A Qualitative Study on Yoga Practice in Quality of Labor Life

Abstract

In coincidence with Lewin (1939), the subjects' aims and needs make their behavior more dynamic. Thus, self care, expressed through Yoga practice, appears as a temporal space marker for those who indulge in it, and as a route which leads from a state of being un-well/organized/balanced to the contrary, with the addition of related values and consequent changes in relation to others, and to the world in general. Among the reasons leading to the practice of Yoga—practice of the self, we may mention disquiet related to health problems, the stimulus of another signifier, a personal quest on the part of the interviewed subjects, and it may even be attributed to chance. Most of the subjects interviewed relate Yoga to something that exceeds the mere practice (restricted to the physical plane) thus, the body comes across as a full semantic vector, expressing values, changes in the relationships with others, and with the world in general. Those changes are reflected in quality of life, in general, and in quality of labor life in particular, and are explicitly acknowledged, in some cases, as being the source of improvement in productivity. As aforementioned, the globalization context produces a pronounced circulation of people, goods, cultural elements, etc., related to improvements in means of transport and communications. The circulation of cultural elements of diverse origins is an ancient phenomenon, product of a convergence of cultures, thus generating not only circulation but also resemantization of the them, sometimes related to the development of the self; in other words, to quality of life itself, both general or explicit, particularly in the work place. Such is the case of Yoga, a system applied nowadays in different spheres including business organizations which offer it to their employees as an added benefit in their workplace. In any case. Yoga, as a practice of the self, entails inner changes, changes in relation to others and to the world in general. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved). (chapter)