The culture of yoga retreats, active followers and peripheral associates of new religious movements: wellness enterprises promoting well-being

This paper examines the wellness effects of yoga retreats on Indian guru-led new religious movements’ (NRMs) fellowship. The two-year repeated-measures study included 3658 active followers and 3658 peripheral associates as the comparison group. Two measures assessed wellness: the Flourishing Scale (...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mental health, religion & culture
Main Author: Pandya, Samta (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Taylor & Francis 2018
In: Mental health, religion & culture
Further subjects:B Yoga retreats
B thriving
B New Religious Movements
B active followers
B Flourishing
B peripheral associates
B Wellness
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:This paper examines the wellness effects of yoga retreats on Indian guru-led new religious movements’ (NRMs) fellowship. The two-year repeated-measures study included 3658 active followers and 3658 peripheral associates as the comparison group. Two measures assessed wellness: the Flourishing Scale (FS) and the Comprehensive Inventory of Thriving (CIT). Phase 1 scores of both groups were not significantly different. Active followers who attended yoga retreats scored higher at phase 2 on the FS and the CIT than the peripheral associates. Within the active followers’ cohort, women, upper class, Hindus and never married/widowed had higher phase 2 FS and CIT scores. Active followers who attended retreats for meditation and reflection, practiced yoga, prayer and personal study during retreats, and regularly maintained the spiritual routine after retreats, acquired several psychological resources and strengths. Hence, active and serious followers of the Indian guru-led NRMs psychologically gain as a result of experiencing yoga retreats.
ISSN:1469-9737
Contains:Enthalten in: Mental health, religion & culture
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13674676.2018.1424812