Yoga in Higher Education: North American Educators and the Use of Yoga as Pedagogy: A Dissertation

This study used eighteen interviews and a self-administered online questionnaire (n=117) to examine the use of yoga as pedagogy in undergraduate and graduate level classrooms in North America. The results of this study suggest that educators define yoga in three distinct ways: as a modern postural practice (eight interview participants), a philosophical orientation (seven interview participants) and a New Age orientation (three interview participants). The data from this research indicates that educators who view yoga as a modern postural practice and a philosophical orientation were highly committed to maintaining the following characteristics of higher education: secularism, the biomedical model, and the need for rational thinking. Educators using yoga as pedagogy were involved in a complex process that attempts to balance indigenous practices (yoga) with the tensions, needs and culture of higher education