The experience of mindful yoga for older adults with depression
Abstract
Accessible summary: What is known on the subject?: Mindful yoga combines yoga techniques with the mindfulness‐based stress reduction approach. Previous studies on mindful yoga have reported improvements in depression for working‐age adults, but no studies have been conducted with older people. What the paper adds to existing knowledge?: Mindful yoga may be a safe and acceptable intervention to improve the mental and physical health of older adults with depression. The beneficial therapeutic ingredients of mindful yoga, included calmness, being non‐judgmental, letting go and seizing the day. What are the implications for practice?: Single‐sex mindful yoga groups may be more acceptable for some people. Well‐conducted feasibility studies comparing mindful yoga with an alternative group‐based approach are necessary. Introduction: Mindful yoga combines yoga techniques with the mindfulness‐based stress reduction approach. Previous studies on mindful yoga have reported improvements in depression for working‐age adults, but no studies have been conducted with older people. Aims: To explore the experiences of older adults with depression participating in a mindful yoga group to establish whether the approach has potential as a future intervention for this client group. Method: This study adopted a qualitative descriptive method and used inductive content analysis. Eighteen in‐depth individual interviews were conducted with nine participants (each participant had one interview following the programme and another four weeks later). Results: Six main themes emerged: “improved physical status,” “actively involved in the community,” “positive psychological effects,” “perceived therapeutic ingredients,” “facilitators of practising mindful yoga” and “barriers to practising mindful yoga.”. Discussion: Most participants reported benefitting from the programme. Two male participants expressed that exercises were too challenging and more suited to women, suggesting single‐sex groups may be more acceptable. Implications for practice: Mindful yoga may be an acceptable/useful intervention for older adults with depression, but future studies are required to establish its feasibility and potential efficacy.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
There is evidence to support the use of a combination of mindfulness and yoga in people with depression.
“Furthermore, there is evidence to support the use of a combination of mindfulness and yoga in those with depression [22–27].”
From The effectiveness of mindfulness yoga on patients with major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (2023) · cites this paper as [22]
Cites
The qualitative content analysis process
Elo, S., & Kyngäs, H. (2008) · Journal of Advanced Nursing · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04569.x · Cited by 22,617 · see citing works
Strategies for ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative research projects
Shenton, A. K. (2004) · Education for Information · doi:10.3233/efi-2004-22201 · Cited by 9,748 · see citing works
Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003) · Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice · doi:10.1093/clipsy.bpg016 · Cited by 8,615 · see citing works
Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition.
Bishop, S. R., Lau, M., Shapiro, S., Carlson, L., Anderson, N. D., Carmody, J., Segal, Z. V., Abbey, S., Speca, M., Velting, D., et al. (2004) · Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice · doi:10.1093/clipsy.bph077 · Cited by 7,234 · see citing works
Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2012) · Cited by 5,977 · see citing works
The effect of mindfulness based therapy on anxiety and depression: A meta analytic review
Hofmann, S. G., Sawyer, A. T., Witt, A. A., & Oh, D. (2010) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0018555 · Cited by 3,846 · see citing works
Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects
Brown, K. W., Ryan, R. M., & Creswell, J. D. (2007) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1080/10478400701598298 · Cited by 3,654 · see citing works
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression
Segal, Z. V. (2023) · PsycTHERAPY Dataset · doi:10.1037/v00751-001 · Cited by 1,043 · see citing works
Maher, C. A., Lewis, L. K., Ferrar, K., Marshall, S., De Bourdeaudhuij, I., & Vandelanotte, C. (2014) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.2952 · Cited by 733 · see citing works
Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness
Sierpina, V. S. (2005) · EXPLORE · doi:10.1016/j.explore.2005.04.001 · Cited by 680 · see citing works
Meta-Analysis: Exercise Therapy for Nonspecific Low Back Pain
Hayden, J. A., van Tulder, M. W., Malmivaara, A. V., & Koes, B. W. (2005) · Annals of Internal Medicine · doi:10.7326/0003-4819-142-9-200505030-00013 · Cited by 611 · see citing works
First steps in qualitative data analysis: transcribing
Bailey, J. (2008) · Family Practice · doi:10.1093/fampra/cmn003 · Cited by 480 · see citing works
Coffey, K. A., Hartman, M., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2010) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-010-0033-2 · Cited by 428 · see citing works
Social support mediates loneliness and depression in elderly people
Liu, L., Gou, Z., & Zuo, J. (2016) · Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1177/1359105314536941 · Cited by 352 · see citing works
One-leg standing test for elderly populations
Michikawa, T., Nishiwaki, Y., Takebayashi, T., & Toyama, Y. (2009) · Journal of Orthopaedic Science · doi:10.1007/s00776-009-1371-6 · Cited by 315 · see citing works
Mindfulness interventions for psychosis: A meta-analysis
Khoury, B., Lecomte, T., Gaudiano, B. A., & Paquin, K. (2013) · Schizophrenia Research · doi:10.1016/j.schres.2013.07.055 · Cited by 292 · see citing works
Yoga and Mindfulness: Clinical Aspects of an Ancient Mind/Body Practice
Salmon, P. M., Cash, E. D., Jablonski, M. E., & Sephton, S. E. (2008) · Cognitive and Behavioral Practice · doi:10.1016/j.cbpra.2008.07.002 · Cited by 257 · see citing works
Competence in Teaching Mindfulness-Based Courses: Concepts, Development and Assessment
Crane, R. S., Kuyken, W., Williams, J. M. G., Hastings, R. P., Cooper, L., & Fennell, M. J. V. (2012) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-011-0073-2 · Cited by 224 · see citing works
Patel, N. K., Newstead, A. H., & Ferrer, R. L. (2012) · The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine · doi:10.1089/acm.2011.0473 · Cited by 223 · see citing works
Geiger, P. J., Boggero, I. A., Brake, C. A., Caldera, C. A., Combs, H. L., Peters, J. R., & Baer, R. A. (2016) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-015-0444-1 · Cited by 205 · see citing works
The Effects of Yoga on Mood in Psychiatric Inpatients.
Lavey, R., Sherman, T., Mueser, K. T., Osborne, D. D., Currier, M., & Wolfe, R. S. (2005) · Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal · doi:10.2975/28.2005.399.402 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Iyengar Yoga for Treating Symptoms of Osteoarthritis of the Knees: A Pilot Study
Kolasinski, S. L., Garfinkel, M., Tsai, A. G., Matz, W., Dyke, A. L. V., & Schumacher, H. R. (2005) · The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine · doi:10.1089/acm.2005.11.689 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
Keng, S.-L., Smoski, M. J., Robins, C. J., Ekblad, A. G., & Brantley, J. G. (2012) · Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1891/0889-8391.26.3.270 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Reducing Stress in School-age Girls Through Mindful Yoga
White, L. S. (2011) · Journal of Pediatric Health Care · doi:10.1016/j.pedhc.2011.01.002 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Saper, R. B., Sherman, K. J., Cullum‐Dugan, D., Davis, R. B., Phillips, R. S., & Culpepper, L. (2009) · PubMed · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Hou, R. J., Wong, S. Y.-S., Yip, B. H.-K., Hung, A. T. F., Lo, H. H.-M., Chan, P. H. S., Lo, C. S. L., Kwok, T. C.-Y., Tang, W. K., Mak, W. W. S., et al. (2014) · Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics · doi:10.1159/000353278 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Self-citationSauer-Zavala, S. E., Walsh, E. C., Eisenlohr-Moul, T. A., & Lykins, E. L. B. (2013) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-012-0139-9 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
Cheung, Y. T. D., Chan, C. H. H., Lai, C.-K. J., Chan, W. F. V., Wang, M. P., Li, H. C. W., Chan, S. S. C., & Lam, T. (2015) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.4829 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Benefits, Barriers, and Cues to Action of Yoga Practice: A Focus Group Approach
Atkinson, N. (2009) · American Journal of Health Behavior · doi:10.5993/ajhb.33.1.1 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for recurring depression in older people: A qualitative study
Smith, A., Graham, L. E., & Senthinathan, S. (2007) · Aging & Mental Health · doi:10.1080/13607860601086256 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Farb, N., Anderson, A., Ravindran, A., Hawley, L., Irving, J., Mancuso, E., Gulamani, T., Williams, G., Ferguson, A., & Segal, Z. V. (2018) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/ccp0000266 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Alexander, G. K., Innes, K. E., Selfe, T. K., & Brown, C. J. (2012) · Complementary Therapies in Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2012.11.001 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Mathew, K. L., Whitford, H. S., Kenny, M. A., & Denson, L. A. (2010) · Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1017/s135246581000010x · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Uebelacker, L. A., Tremont, G. N., Epstein-Lubow, G. P., Gaudiano, B. A., Gillette, T., Kalibatseva, Z., & Miller, I. W. (2010) · Behavior Modification · doi:10.1177/0145445510368845 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Spadola, C., Rottapel, R. E., Khandpur, N., Kontos, E. Z., Bertisch, S. M., Johnson, D. A., Quante, M., Khalsa, S. B. S., Saper, R. B., & Redline, S. S. (2017) · Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice · doi:10.1016/j.ctcp.2017.09.001 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
The Impact of Taoism on Chinese Leisure
Wang, J., & Stringer, L. A. (2000) · World Leisure Journal · doi:10.1080/04419057.2000.9674194 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Language Use, Proficiency and Attitudes in Hong Kong
Bacon‐Shone, J., Bolton, K., & Luke, K. (2015) · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Bergen‐Cico, D., Razza, R. A., & Timmins, A. C. (2015) · Journal of Child and Family Studies · doi:10.1007/s10826-015-0146-2 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Integrative Review of Research Related to Meditation, Spirituality, and the Elderly
Lindberg, D. A. (2005) · Geriatric Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2005.09.013 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Mindfulness and Acceptance in Couple and Family Therapy
Gehart, D. R. (2012) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-3033-9 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Key considerations for logic model development in research partnerships: A Canadian case study
Fielden, S. J., Rusch, M., Masinda, M. T., Sands, J., Frankish, J., & Evoy, B. E. (2007) · Evaluation and Program Planning · doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2007.01.002 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
“I Am a Nice Person When I Do Yoga!!!”
Ross, A. C., Bevans, M. F., Friedmann, E., Williams, L., & Thomas, S. A. (2013) · Journal of Holistic Nursing · doi:10.1177/0898010113508466 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
CLINICAL USES OF MINDFULNESS TRAINING FOR OLDER PEOPLE
Smith, A. (2004) · Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1017/s1352465804001602 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
A pilot study of gentle yoga for sleep disturbance in women with osteoarthritis
Buchanan, D. T., & Vitiello, M. V. (2011) · Sleep Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2010.09.016 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Mindfulness as a potential intervention for stimulus over-selectivity in older adults
McHugh, L., Simpson, A., & Reed, P. (2009) · Research in Developmental Disabilities · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2009.08.009 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Yoga in adult cancer: an exploratory, qualitative analysis of the patient experience
McCall, M., Thorne, S. E., Ward, A. M., & Heneghan, C. J. (2015) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine · doi:10.1186/s12906-015-0738-9 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Yoga for chronic pain management: a qualitative exploration
Tul, Y., Unruh, A. M., & Dick, B. D. (2010) · Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1471-6712.2010.00842.x · Cited by 53 · see citing works
The Effectiveness of Yoga for Depression: A Critical Literature Review
Louie, L. H. T. (2014) · Issues in Mental Health Nursing · doi:10.3109/01612840.2013.874062 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Mindfulness: Reconnecting the Body and Mind in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology
Rejeski, W. J. (2008) · The Gerontologist · doi:10.1093/geront/48.2.135 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Dudley, J., Eames, C., Mulligan, J., & Fisher, N. (2018) · British Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjc.12153 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Mindfulness-Based Elder Care: A CAM Model for Frail Elders and Their Caregivers
Hultman, T. (2009) · Journal of Palliative Medicine · doi:10.1089/jpm.2009.9564 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Effects of Yoga and an Ayurveda preparation on gait, balance and mobility in older persons.
Krishnamurthy, M., & Telles, S. (2007) · PubMed · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Uebelacker, L. A., Kraines, M. A., Broughton, M. K., Tremont, G. N., GILLETTE, L. T., Epstein-Lubow, G. P., Abrantes, A. M., Battle, C. L., & Miller, I. W. (2017) · Complementary Therapies in Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2017.06.008 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
An evaluation of voice recognition software for use in interview-based research: a research note
Park, J., & Zeanah, A. E. (2005) · Qualitative Research · doi:10.1177/1468794105050837 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
An Exploratory Study of Group Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Older People with Depression
Meeten, F., Whiting, S., & Williams, C. M. (2014) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-014-0279-1 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
A qualitative study of mindfulness-based meditation therapy in Japanese cancer patients
Ando, M., Morita, T., Akechi, T., & Ifuku, Y. (2010) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-010-0901-2 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Journey back into body and soul – An exploration of mindful yoga with psychosis
Sistig, B., Lambrecht, I., & Friedman, S. H. (2014) · Psychosis · doi:10.1080/17522439.2014.885556 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Data from LANGUAGE USE, PROFICIENCY AND ATTITUDES IN HONG KONG
Bacon‐Shone, J., Bolton, K., & Luke, K. K. (2016) · doi:10.5353/ds_dataset95133 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Meditation for Older Adults: A New Look at an Ancient Intervention for Mental Health
Sorrell, J. M. (2015) · Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services · doi:10.3928/02793695-20150330-01 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Mindful Yoga for Symptom Management in Metastatic Breast Cancer (S738)
Porter, L. S., Carson, J. W., Carson, K. M., Olsen, M. K., Sanders, L. L., & Keefe, F. J. (2017) · Journal of Pain and Symptom Management · doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2016.12.248 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Wang, D., & Feinstein, A. B. (2011) · Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation · doi:10.1097/tgr.0b013e31821bfffa · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Miao, C., Gao, Y., Li, X., Zhou, Y., Chung, J. W.-Y., & Smith, G. D. (2023) · BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies · doi:10.1186/s12906-023-04141-2 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“Furthermore, there is evidence to support the use of a combination of mindfulness and yoga in those with depression [22–27].”
BackgroundTöbelmann, L., Hahne, I., Schulze, T., Bergmann, N., Fuchs, L., Zierhut, M., Hahn, E., & Böge, K. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1086468 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
- Authors
- Lee, K. C., Tang, W. K., & Bressington, D.
- Affiliations
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
- Castle Peak Hospital (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Bressington, Daniel
- Venue
- Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-04
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 3-4
- Pages
- 87-100
- ISSN
- 1351-0126 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2850
- OpenAlex
- W2921991088
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 3.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Keywords
- mindful yoga, older adults, depression, mindfulness-based stress reduction, yoga, group intervention, feasibility, acceptability, single-sex groups, physical health, community participation, barriers to practice
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aging, Depression, Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Male, Yoga, Qualitative Research, Patient Outcome Assessment, Mindfulness
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
