Young women reported both positive and negative experiences after mindful yoga
Interviews alongside a depression trial captured relaxation and positive feelings, as well as agitation and other unwanted experiences.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Young women with depression described a mixture of positive and negative experiences after mindful yoga added to usual treatment. Positive accounts included pleasant feelings and physical relaxation, while negative accounts included agitation and physical inflexibility. These interviews describe participants' experiences; they do not establish how yoga changed depression compared with usual treatment alone.
Interviews covered only part of the group assigned to yoga. The abstract reports subjective experiences rather than a controlled comparison of depression outcomes.
What researchers found
Reported positive experiences
Among 58 yoga-group interviewees after a 12-month follow-up; descriptive proportion, with no interview comparison group reported.
Reported negative experiences
Among 58 yoga-group interviewees after a 12-month follow-up; descriptive proportion, with no interview comparison group reported.
Positive and negative can coexist
Participants could report experiences in both directions, so the positive and negative percentages are not mutually exclusive. The authors explicitly asked about unwanted effects, allowing the interviews to capture more than favorable impressions.
Experience is a separate outcome
The study organized accounts into emotional, cognitive, bodily and other domains. This approach can reveal what participants noticed, but interview reports do not identify which experiences were caused by yoga or by usual care.
The original publication
Exploring young women's experiences of a mindful yoga intervention for depression in the Netherlands: Qualitative analysis of positive and negative effects.
Vollbehr NK, Ostafin BD, Bartels-Velthuis AA et al.
Br J Clin Psychol · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 40963260
- Record checked
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