Purpose This study is a phenomenological research which tries to describe the subjective experience and to analyze multi-layered meanings, and it finds out the men's training experience and meaning. The purpose of this study is to investigate why the men do Yoga and what the subjective meaning of Yoga experience, and the study examines critically whether Yoga experience especially focused on women is against gender performance and dominant body discourse. Methods For the study, 6 middle & young-old aged men who do Yoga more than 6 months every week are selected as participants. Results The meaning of Yoga for middle & young-old aged men in their lives is as follows. First, it is hard for men to experience Yoga because of social and cultural background. Finding Yoga class which takes men's membership is difficult. Second, middle & young-old aged men's physical feature(interest in their health and disease) and personal background(women friendly daily life) become specific motivation to overcome the barrier to do Yoga. Third, Yoga is 'alterative training', not a training. Yoga is considered as a training which replaces the feature of training called men's sports previously. Fourth, Yoga has a meaning of 'healing' to have our own time. Fifth, Yoga is changed by itself in Yoga culture which is focused on women even though middle & young-old aged men do Yoga for a long time. Sixth, middle & young-old aged men realize that the feature of Yoga is not 'for only women', and they thought it is 'neutral training that men can do too.' Conclusion Consequently, the reason why middle & young-old aged men do Yoga is started from the motivation regarding physical characteristics and personal background, and the main purpose is to cure and to heal our bodies and mind. For them, Yoga means 'alternative training to fit their bodies' and 'their own time'. Moreover, old male adult's training experience and meaning are against gender performance in that it cause a crack in stereotyped gender sports area, but it is notable that there is no intention to resist the dominant gender body discourse.
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence 12 weeks of Hatha yoga exercise has upon changes in postural control ability of high school girls. The research subjects were 27 high school girls (yoga group: 15, control group: 12). Changes that took place after yoga exercise were comparatively analyzed after having them train Hatha yoga for 12 weeks. The research variables that were measured were the moving range of COP in static postural balance, Rambling & Trembling in the moving range of COP, and postural change in the sagittal plane. The mean and the standard deviation(SD) were calculated on each measurement item by using the SPSS Ver 21.0 statistical program. To verify difference in pre-value between groups, an independent t-test was carried out. The verification of change according to time within the group after 12 weeks of yoga exercise was conducted in a paired t-test. To inspect interaction by time and group before and after yoga exercise, two-way repeated measures ANOVA was implemented. As a result, the moving distance of the pre and post direction in the moving range of COP was reduced. Rambling and Trembling in the pre-and-post direction significantly decreased. And in postural change of the sagittal plane, there was significant interaction between two groups in the neck and thigh parts. It was thought that the 12 weeks hatha yoga exercise has positive influence upon improving the postural control mechanism in female high school students and has an effect even on change in the postural control ability of an individual.
PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an 8-week online yoga training on body composition, muscle activity, flexibility, and balance in males (n=7) and females (n=15). METHODS Twenty-two participants were recruited and divided into two groups (Exercise group, n=11 and control group, n=11). All participants had two visits. During the visits, body composition, muscle activity for forward and back-bending poses, flexibility for sitting-forward and back-bending poses, and balance for one-leg standing were determined. After 8-week yoga training, all measurements were re-performed. An independent t-test was performed to determine the difference between the exercise and control groups. A two-way repeated measures of ANOVA was used to assess the interaction effects (group*time). All values were represented as mean ± standard deviation. An α level was set at 0.05 for all analyses. RESULTS First, the height significantly increased (F=16.573, p=0.001) and body fat mass (F=7.109, p=0.015) and body fat percent (F=7.667, p=0.012) were significantly decreased after the 8-week online yoga training. Second, the muscle activity for vatus lateralis doing a back-bending pose (F=6.140, p=0.022) significantly increased after the 8-week online yoga training. Third, the flexibility on sitting-forward bending pose (F=4.661, p=0.043) and back-bending pose (F=11.650, p=0.003) were statistically increased after the 8-week online yoga training. Lastly, balance on the Center Of Pressure (COP) X (F=5.769, p=0.026) and the Center Of Pressure (COP) Y (F=4.365, p=0.05) significantly increased after the 8-week online yoga training. CONCLUSIONS This study will provide scientific evidence on improving exercise programs using online yoga training on physical activity.
