Yoga boosts Self Esteem: Myth or Not?
yoga, self esteem, myths
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If you’re in the health and fitness mix, you might have heard some rumors brewing that Yoga has been scientifically proven to raise your self esteem. I’m sure many people on a quest for high self esteem happiness have been jumping into the yoga studios by the bounds.
But does yoga really boost your self esteem?
A recent study performed by Steriani Elavsky and Edward McAuley found a slight increase in physical self esteem – but it was not a significant value. Basically, their finding was no more than a coincidence.
Their study consisted of 164 women between ages 42 to 56. They were split into 3 groups to perform a certain exercise for 4 months. One group was assigned walking, one group assigned yoga (obviously), and one group got to sit around being lazy. Each group was psychologically evaluated before and after the 4 month period. Each person was paid $20 – pretty lame pay if you ask me.
Not sure how the above position could be a self esteem booster.
At the end of 4 months, the two groups who exercised showed a slight increase in self esteem, while the lazy group did not. While the yoga group was loved themselves slightly more than the walking group, it did not turn out to be a scientifically significant difference.
So basically, there’s no scientific proof stating that yoga boosts your self esteem. However, that’s not to say that yoga won’t boost a certain person’s self esteem more than other activities. Since I’m not into yoga, it probably wouldn’t boost my self esteem. Another example: I don’t think an MMA Fighter would have a big ego boost with yoga. But maybe someone who’s not very athletic would have a huge ego boost.
Applying his Gold-Bond foot powder AND Deoderant (patent pending)
Yoga is actually pretty useful (whether it's an ego booster or not). Yoga can be a great warm up and is well known as a mind-relaxer. I'll be honest, I'm not much of a yoga person, but I know many people who do it and love it - and they're pretty chill people so I trust their opinion. So aside from the myth, don't hesitate to try it out.
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on 4/13/2008
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