A Consideration of Transpersonal Research Methods for Studying Yoga and Mindfulness in Schools

School-based yoga and mindfulness interventions have shown mixed results: some quantitative studies report null or counterintuitive effects like increased stress and negative affect, while qualitative interviews reveal student-reported benefits even when quantitative outcomes are not statistically significant. These inconsistencies suggest the field could benefit from transpersonal research methods, developed in transpersonal psychology to study inner and spiritual experiences. The paper re-envisions a previously published school-based yoga study through this lens, arguing that combining transpersonal methods with traditional quantitative and qualitative approaches may yield richer evaluations of these interventions.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Over the past decade, interest in yoga and mindfulness in schools has grown tremendously, with preliminary research suggesting that these interventions may have a variety of positive effects on youth. However, some quantitative studies of school-based yoga and mindfulness have reported null and/or counterintuitive effects, such as increases in perceived stress, negative affect and psychological symptoms. In addition, some mixed-methods studies that combined quantitative and qualitative approaches have found inconsistent results, with the quantitative outcomes failing to show statistical significance, while students report benefits of yoga and mindfulness in qualitative interviews/focus groups. These inconsistent findings suggest that the field of school-based yoga and mindfulness may benefit from a consideration of additional research approaches, such as transpersonal research methods, to study the potential effects of these interventions. Transpersonal research methods were developed within the field of transpersonal psychology as an alternative approach to studying the nature of inner experiences, particularly transpersonal and spiritual experiences. The current paper re-envisions a previously published study of a school-based yoga intervention through the lens of transpersonal research methods, with the intention of providing researchers with examples and inspiration to enrich their studies of school-based yoga and mindfulness. By combining transpersonal research methods with traditional quantitative and qualitative approaches, scientists have the potential to provide a richer and more complex evaluation of yoga and mindfulness in schools.