Exploring Strategies to Enhance Self-Efficacy about Starting a Yoga Practice

Yoga demonstrates promising effects in the treatment of a range of mental and physical health symptoms and is cost-effective. However, its rise in popularity has attracted a specific demographic: practitioners tend to be female, white, and well-educated. The study explored the impact of commercial versus educational representations of yoga in the context of a lecture on building a yoga practice. The study used a randomized experimental design and measures of selfcompassion, self-efficacy, and social physique anxiety to assess changes from baseline to post-stimulus and then post-lecture. Participants were 18 years or older, students of Pacific University, and English speakers. Participants were randomly assigned to control (exposure to a handout of the eight limbs of yoga) or experimental conditions (exposure to a copy of Yoga Journal). Exposure to conditions was followed by a brief presentation on beginning a yoga practice. ANCOVAs were calculated (using gender as a covariate) to analyze findings (n=52). Significant improvements emerged related to self-efficacy. For men, increase in self-efficacy was greater with exposure to an educational handout. Additionally, ANOVAs were calculated to examine the overall impact of the lecture on self-efficacy and self-compassion (n=81). Significant changes emerged over time for self-efficacy but not self-compassion. Findings demonstrate that brief interventions can improve self-efficacy about starting a yoga practice. Degree of improvement was dependent on the materials individuals were exposed to. Effectiveness of materials differed for men versus women. Men were found to be more negatively affected by stereotypic images of yoga.