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The Ashtanga Yoga Hindi Scale: An Assessment Tool Based on Eastern

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The Ashtanga Yoga Hindi Scale: An
Assessment Tool Based on Eastern
Philosophy of Yoga

Mahima Raina & Kamlesh Singh

Journal of Religion and Health

ISSN 0022-4197

J Relig Health
DOI 10.1007/s10943-015-0096-4

1 23
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DOI 10.1007/s10943-015-0096-4

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLORATION

The Ashtanga Yoga Hindi Scale: An Assessment Tool

Based on Eastern Philosophy of Yoga

Mahima Raina1 • Kamlesh Singh1

Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Abstract The study imports the concept of Ashtanga Yoga from the eastern philosophy of
Yoga. There is a major disconnect between theory and data in Indian Psychology. Indian
Psychology provides a rich theoretical base for understanding optimal human functioning.
However, the theories have not been tested due to paucity of tools. A test developed on
Ashtanga Yoga is reported. Data were collected in two phases from 550 participants. The data
were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis. Seven factors were extracted as the theory
indicates. Overall reliability of the scale was found to be excellent (a = 0.88), and the
criterion-related validity was satisfactory as correlations were found to be 0.46 and 0.48
(p \ 0.01) for Flourishing and SPANE-P, respectively, and -0.22 (p \ 0.01) for SPANE-N.

Keywords Ashtanga Yoga
Indian psychology
Test construction
Positive psychology

Introduction

The two major shifts in Psychology in the recent times have to be Positive Psychology and
Indigenous Psychology. One prominent goal of Indian Psychology is to examine the roots
of Psychology in traditional thought. Just similar to positive psychology, the spiritual
thought aims to shift the focus from illness to wellness and optimal living. The overlap in
the aims of both Indian and Positive psychology is evident. However, each has its own
shortcomings, addressing which we could reach a deeper understanding various aspects of
human functioning. Indian scriptures are abundant with theories and paths to optimal living

& Mahima Raina

huz138543@iitd.ac.in
Kamlesh Singh
singhk@hss.iitd.ac.in
1
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi,
India

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Ahimsa

Satya Pratyahara
Asana Dhyaan
Asteya

Brahmacharya Yama Yoga Dharana

Aparigrah
Prannayama
Niyama

Shaucha Santosha Tapah Swadhaye Ishwar Pranidhan

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram showing components of Ashtanga Yoga. Adapted from Bangali (1976)

providing a rich theoretical base but poor or negligible empirical validation. Undoubtedly,
with empirical and reductionist approaches overtaking the deep thought that Psychology
demands, streams like Humanistic Psychology lost its steam (Rao 2014). Positive Psy-
chology, on the other hand, relies on plethora of empirical research evidence yet com-
promising on the depth of theorizing. According to Rao (2014), positive psychology falls
short of being a viable alternative to existing mechanistic theories in psychology. The
paper aims to bridge the obvious disconnect of theory and data. We present a test on
Ashtanga Yoga importing the theoretical base from Patanjali Yogasutras which is the most
succinct and popular treatise on the eastern philosophy of Yoga (Fig. 1).

Conceptual Framework

Psychology has ventured into domains of humanistic and transpersonal psychology and is
replete with accounts of positive functioning. Jung’s (1933) concept of individuation;
Winnicott (1960) notion of true self; Roger’s (1961) concept of fully functioning indi-
vidual and Maslow’s (1968) self-actualization all broadly refer to awakening of some
latent potentialities in human beings. These potentialities are akin to high functioning, and
achieving this state of mind is understood to be highest human motivation.
The Eastern Philosophies are rich sources of wisdom that dilate on the process of reaching
maximum human potential. Different texts quote several Indian terms for the same, such as
becoming a Brahman in Mundaka Upanishad; Brahma in Vivekachudamani and Chandogya
Upanishad and Jivanmukta in Advaita philosophy. Yoga Philosophy has delineated this
process toward becoming a true Yogi (a person proficient in Yoga; Patanjali Yogasutras,
1.21) in eight steps called the Ashtanga Yoga (Ashta means eight and tanga means limbs). The
word Yoga has wider and complex meanings and connotations in the whole Sanskrit lexicon.
According to Patanjali (Patanjali Yogasutra, 1.1), Yoga is spiritual absorption (Samadhi). It
is characteristic of mind pervading all its planes. The five mental planes are: Ksipta (Raving);
Mudha (Forgetful); Viksipta (oscillating); Ekagra (One-pointed) and Nirudha (Restrained).
Thus according to the Yoga Philosophy, one can pervade these mental planes by practicing
eight step Yoga which includes: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahaar, Dharana,
Dhyaan and Samadhi (Patanjali Yogasutra, 2.29). The Samadhi is understood as the goal of

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Yoga or achievement of Yoga and both mean spiritual absorption which is understood as
parallel to fully functioning person in Psychology.
The Yama (Patanjali Yogasutra, 2.29) are restraints that one must follow and these
include Ahimsa (harmlessness in thought, action and speech); Satya (truthfulness); Asteya
(abstinence from theft, avoiding being envious or begrudging of others); Brahmacharya
(continence) and Aparigrah (earning through righteous means, non-acceptance of gifts,
avoiding gluttony). The Niyamas (Patanjali Yogasutra, 2.30) are observances and include
Shaucha (includes cleaning the body and mind); Santosha (contentment); Tapah
(penance); Swadhaye (study of scriptures and self-reflection) and Ishwar Pranidhan
(complete aspiration after God). The Asanas (Patanjali Yogasutra, 2.46) are postures
regular practice of which increases agility of both mind and body. Pranayama (Patanjali
Yogasutra, 2.49) is the practice of breath control. According to the Yogasutras, once the
above steps are perfected, the person is ready to experience a detachment from senses. The
mind of such a person conquers the feelings of attraction, aversion, is devoid of a sense of
pleasure and pain. Such a state is called Pratyahaar. This stage is characterized by
experience of non-attachment which is extolled not just in the Yoga Philosophy but equally
in other Indian scriptures. For example, ‘‘Bhagvad Gita prescribes performing duties
established in Yoga- renouncing attachment and being even-tempered in success and
failure; evenness of temper is Yoga’’ (Bhagvad Gita, 2.48). The state of ‘‘Yoga’’ is marked
by the person achieving Sthirpragya (steady intellect) which means pervading the five
mental planes (Bhagvad Gita, 2.55). This prepares the Yogi toward the experience of
Samyama (Patanjali Yogasutra, 3.4) that includes the union of Dharana (concentration)—
in which the Yogi acquires observational excellence; Dhyaan (sustained concentration)—
excellence in cognitive knowing and Samadhi (meditative absorption). The cumulative
consequence of experience of Samyama is the appearance of intellective vision which is
the state of Yoga (Patanjali Yogasutra, 3.5).
Many experimental studies report the impact of Yoga on health and well-being.
However, the term Yoga in these studies has been used synonymous to the concept of
Asana or Yogic postures. As mentioned above, the term Yoga has a varied, complex and
fluid meanings over the time. The recent understanding of Yoga is somewhat close to a
form of physical fitness, however, in Yoga philosophy it is much deep rooted and multi-
faceted. Studies indicate that Yoga enhances cardiovascular functioning (Bharshankar
et al. 2003), benefits mental and physical health by regulating the Hypothalamic Pituitary
Axis and the Sympathetic nervous system (Ross and Thomas 2010); improves balance and
fatigue (Oken et al. 2004); heart rate (Bowman et al. 1997); relieves menopausal symptoms
and sleep disturbance (Chattha et al. 2008) and increases muscular strength (Tran et al.
2001). Pranayama also improves heart rate and blood pressure (Bhavanani and Sanjay
2011); decreases sympathetic activity and increases parasympathetic activity (Pal and
Velkumary 2004; Vyas and Dikshit 2002). Yoga also reduces perceived stress, depression,
anxiety (Brown and Gerbarg 2005); improves overall subjective well-being (Damodaran
et al. 2002) and enhances of quality of life (Duraiswamy et al. 2007).

Present Study

Almost all studies reported on Yoga, Pranayama or meditation have experimental designs.
Of course, this methodology has its own benefits but there has been no self-report measure
on Yoga that is based on traditional theoretical underpinnings of Ashtanga Yoga. The study

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ventures into development of a self-report measure of Ashtanga Yoga, attempting to

synergize Indo-Western theory and method. The major drawback of Indian Psychology has
been its over dependence on first and second person approach to enquiry. By adopting a
third person approach, we address this limitation. We also aim to bridge the theory-data
gap in Indian Psychology also opening scope for further research and improvement in
theory and measurement of this concept.

Methodology

The study was conducted in three phases. The first stage was Item Development and
refinement, followed by the second stage consisting of a Preliminary tryout of the items
developed. The data received were subjected to exploratory factor analysis. The final tryout
tested the scale we finalized from the preceding two phases. Together with that we attached
two scales for establishing concurrent validity of our scale. All the phases were carried out
using the original Hindi version of Ashtanga Yoga Scale. The phases are described below.

Phase 1: Item Development and Refinement

(i) Item development We utilized four popular commentaries (Madhavacharaya 2010;

Bharti 2004a, 2004b; Jois 2006; Bangali 1976) on Patanjali Yogasutras to under-
stand the concept of Ashtanga Yoga. These commentaries explained the text in three
languages: Sanskrit, Hindi and English. Based on our understanding of the concept,
we identified main theme points for each of the sub-scales. Items were developed on
Yama (including its five sub-concepts: Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya, Brahmacharya and
Aparigrah); Niyama (including its five sub-concepts: Shaucha, Santosha, Tapah,
Swadhaye and Ishwar Pranidhan); Asana, Pranayama, Dharana and Dhyaan. We
did not include Samadhi in our test because it is a far developed mental state. We
reason it is generally inaccessible or difficult to approximate for an average human
being. We developed about 88 items on each of these constructs in Hindi.
(ii) Item refinement, modification and expert review The first feedback on the
content/face validity of the items was done within our research group. Suggestions
were solicited on the quality of the items, alignment with the operational
definitions elucidated and general structure of the items. The suggestions provided
were incorporated and the final draft was sent to about 8 subject matter experts
(SMEs). Out of eight, four SMEs responded. Each SME provided their ratings on a
scale of 4 (0 = not at all relevant; 4 = very relevant). The experts also gave
comments on the parameters described above. The ratings from all the experts
were compiled into a document and computed I-CVI (Item level Content Validity)
score for each item. The procedure described by Lynn (1986) was followed. It is
recommended that with the panel of ‘‘five or fewer experts, all must agree on the
content validity of the items for their rating to be considered a reasonable
representation of the universe of possible ratings (Lynn 1986, p. 383)’’. In other
words, the I-CVI should be 1.00 when there are five or fewer judges. However, in
our study we found this criterion extremely restrictive. Hence, we included values
of I-CVI up to 0.75. Yaghmaie (2003) used similar cut-off point with judgments
from 3 experts. About 6 items that received an I-CVI score below 0.75 were
rejected. However, as we had a lot of constraints at this stage to keep maximum
items, also because our sub-scales had only 5–7 items each, we decided to include

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few items with I-CVI of 0.50 with modification. The modifications were suggested
by the experts. The experts also gave suggestions for the new items that could be
generated. Based on modifications and addition of new items, even after rejection
of few items, a total number of items that remained were 87. These 87 items
comprised the final questionnaire.

Phase II: Preliminary Tryout

The Phase II comprised the Preliminary tryout. The questionnaire containing final 87 items
(49 positively worded and 31 negatively worded) was circulated among students in a
university. Consent was taken from the authorities of the institution after appraising them
of the intent and purpose of the research.

Participants

The sample consisted of 150 students between ages 20 and 30 (mean age = 22.2 years,
SD = 2.025). Out of 150 students, 90 were males and 60 were females; 114 students were
Bachelor’s students and 36 were Master’s students.

Procedure

The test with 87 items together with brief questions asking demographic information was
circulated among 150 students in paper–pencil format. The participants were explained the
purpose of the study. They were also assured of confidentiality and had the option of opting
out of the study. All the participants signed the written consent form before participating in
the study.

Analysis

Items were scanned for the corrected item-total correlation and items with values less than
0.20 were identified. Following this Field (2005) criteria, we deleted 44 items, retaining a
total of 43 items for the next study.

Phase III: Final Tryout

Sample

The sample consisted of 400 students (277 males and 123 females). Mean age of the
sample was 23.15 years and SD = 4.261. About 83 % of the students were undergraduate
students and 17 % were postgraduate students.

Measures

(i) Ashtanga Yoga Scale: The newly developed Ashtanga Yoga scale with 43 items
was used for Study Phase III. To measure the criterion-related validity of this
scale the following validating measures were used:
(ii) Flourishing Scale (FS; Diener et al. 2010): This is an 8 item scale that provides a
single measure of the positive human functioning. The scale is reported to have

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good psychometric properties, with Cronbach’s alpha higher than 0.80 (Diener
et al. 2010; Silva and Caetano 2013). Responses are measured on a 7-point scale
(7 = strongly agree and 1 = strongly disagree).
(iii) Scale of positive and negative experience (SPANE; Diener et al. 2010):
According to (Diener et al. 2010) SPANE is subdivided in two sub-scales—the
positive (SPANE-P) and the negative experiences (SPANE-N) sub-scale.
Subtraction of negative affect score from the positive yields an affect balance
(SPANE-B) score. The responses are measured on a five-point scale (1 = very
rarely or never and 5 = always). The SPANE has demonstrated good psycho-
metric properties as SPANE-N (a = 0.84), SPANE-P (a = 0.90) and SPANE-B
(a = 0.88; Diener et al. 2010).

Procedure

The new scale with the validating measures and brief demographics related questions were
circulated among 560 participants. Out of this, 400 participants returned the questionnaire.
About 100 participants completed the questionnaire online and for the rest paper–pencil
format was used. The participants were informed about the purpose and intent of the
research, and confidentiality was ensured. All the participants signed written consent to
participate in our research and had the option of dropping out of it anytime.

Analyses

The scale was subjected to item analysis as well as exploratory factor analysis. We found
one problematic item each in Dharana and Dhyaan scale—both items having a corrected
total item correlation below 0.20. Hence, the two items were deleted and the final scale
after Phase III consisted of 41 items.

Results

In the factor analysis in the Phase III, except for the two items that were deleted, similar
factor structure was replicated as we had found in the preliminary tryout. The factor
analysis was conducted using SPSS version 20.0. The Kaiser–Meyer Olkin’s test (KMO)
and Bartlett test of sphericity were conducted for knowing if the data were adequate for
conducting factor analysis. We proceeded with the factor analysis if the KMO value was at
least 0.50 and above, which is considered acceptable range for conducting factor analysis
(Field 2005). The Bartlett test of sphericity had to be significant at least at p value of 0.05
to proceed for the factor analysis. Table 1 summarizes descriptive statistics. Factor anal-
ysis results are discussed below.

I Yama Scale

The KMO value was 0.67 which indicated acceptable levels and the Bartlett test of
sphericity was highly significant v2(55) = 1292.74, p \ 0.001. The scale was subjected to
Varimax rotation with the option of 5 factor solution checked. The scale explained
76.31 % of variance. Table 2 shows variance contributed by each factor and their

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Table 1 Descriptive statistics

Mean (N = 400) SD (N = 400)

Yama 43.90 6.51

Niyama 45.84 8.60
Asana 8.09 3.30
Pranayama 15.81 5.69
Pratyahaar 5.74 2.16
Dharana 12.98 3.62
Dhyaan 10.44 2.54
SPANE_P 22.42 4.70
SPANE_N 14.82 4.19
SPANE_B 7.61 7.55
Flourishing 38.08 7.99

Table 2 Rotated component

Component
matrix Yama Scale
1 2 3 4 5

AH2 .88
AH1 .87
AH3 .87
B1 .86
B2 .85
AS1_REV .88
AS2_REV .84
ST2 .88
ST1 .77
Extraction method: principal
component analysis. Rotation AP1_REV .85
method: Varimax with Kaiser AP2_REV .80
normalization Eigen value 2.39 1.56 1.54 1.48 1.43
AH Ahimsa, ST Satya, AS Asteya, % of Variance 21.72 14.14 1.02 13.41 13.02
B Brahmacharya, AP Aparigrah

corresponding Eigen values. The description of factor analysis of each sub-scale is elu-
cidated below.
(a) Ahimsa Sub-Scale: For the three item sub-scale, the KMO value was 0.73 which
indicated good levels and the Bartlett test of sphericity was highly significant
v2(3) = 565.74, p \ 0.001. One factor solution was sought which explained
78.33 % of variance. The Eigen value of the factor was 2.35.
(b) Satya Sub-Scale: This sub-scale had two items. The KMO value was 0.50 which
indicated about acceptable levels and the Bartlett test of sphericity was highly
significant v2(1) = 106.05, p \ 0.001. One factor solution was sought which
explained 74.20 % of variance. The Eigen value of the factor was 1.48.
(c) Asteya Sub-Scale: This sub-scale had two items, both negatively worded. The KMO
value was 0.50 which indicated about acceptable levels and the Bartlett test of
sphericity was highly significant v2(1) = 130.53, p \ 0.001. One factor solution

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was sought which explained 76.45 % of variance. The Eigen value of the factor was
1.53.
(d) Brahmacharya Sub-Scale: The sub-scale had two items. The KMO value was 0.50
which indicated about acceptable levels and the Bartlett test of sphericity was highly
significant v2(1) = 135.23, p \ 0.001. One factor solution was sought which
explained 76.85 % of variance. The Eigen value of the factor was 1.54.
(e) Aparigrah Sub-Scale: This sub-scale had two items, both negatively worded. The
KMO value was 0.50 which indicated about acceptable levels, and the Bartlett test
of sphericity was highly significant v2(1) = 75.36, p \ 0.001. One factor solution
was sought which explained 70.78 % of variance. The Eigen value of the factor was
1.42.

II Niyama Scale

The full scale consisted of 13 items covering five sub-scales. The KMO value was 0.82
which indicated very good levels and the Bartlett test of sphericity was highly significant
v2(78) = 1401.74, p \ 0.001. The scale was subjected to Varimax rotation with the option
of 5 factor solution checked. The scale explained 76.31 % of variance. Table 3 shows
variance contributed by each factor and their corresponding Eigen values. The description
of factor analysis of each sub-scale is elucidated below.
(a) Shaucha Sub-Scale: The sub-scale had two items. The KMO value was 0.50 which
indicated about acceptable levels and the Bartlett test of sphericity was highly
significant v2(1) = 40.92, p \ 0.001. One factor solution was sought which
explained 65.64 % of variance. The Eigen value of the factor was 1.32.
(b) Santosha Sub-Scale: The sub-scale had two items. The KMO value was 0.50 which
indicated about acceptable levels and the Bartlett test of sphericity was highly

Table 3 Rotated component

Component
matrix Niyama Scale
1 2 3 4 5

SW2 .83
SW4 .70
SW1 .69
SW3 .64
TP1 .73
TP3 .71
TP2 .66
IP1 .81
IP2 .77
SA1 .77
Extraction method: principal SA2 .69
component analysis. Rotation
method: Varimax with Kaiser SC2 .84
Normalization SC1 .75
SC Shaucha, SA Santosha, TP Eigen value 2.41 1.93 1.61 1.44 1.33
Tapah, SW Swadhaye, IP Ishwar % of Variance 18.54 14.86 12.38 11.08 10.24
Pranidhan

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significant v2(1) = 65.90, p \ 0.001. One factor solution was sought which
explained 69.54 % of variance. The Eigen value of the factor was 1.39.
(c) Tapah Sub-Scale: The sub-scale had three items. The KMO value was 0.62 which
indicated acceptable levels and the Bartlett test of sphericity was highly significant
v2(3) = 253.23, p \ 0.001. One factor solution was sought which explained
63.21 % of variance. The Eigen value of the factor was 1.90.
(d) Swadhaye Sub-Scale: The sub-scale had four items. The KMO value was 0.71 which
indicated acceptable levels, and the Bartlett test of sphericity was highly significant
v2(6) = 481.12, p \ 0.001. One factor solution was sought which explained
59.93 % of variance. The Eigen value of the factor was 2.40.
(e) Ishwar Pranidhan Sub-Scale: The sub-scale had two items. The KMO value was
0.50 which indicated acceptable levels, and the Bartlett test of sphericity was highly
significant v2(1) = 110.05, p \ 0.001. One factor solution was sought which
explained 74.59 % of variance. The Eigen value of the factor was 1.50.

III Asana Sub-Scale

The KMO value was 0.71 which indicated acceptable levels, and the Bartlett test of
sphericity was highly significant v2(3) = 464.11, p \ 0.001. The factor explained 74.87 %
of variance and had the Eigen value of 2.25. The sub-scale had a total of 3 items.

IV Pranayama Sub-Scale

The scale consisted of five items. The KMO value was 0.84 which indicated very good
levels and the Bartlett test of sphericity was highly significant v2(10) = 1000.46,
p \ 0.001. The factor explained 66.91 % of variance and had the Eigen value of 3.35.

V Pratyahaar Sub-Scale

The scale consisted of two items, both negatively worded. The KMO value was 0.50 which
indicated about acceptable levels and the Bartlett test of sphericity was highly significant
v2(1) = 35.05, p \ 0.001. The factor explained 64.53 % of variance and had the Eigen
value of 1.30.

VI Dharana Sub-Scale

The scale consisted of five items, but one item was deleted due to poor total item corre-
lation. The KMO value of the four item sub-scale was 0.75 which indicated very good
levels and the Bartlett test of sphericity was highly significant v2(6) = 384.71, p \ 0.001.
The factor explained 58.36 % of variance and had the Eigen value of 2.33.

VII Dhyaan Sub-Scale

The scale consisted of four items, but one item was deleted due to poor total item cor-
relation. The KMO value of the three item sub-scale was 0.63 which indicated acceptable
levels and the Bartlett test of sphericity was highly significant v2(3) = 98.70, p \ 0.001.
The factor explained 53.54 % of variance and had the Eigen value of 1.61.

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Table 4 Eigen values and per-

Scale Eigen value Percentage of variance
centage of variance of each sub-
scale
Ahimsa 2.37 20.91
Satya 2.11 13.54
Asteya 1.36 13.15
Brahmacharya 1.14 12.73
Aparigrah 0.94 11.70
Shaucha 3.86 20.18
Santosha 1.45 14.08
Tapah 1.20 11.12
Swadhaye 1.12 10.54
Ishwar Pranidhan 0.98 10.24
Asana 2.23 74.36
Pranayaam 3.21 64.14
Pratyahaar 1.46 72.76
Dharana 2.85 49.68
Dhyaan 2.17 54.14

Table 4 summarizes the Eigen value and percentage of variance of each sub-scale in the
final scale.

Internal Consistency and Criterion-Related Validity

The scale demonstrates a high reliability (a = 0.88). Overall the scale correlated positively
with Flourishing (r = 0.46, p \ 0.01) and SPANE-P (r = 0.48, p \ 0.01) and negatively
with SPANE-N (r = -0.22, p \ 0.01). Thus, the full scale demonstrated acceptable
reliability and validity.
The correlation for the sub-scales ranged between 0.27 \ r \ 0.41 (p \ 0.01) for
SPANE-P except for Pratyahaar (r = -0.04, p [ 0.05) and Dharana (r = 0.13, p \ 0.05)
sub-scales. For SPANE-B it ranged between 0.20 \ r \ 0.33 (p \ 0.01). Again, Pratya-
haar sub-scale showed negligible correlation (r = 0.04, p [ 0.05). For SPANE-N the
correlations were again small and ranged between -0.05 \ r \ -0.28 (p \ 0.01). The
correlations of sub-scales with Flourishing ranged between 0.22 \ r \ 0.45 (p \ 0.01)
again with the exception of Pratyahaar scale which surprisingly showed a negative cor-
relation (r = -0.19, p \ 0.01). This could be explained by the nature of items. Pratyahaar
means ‘‘gaining positive control over mind being drawn to things in the outside world’’—
this goes directly opposite of Flourishing because that includes well-being which may also
be in context of materialistic pursuits. However, Pratyahaar is conceptually exactly
opposite of the pleasure from the material sources which may not be so clearly manifested
in people at large. The correlations of the sub-scales and the other validating scales appear
in Table 5. Table 6 presents percentile norms for the scale so that readers can determine
what scores signify. A t test was conducted to evaluate differences in the means of total
Yoga score across gender. No significant differences were found: t(397) = 1.32,
(p \ 0.05), hence same norms are recommended for both genders.

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Table 5 Correlations
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Yama (0.79) 0.59** 0.14** 0.27** -0.02 0.29** 0.43** 0.76** 0.37** -0.14** 0.31** 0.41**
Niyama (0.81) 0.31** 0.42** -0.15** 0.13* 0.52** 0.84** 0.41** -0.13** 0.33** 0.45**
Asana (0.83) 0.70** -0.04 -0.03 0.25** 0.54** 0.27** -0.05 0.20** 0.22**
Pranayaam (0.44) -0.12* 0.02 0.31** 0.67** 0.30** -0.12* 0.26** 0.26**
Pratyahaar (0.45) 0.29** -0.04 0.04 -0.04 -0.11* 0.04 -0.19**
Dharana (0.76) 0.19** 0.37** 0.13* -0.28** 0.24** 0.08
Dhyaan (0.57) 0.63** 0.38** -0.15** 0.32** 0.39**
Total Yoga Score (0.88) 0.48** -0.21** 0.42** 0.46**
SPANE_P (0.80) -.44** 0.87** 0.57**
SPANE_N (0.74) -0.83** -0.23**
SPANE_B – 0.48**
Author's personal copy

FL_Total (0.88)

Cronbach’s alphas appear across the diagonal in bold

** p \ 0.01 (two tailed), * p \ 0.05 (two tailed)

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Table 6 Percentile norms

Percentiles Score (N = 400)

5 111
10 115
20 126
30 131
40 135
50 143
60 149
70 155
80 162
90 170
95 177
Range (5–220)

Discussion and Conclusions

The aim of the study was to construct a self-report measure based on Ashtanga Yoga using
a theoretical model from the original sources. In our study, the sub-scales explained a good
proportion of variance and the items had high factor loadings which mean a stable factor
structure. The study is a pioneering work in the field of Indian Psychology that has
explored a complex Indian model of well-being in an empirical fashion. The study removes
one of the major limitations of Indian Psychology that primarily focuses on either theo-
retical models or a first person approach of scientific enquiry. Also, most studies on Yoga
are experimental in nature and capture only few aspects of Yoga like Asana (postures) and
Pranayama (breath control). No self-report measure exists on this concept. Our study
addresses this gap and the test might prove to be a useful tool for other researchers to
explore the concept of Yoga. The Ashtanga Yoga Scale has good psychometric properties
(a = 0.88), and the overall scale shows fair degree of correlations with the validating
scales which indicates acceptable criterion-related validity of the overall measure of Yoga.
The study deals with a new realm of work in Psychology and has opened avenues for
further such explorations, the study however is not without limitations. One major limi-
tation is the complexity of the topic itself that makes it quite difficult to test. The test
measures a very complex philosophy of Ashtanga Yoga which may not resonate with a
common person and requires lot of personal effort to comprehend. Also, our own inter-
pretation of the same may not capture all that needs to be done. Few sub-scales show poor
reliability such as the Pranayaam (a = 0.44) and Pratyahaar Scale (a = 0.45). Field
(2005) cites that reliability is affected by number of items. Thus, a small number of items
in the sub-scale could be a reason of low reliability. In fact, Costa and McCrae (1992)
contend that when a scale measures several domains, a value of a = 0.50 for eight item
domain is deemed fit. However, we would strongly recommend that the sub-scales
should be interpreted with caution and overall scale should be used for best results.
Re-standardization of the scale, further refinement of items is also recommended.
However, despite these limitations, this opens up interesting opportunities for research.
It opens our model of understanding to further critical theoretical analysis and future
researchers might want to focus on improving the conceptualization further. Secondly, our
sample is restricted to students and in future researchers might want to test the same on

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other age groups, occupations and cultural contexts. Future research could also confirm the
factor structure that we have proposed and explore its other possible correlates.

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