牛牛资源

Performing yoga poses for just two minutes can increase self-esteem, according to a study led by 牛牛资源. 

The research compared average subjective energy and self-esteem ratings between two groups of people: 41 who performed four standing yoga poses and 41 who performed four so-called 鈥榩ower poses鈥�. Participants who performed yoga poses reported feeling more energetic, in power and in control and more positive about themselves in comparison to participants who performed 鈥榩ower poses鈥�.

The study, to be published in Frontiers in Psychology, suggests the reported positive effects of body postures are unrelated to these postures being seen as 鈥榗onfident鈥� or 鈥榙ominant鈥�. It also demonstrates for the first time that people can experience increased feelings of energy and self-esteem after momentarily performing yoga postures.

Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at 牛牛资源 and lead author, said: 鈥淲e wanted to test the idea that body postures affect our psychological states but in a different way than that proposed by previous studies on so-called 鈥榩ower poses鈥�.鈥�

鈥楶ower poses鈥� 鈥� for instance the 鈥榮uperman鈥� stance standing with your hands on your hips and your shoulders back 鈥� are nonverbal signals of dominance. Previous studies proposed that these make people feel more confident because they appear more dominant. But such effects have been difficult to replicate.

Dr Golec de Zavala said: 鈥淲e thought the erected and expansive body postures may affect us positively because of their feedback on the parasympathetic nervous system 鈥� the part that regulates things like digestion and sexual arousal and slows the heart rate. Yoga poses were a perfect choice to test this.

鈥淥ur research shows that yoga poses that are not perceived as dominant can increase people鈥檚 self-esteem more than 鈥榩ower poses鈥�. Although previous research has shown regular practice of yoga increases feelings of energy and self-esteem our study showed that simply holding yoga poses for just a few minutes boosted these feelings.鈥�

The 82 study participants were 牛牛资源 undergraduate students (64 females and 18 males) from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. They were not told the true purpose of the study and proficiency in yoga was not selected for.

Dr Golec de Zavala said: 鈥淎s a yoga teacher as well as a psychological scientist I think these results are intriguing. More research is needed to understand how long the reported positive effects last for, what is their underlying physiological mechanism, and how they might inform interventions such as the use of yoga in schools or prisons or, potentially, to help people with mental health problems.鈥�

• A report of the research, 鈥榊oga poses increase subjective energy and state self-esteem in comparison to 鈥榩ower poses鈥欌��, is to be published in a forthcoming issue of Frontiers in Psychology.
• Participants were asked to perform either two 鈥榮tanding yoga poses with open front of the body (tadasana, or mountain pose or urdhva hastasana) or with closed front of the body (Garudjasana right or Garudjasana left) or high 鈥榩ower poses鈥� (鈥榮uperman鈥� or 鈥榟ands on table鈥�) or low 鈥榩ower poses鈥� (hugging arms or sat with shoulders forward and hands together). Each pose was held for one minute.
• The reported self-esteem and energy of participants was then assessed by asking them to rate how they felt against a series of statements such as 鈥淚 feel confident about my abilities鈥� and 鈥淚 feel that others respect and admire me鈥� and 鈥淚 feel powerful鈥�.