adults in a Florida yoga center who have practiced yoga at least once per week for at least one year, the study found that long-term yoga practitioners utilized yoga and other systems of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to address health needs that were not met by biomedicine. Moreover, once individuals embarked on long-term yoga practice, they expanded their health care-seeking practices to other CAMs. This study contributes to understanding of the pluralization of health care-seeking practices, highlights concerns with the biomedical health system, and contributes to current debates on health care reform.

A qualitative study of culturally embedded factors in complementary and alternative medicine use

“…Philosophical congruence may also come into play concerning dietary or exercise preferences constituting an “entrée” [ 42 ] into the world of CAM. Dietary preferences often correlate with loss of trust in societal institutions, as they are underlined by assumptions concerning the chemical treatment of food, the proliferation of preservatives, and other notions regarding the mass production of sustenance.…”

Differences between vegetarian and omnivorous yoga practitioners—Results of a nationally representative survey of US adult yoga practitioners

“…be even more prevalent in practitioners with a longer history of yoga practice (9). Long-term yoga practice also may be indicative of yoga practitioners using additional CAM therapies for health needs (10). On the other hand, practitioners who perceive and use yoga more as a form of exercise, relaxation technique, or leisure, might be less likely to include a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle into their yoga practice.…”

“It's All About the Journey”: Skepticism and Spirituality in the BDSM Subculture

“…The conflicting attitudes I have termed post‐rational evinced by my respondents are probably not unique to people in the BDSM subculture. Previous research indicates that the types of Americans who participate in a wide range of institutions from “alternative medicine” to yoga may be similar to the types of people who participate in the BDSM subculture (especially in the label as “creative unconventionals”) (Coulter and Willis ; Sivn and Mishtal ). People may very well adopt a similar post‐rational attitude when engaging in these other activities as well.…”