Role of yoga in enhancing self-compassion: Beyond self-criticism as a key to psychological health

Pages: 1364-1370
Teesta Saksena and Ritu Sharma (Amity Institute of Psychology & Allied Sciences, Amity University Noida, Uttar Pradesh)

Feelings of kindness, compassion, and empathy in attitude have become a rare phenomenon in the urban population leading to psychological issues of Self-Harm and extreme Risk Taking behavior ranging from Suicide to Drug Abuse. This investigation converges its focus on the rising need for compassion directed inwards in the Indian urban society. Self-compassion is increased through interventions like Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, Loving-Kindness Meditation, with little researched with regard to individuals practicing forms of mindfulness based interventions such as meditation or Yoga practices in relation to Self-Compassion. A tremendous amount of attention has been received by Yoga with an aim to investigate the strength of its association with psychological experiences across all populations. This investigation is an attempt to examine the association between Self-Compassion and Psychological Health among urban Indian adult practitioners of Hatha Yoga. Sample of the study comprised of adults aged between 25-35 years, who have been into practice of Hatha Yoga for 3-months duration. An account of quantitative results obtained predicts a significant and positive relationship between psychological health and all the positive sub-elements of Self-Compassion.