Exploring yoga access and inclusion for people with marginalised identities in northern British cities

Yoga offers multiple health and wellbeing benefits and is socially prescribed by clinicians in the NHS as part of health promotion measures in the United Kingdom (UK). However, socially marginalised groups are under-represented and yoga participants, or practitioners, are predominantly white, higher educated women. This research contributes to the knowledge by exploring, for the first time, the yoga access experiences of people with a broad range of marginalised identities in a UK context. It was prompted by my experiences of teaching yoga to diverse groups in a northern British city neighbourhood amongst the 10% most deprived in the country. Purposive sampling was employed to recruit 17 people from four northern UK cities who had practised, or participated in, yoga in the previous six months, but did not consider themselves to be yoga insiders, and who self-identified with one or more of seven marginalised identities, namely: Black, Brown or other people of colour; disabled; older (later life); LGBTQIA+; of a larger body type; from a religious faith or background; or on a low income. Data was collected via 1-1 teleconferencing software interviews during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and analysed initially using thematic analysis and, subsequently, using a critical theory-based approach. Nine barriers to yoga access were initially identified using thematic analysis: cost, place, discomfort, physicality, appearance, behaviour, people, potential distress, and alien-ness. These were intersectional in impact and experienced across the range of identities studied. Additionally, nine areas of barrier effect were identified using a critical theory-based approach, these were: Inclusion and access; Whiteness/ableism; Postcolonialism and cultural/religious appropriation; Commercialisation/neoliberalism; Unaware of/don’t see; I was lucky; Belief in loveliness; and Power/challenge. These areas arose from practices and norms within the social institution of UK Yoga and could be associated with emerging criticisms in the literature. Findings were that a range of barriers to yoga access were experienced, some of which could be attributed to practices and norms within the social institution of UK Yoga. These barriers could be seen to contribute to the health inequalities faced by marginalised groups and could be associated with the social determinants of health. Recommendations are for appraisal and revision of delivery of yoga in the UK including: teacher training; pedagogy and language; tailored approaches; examination of privilege; and sharing of power. Further research is indicated with yoga ‘insiders’ with marginalised identities.