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Yoga in Brazil and the National Health System

Laboratory for Alternative, Complementary and Integrative Practices in Health (Lapacis), Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Medical School, of the University of Campinas, pam{at}mpcnet.com.br

Nelson F. de Barros, PhD

Laboratory for Alternative, Complementary and Integrative Practices in Health (Lapacis), Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Medical School, of the University of Campinas

Background: Yoga is practiced in almost all Brazilian urban centers by people of various social, economic, and cultural strata. Practitioners use yoga for health promotion and illness prevention, as well as for developing self-knowledge and self-care. Objective: This article explores the perceptions of yoga leaders regarding the potential contributions of yoga to the Brazilian National Health System (BNHS). Methods: Leaders of the 15 most developed yoga traditions in São Paulo, Brazil, were interviewed regarding their perceptions of potential contributions of yoga to the National Health System. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed according to qualitative methodology. Results: Areas in which yoga was perceived as being able to make important contributions included the concept of body-mind-soul; vegetarianism; postural correction and integration of movements; peace culture; the cultivation of virtuous values (e.g., abstention from addictive substances); spiritual consciousness; integration of the self; cultivation of awareness; brain oxygenization; cultivation of discipline and improved quality of life. Conclusion: Yoga is seen as a group of useful physical, social, and philosophical practices for the health field. However, challenges to its integration into the BNHS include its maintenance as an alternative culture practice and its distance from the epistemological bases of present complementary and integrative medicine.

Key Words: yoga • complementary and alternative medicine • mind-body practice • national health systems

This version was published on April 1, 2009

Complementary Health Practice Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, 93-107 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1533210109343306


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