The exploration of becoming as a yoga practitioner and its impact on identity formation, health, and well-being

Abstract

This study aimed to narrow the gap in understanding the health and well-being effects of becoming through occupation by exploring the concept of becoming through yoga practitioners’ perspectives. Four participants from the Southwest of England were recruited to engage in one-to-one semi-structured interviews concentrated on perspectives of transformation; that is, becoming, from their viewpoint as yoga practitioners. Qualitative interpretative phenomenological analysis brought about rich, in-depth accounts of the lived experiences of becoming, revealing the nature of becoming for a yogi, how yoga impacted their identity formation, and tensions between the Western definitions of becoming and yoga. The findings uncovered three themes: mapping self through time and yoga practice, transformed health and well-being through doing yoga, and strengthened connections through being a yogi. The findings support the significance of yoga as an occupation that elicits becoming through personal transformations despite the potential for adverse effects, such as insecurity and Western conformity pressures. Yogis’ depictions of becoming differed from the Western occupational paradigm of becoming, as highlighted by participants’ concentration on self-acceptance versus active self-promotion. For yoga practitioners, becoming involved receptivity and reinforced inner resilience. Further research is warranted on how the effects of becoming manifest across different meaningful occupations and diverse cultural backgrounds.