Holistic movement practices: an emerging category of physical activity for exercise psychology

Background: Exercise psychology has an interest in physical activity behaviour and the psychological dimensions of physical activity delivery and outcomes. Holistic movement practices (HMPs) can be defined as physical practices embedded in holistic philosophies of well-being. As such, they go beyond what is typically offered in exercise contexts to purposefully include mental, emotional, social and/or spiritual components. Traditional Eastern movement practices (e.g., Yoga, Tai Chi, Qigong) are examples of HMPs, but a range of lesser known “Western-born” HMPs (e.g., 5Rhythms, Biodanza) also exist. HMPs have not yet received much structured attention within exercise psychology. Objective: to analyse the nature of HMPs and discuss their relevance to the field of exercise psychology, with a view to raising awareness of HMPs within exercise psychology as well as encouraging and supporting future research. Content: We discuss what we see as commonalities among HMPs and argue that it is useful to treat HMPs as a category of physical activity for exercise psychology, not only because they are forms of physical activity but also because psychological dimensions are an integral and purposeful part of these practices. We provide a tentative conceptualization of HMP philosophies, with brief examples, and consider how exercise psychology’s subfields of participation behaviour, delivery parameters, outcomes, and mechanisms are applicable to the study of HMPs. Last, we briefly explore research issues, including HMPs’ multicomponent nature, selected potential mechanisms, and methodologies. Conclusion: HMPs are part of the leisure-based physical activities landscape in many modern societies, and deserve attention by exercise psychologists. Their embeddedness in holistic philosophies and multicomponent nature provide unique opportunities and challenges for research in exercise psychology