Case Study – Branding Yoga

Branding Yoga

Abstract

The background of the report could be referred to the word “yoga” that from Sanskrit means the union. The initial goal of yoga is to help people to clear their minds, make them quiet with the transcendental physical exercises and finally to achieve the spiritual union with the divine. According to Bhagavad Gita, yoga is the journey to oneself. The modern perception of yoga correlates with the number of ideas from different teachers of yoga who practiced it for years by means of meditation and physical forms of this tradition. One famous name from the history of yoga is Bikram Choudhury who is considered to be the founder of Bikram yoga in the United States. Bikram had an aggressive position to become the author of the traditional Indian approach to the practices of yoga. Another name in the foundation of yoga is Tara Stiles who became the practitioner of yoga without the Sanskrit definitions along with the entertainment and pleasure from exercises. As a result, her approach to yoga goes deep to the roots of this tradition and offers a number of benefits for human beings.

The brief statement of the problem denotes the need to define yoga as a traditional practice. However, there is a challenge with regard to the justification of yoga brands all over the world relating to the fact of commercialization. At the same time, the yoga practice is questioned in terms of its validity as a standalone exercise. Moreover, there is a desire to know whether yoga practice is rooted in Hindu philosophy. Finally, the concern is whether yoga indeed is connected to the Hinduism and whether it still controls the “yoga” brand.

The aims of the analysis are to define the reason for the success of the yoga practice in the United States and in other countries. Simultaneously, the aim of the analysis is to determine the reasons for the popularity of noted yoga teachers known globally as Bikram, Choudhary and Tara Styles. Finally, it is important to analyze the legal insights into the yoga practice with respect to its brands all over the world disregarding the Hinduism considerations.

The approach adopted for the analysis is to consider the relevant literature on the branding of the yoga practice. It is managed with the help of analyzing the number of models that address the implications such as marketing, strategic management, and organizational behavior. Consequently, the report covers the proposed plan of analysis by means of such models as SWOT Analysis and Porter’s Five Forces Analysis that is supported by the discussion on the sources of data. The next crucial element of the report is the analysis of the research findings grounded on the models mentioned above. In addition, the report provides an integrated assessment of the analysis through the generated ideas and alternative solutions for the stated research problem. The idea is to devise the best fit solution and further recommendations on the study with respect to the plan of actions. Finally, the report outlines the limitations of the study and addresses the scope of further research studies in this field.

Consequently, the findings claim that today there are many different styles of yoga that comprise famous yoga teachers and additional yoga venues, which increase the geometrical progression overtime. When the target audience recognizes yoga, it usually refers to the process of learning a meaningful practice that could be applied in modern life. In fact, such a yoga practice is deeply valued all over the world. Alternatively, some people still talk about yoga as a workout process that is applicable in any place and at any convenient time, which does not have such a deep value. Thus, it makes sense to acknowledge that the commercialization of yoga should be perceived as a modern way to consider the reality of yoga practice. In the West, such a pattern has become mainstream entertainment for the vast majority of yoga practitioners. In other words, the solution to the problem is in the total awareness of the opportunities created for the target audience by means of commercializing the yoga practice. Nevertheless, yoga is still positioned with the help of its authentic values. At the same time, yoga is perceived as a modern movement and/or the culture that strives to handle the daily conflicts by using the transcendent knowledge.

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study

1.1. Case Study Background

The major issue of yoga is in its branding to the masses. The consideration of the Indian government was that yoga is part of the Indian traditional body of knowledge, which made the country claim the legal rights to yoga. As a result, up to a thousand and a half yoga poses were collected in the catalog to follow as a branded example in order to challenge Bikram in court. The argument toward the commercialization of yoga was grounded on the notion that religion is personal and thus could not have any commercial connotation. Another argument was from the Hindu American Foundation that was launched to make the origin of yoga known for the public with the help of the “Take Back Yoga” campaign. The idea was not to claim the author’s right to yoga but rather to inform people about the direct relation between yoga and Hinduism. In addition, there was a claim in the Washington Post known as “The Theft of Yoga” meaning that the notable yogis, swamis, and yoga-related gurus own the authorship right to yoga. In other words, it indicates that the perception of yoga could not be commercialized (Bryant 2009)

On the contrary, the argument is grounded on the implications of a business and not on the religions concerns. Therefore, the purpose of yoga is to help people by delivering value, thereby branding it as a product for the target audience. In relation to such challenges, the Huffington Post publishes the interview with Philip Goldberg who is a famous author of the American Vega. He claims that the popularity of yoga distorts its initial perceptions as fundamental teaching. At the same time, the roots of yoga claim it was aimed for the male population and excluded women due to the sexuality of the yoga poses. The reason was that the vast majority of the population in India is males. In parallel, the Western application of yoga is rather different. In fact, more than eighty percent of yoga practitioners are females. In general, there is one teacher and a group of students to repeat the yoga poses in the mirrored premises of the Western world. Hence, the implication of making the yoga practice commercial refers to its accessibility by the masses (De Michelis 2004)

1.2. Statement of the Problem

The problem of the case study is branding and whether it is legally justified. There is much contemplation on the legal rights to yoga and the true authorship of the common Indian practice. There is also the problem with the yoga body of knowledge that corresponds to the catalog of the thousand and a half yoga poses in terms of having the right to be commercialized. At the same time, the problem correlates with the religious perceptions of yoga, which is personal and could not be branded. In parallel, the connotation of the Hindu American Foundation refers to the actual origin of yoga that was claimed with the help of the “Take Back Yoga” campaign. The purpose of this act is likely to claim the author’s ownership of yoga as well as the direct relation between yoga and Hinduism. In addition, the “The Theft of Yoga” claim posted in the Washington Post considers the legal rights to the distinguished yogis, swamis and yoga-related gurus toward the authors’ right to yoga. In other words, the goal is to understand whether yoga practice could be legally commercialized in the United States and all over the world (White 2011).

1.3. Research Questions

· What is yoga and how could it be defined?

· Is the commercialization and branding of yoga justified?

· What is the validity of yoga as a standalone exercise?

· Is yoga rooted in Hindu philosophy?

· Is yoga connected to Hinduism and can it control the “yoga” brand?

1.4. Aims and Objectives

The aims and objectives of the study are to determine why yoga practice has become so successful in the United States and the rest of the world. At the same time, there is a strong interest to learn the reason for such popularity of particular teachers of yoga such as Bikram, Choudhary and Tara Styles. The final implication is to understand whether the yoga practice could be legally branded without the violation of Hindu rights.

1.5. Structure of the Report

The organization of the report is grounded on the thorough evaluation of the yoga practice and its validity along with the discussion on the legal right to its commercialization across the globe. The report structure could be presented with a brief explanation of the case by describing the most notable aspects of the situation around yoga. The next aspect of concern is the analysis of the literature with respect to the branding implications of the yoga practice. The other phase of the research is to cover the number of models in order to analyze the study. These models are known as the SWOT Analysis and Porter’s Five Forces Analysis. At the same time, the research covers the discussion of the data sources. Consequently, the report analyzes the research findings with respect to the above-mentioned models. Consequently, the analysis delivers the incorporated evaluation of the produced ideas along with other possible ways to solve the research problem. The purpose is to provide the target readers with the best fit solution as well as the recommendations for the future of the study grounded on the action plan. As a final point, the report summaries the restrictions of the research and defines the scope of the additional studies in the future.

Chapter 2: Case Brief: Description of the Situation

The case study addresses the implications of branding, which relate to the process that engages the target audience in the establishment of the unique name and overall image of the product or service taking into account the perceptions of target customers. The major players in the given case study reflect on the brand of yoga with regard to their personal interests. These players are Bikram Choudhury (a professional yoga practitioner and founder of the Bikram Yoga Studios), Tara Styles (a dancer, model, and American yoga practitioner), Deepak Chopra (an Indian author and doctor) and Suhag Shukla (a Managing Director of the Hindu American Foundation). At the same time, the study refers to the number of involved groups such as the Hindu American Foundation and the famous American Yoga magazine known as Yoga Journal. Taking into account the statistical evidence, as of 2008, around sixteen million people in the United States already practiced yoga as a mental, physical and even spiritual discipline that originates in ancient India. The history of yoga commenced in the third millennium B.C.E. that was found in the Indus Valley archeological relics. Due to these relics, yoga is acknowledged as the technical foundation of the three major religions across the globe such as Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. The major areas of yoga known for the broad public are Hatha yoga, Bhakti yoga, Karma yoga, Jnana yoga, and Raja yoga. The yoga areas consider the depth of the yoga body of knowledge collected for a thousand of years. According to the teachings of Bhagavad Gita that originate in 300 B.C.E., the yogic teachings have been passed from the gurus to their students for many years (Mallinson 2011).

The establishment of yoga in the United States was the next element of concern in the case study. It started in the middle of the nineteenth century at the time when the Hindu and Indian literature involved the American Transcendentalists writers such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. In 1893, Swami Vivekananda brought yoga to the United States by means of positioning the Indian culture and Hinduism at the World Parliament of Religions. Margaret Woodrow Wilson, the daughter of the former president, left the US and traveled to an Indian ashram. Indra Devi, the former Latvian film actress, moved to the United States in 1947 and established the Hatha yoga studio in Los Angeles. Moreover, an American Richard Hittleman started teaching hatha yoga in the 1940s and 1950s. He also wrote many books to explain the heart of yoga. The most famous of them is Yoga for Health that was presented on the television show from 1961-1981. As of 1966, B. K. S. Iyengar published his book on the asana poses so as to help the target audience practice yoga. Until today, these set of the asanas is considered to be the Bible of yoga by the famous Yoga Journal. Lately, in the 1980s and 1990s, Chopra and Maharishi joined their forces to contribute to the mind-body medicine by practicing yoga (Alter 2004).

One of the professional yoga practitioners in the mind-body movement known as Bikram Choudhury founded the Bikram Yoga studios. He moved to the United States to teach yoga at the resorts and spas in Los Angeles in 1971. The conventional yoga practice of that time comprised twenty-six asanas and two breathing practices under the temperature of up to a hundred degrees Celsius. As of 1979, Bikram had his copyright of the published book known as Bikram’s Beginning of Yoga Class. Until 1984, he founded his yoga studio in Beverly Hills where yoga costs were twenty dollars for one lesson of yoga, which totaled a thousand US dollars every day. In 1994, he started offering intensive training courses, which signified the increase in the Bikram studious, which led to training up to several hundred teachers every year by 2000. As a result, Bikram established around seven hundred yoga studious across more than two hundred and twenty countries by 2003. At that time, Bikram claimed his authorship of the yoga poses, which led to the filed suit against him. It indicated that the copyright or patent could not be valid with respect to the yoga poses, according to the Open Source Yoga Unity attorney. The considerations were justified by means of disregarding the possibility to perceive the yoga poses as the private property. Later in 2006, the Indian government published the catalog with a thousand and five hundred yoga poses for the daily practices. These practices were grounded on the ancient Sanskrit, Persian and Urdu historical insights, which still helped Bikram to open up to five thousand yoga studios by 2011 with an estimated income of up to five million US dollars a year (McEvilley 2002).

Another yoga practitioner is known as Tara Stiles who founded the Strala Yoga Studio. She was engaged in working with the Ford Agency and was asked to create promotional yoga videos for the YouTube channel. Afterward, she started promoting herself on Facebook with the yoga classes in her apartment in private sessions. As a result, Women’s Health Magazine hired her as a blogger to share her experience about the yoga practice. Consequently, she opened her Strala Yoga Studio in 2008. Later in 2010, Tara and Chopra launched the yoga iPad application known as the “Authentic Yoga”. The next stage of promoting her yoga practice was with her book known as Slim Calm Sexy Yoga that was published in 2010 and was ranked as the number one to read for a number of months. At the same time, Tara partnered with Jane Fonda on the production of the fitness workout videos that were more than famous and made their companies successful in the sphere of the mind-body industry (Possehl 2003).

Chapter 3: Problem Statement and Plan of Analysis

3.1. The Problems in the Case

The overall problem of the case study could be referred to the branding notions of yoga such as Bikram’s “Hot Yoga” or Stiles’ “Strala Yoga”. Hence, the major issues of the case study correspond to the following implications. It is important to know whether yoga practices rooted in the philosophy of Hinduism. The other aspect of concern is the overall justification of yoga branding. The final implication is to learn whether the control of the yoga brand is lost by the Hinduism tradition.

3.2. Review of Relevant Literature

The first implication of the review of relevant literature refers to the origin of the yoga practice. The purpose of the research is to understand whether yoga is rooted in Hindu philosophy. The review of relevant literature claims that the earliest chronicles of yoga were addressed in the Indus Valley archeological relics of the third millennium B. C. E. Thus, the evidence indicates that there was a man sitting in the lotus posture and meditating. Apparently, such evidence existed even before the anticipated early texts on the foundation of yoga. At the same time, the earliest Sanskrit verses on the yoga practice were found from one thousand and five hundred to a thousand years B. C. E. These findings are also known as the Vedas, and they claim the theme of practicing yoga with respect to the backgrounds of yoga theories. There was another argument of Shukla stating that Hindu was the abstraction of the Persian tradition that is acknowledged as the Sanatana Dharma, which means eternal wisdom. Today, the term Sanatana Dharma is also known as the synonym of the Hinduism tradition. In addition, the historical notions claim that yoga was technically part of global religions known as Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. Hence, the outcomes of the analysis correspond to the fact that the yoga practice is indeed rooted in the Hindu philosophies. At the same time, Hindu is also rooted in the yoga practice, which makes them different parts of the Indian philosophy (Singleton 2010).

The second implication of the review of relevant literature refers to the justification of the branded yoga practices with such merits as awareness, diversity, and specificity. Subsequently, the demerits of the yoga practice are the commercialization and patenting. In particular, the commercialization does not concern Hindu traditions, and it is always considered the largest problem of the yoga brand’s owners. However, in case of creating a certain system that could help people to solve their problems while using the yoga practice, it could be patented. In fact, this took place at the Bikram Hot Yoga Studio referring to his course known as “Lose Weight Faster”. Hence, it was patented as the intellectual property (De Michelis 2004).

The final third implication is the justification of the yoga branding which reflects the inferences of whether the Hinduism tradition still owns control of the yoga brand. Owing to the research findings and contemplations above, the Hinduism tradition already lost control of the yoga brands. However, people are still aware of its ancient roots and overall Hindu origin of yoga. As a result, there are millions of people who practice different styles of yoga every day under different brands knowing about the contribution of the Hindu culture. To conclude, taking into consideration the fact that the merits are more numerous and are more important than the demerits, branding of the yoga practices is justified (Samuel 2008).

3.3. Identification and Explanation of Models Used to Analyze the Case

The models that will be used to analyze the case study in more details should consider the most notable implications of branding the yoga practices in the modern world. These models will also reflect the implications of yoga branding from the position of marketing, strategic management, and organizational behavior. Hence, below is the outline of the proposed models for analysis and the way they will deliver great value to the research findings. Porter’s Five Forces is important to evaluate the power balance of the yoga brands in their business settings. The model is rather simple but useful for understanding the competing powers of the brands, including their services and promotion strategies compared to the similar companies operating in the target industry. Refer to the brief explanation on every aspect of the Porter’s Five Forces model below, “supplier power, buyer power, competitive rivalry, the threat of substitution, and the threat of new entry”. The other model is the SWOT Analysis that allows the yoga studios to understand the new opportunities as well as be ready to eliminate the possible threats and manage the ongoing challenges. In fact, this is a useful tool in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses along with the opportunities and threats of the yoga studios in the target market. Thus, this approach of a business analysis indeed helps the yoga studios to operate more effectively in the industry as a whole. Finally, owing to this analysis, the yoga studies will be able to draw conclusions on the possible opportunities and/or threats and take immediate actions (Syman 2010).

3.4. Proposed Plan of Analysis

The anticipated plan for evaluating the case study would be to assess yoga studios with respect to the implications of marketing, strategic management, and organizational behavior. It would be managed by using models such as the SWOT Analysis and Porter’s Five Forces Analysis. Hence, the researcher will address the contemplations on the best possible solutions for the existing problem of the case study. With regard to the analysis, it would be possible to devise the recommendations on the best possible alternatives, including the creation of the action plan. Finally, the analysis will be managed in accordance with the limitations of the research along with the scope of future research studies.

Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis

4.1. Porter’s Five Forces

Porter’s Five Forces Analysis below addresses the context of the given research in more details (Goldberg 2010):

· Rivalry among the competing companies: Today, the competing yoga brands are striving for the dominance in the target market by means of the challenging prices, high quality of both products and services, and the speed of reaction to the appearance of new yoga styles in the industry. In the case study, the rivalry is presented by the yoga brands such as Bikram Hot Yoga Studio and Strala Yoga Studio. However, both companies need to monitor the branding strategies of each other along with analyzing. The appearance of new yoga brands and their promotion strategies.

· Potential development of the substitute products or services: The process of any growth of the yoga brands occurs when the competing yoga companies from similar or close industries are striving to enter the new markets. The individual entrepreneurs such as Tara Styles could enter the target market individually with the purpose of adding more value to the existing offers of the yoga studios. The examples of such companies could be the establishment of the new yoga movement that takes place with a combination of any other philosophy related to the practice of body, mind, and soul altogether.

· Potential entry of the new competitors: The aspect analyzes the extent to which the new yoga brands could penetrate the target market. In order to refer to the case study example, the two famous yoga brands should think of defending their intellectual property right to the created yoga practice systems. In fact, yoga brands could easily operate in other target industries and/or markets referring to the niche of fitness and even health or alternative healing practices. At the same time, the new yoga brands could easily penetrate the target market with the help of the contemporary technologies and with regard to the fact of having specific yoga experiences that are different and more valuable compared to the existing ones.

· Bargaining power of the suppliers: In this instance, the yoga brands should consider the extent to which they are dependent on the operations of their suppliers. In the sphere of yoga, it could be all possible yoga products such as the yoga mats along with the additional services that could be added to the yoga brands such as massage or spa therapies, among others. On the contrary, every yoga brands could have bargaining power over its suppliers. In other words, there is no need to manufacture the products mentioned above, but it is possible to partner with other companies that produce these additional yoga products. One more example of the bargaining power is the level of salaries for the employees working at the yoga studios. Moreover, every new coming yoga brand could offer higher wage rates compared to the existing yoga brands. At the same time, in case the yoga brand partners with many different suppliers of the same goods, one can easily control the suppliers and still be in demand for them.

· Bargaining power of the customers: In case yoga studios have satisfied target customers, these companies are likely to be successful in their target industry. When considering this power, it makes sense to think of the extent to which yoga studios are dependent on their target customers. The target customers of the particular yoga brands have their power since they can easily move to other yoga studios. In fact, this could happen for various reasons such as the establishment of new yoga styles, lower pricing policies, higher quality of both yoga-related products and services, greater customer services, and many additional conveniences for the target customers, among others. However, the target customers can lose their power in case they become loyal to a particular yoga brand such as Strala Yoga Studios. In this case, if they prefer this brand, they are not likely to take advantage of other yoga brands such as the Bikram Hot Yoga Studios. It also correlates with the additional products and services offered by these yoga brands that are more appealing for the target customers. Therefore, yoga brands should consider the implications of their target customers every time when they examine target markets. In addition, the new yoga brands should have a particular priority to examine the number of resources they can use in order to remain effective competitors in the industry as well as to make a strong competition to other yoga brands in the target market (Goldberg 2010).

4.2. SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis is presented an individual assessment of the researcher with regard to the support of the research findings as follows (White 2014; Fowler 2012):

Chapter 5: Proposed Solution to the Problem

5.1. Integrated Assessment of the Analysis

The integrated assessment of the analysis is to consider the relevant literature on the branding of the yoga practice. According to Bhagavad Gita originated in circa three hundred B. C. E., there was an epic Mahabharata that also contained the philosophical inclination of yoga practices. In other words, the evidence claims that there already were the teachings of yoga written and conveyed from gurus of the past to their students. Apparently, this notion was argued by Chopra in terms of stating that the Hinduism tradition is perceived as a religion that was established in the following centuries after the yoga practice was established in the consciousness of its practitioners. In fact, taking into account the notions from the history, yoga predates Hinduism tradition. According to Mahabharata, the yoga sutras already collected a number of authored Indian aphorisms created by the famous philosopher and one of the most trusted pioneers of yoga known as Patanjali. Despite the fact that the dates of these Indian aphorisms are not quite clear, it was still considered that the yoga sutras were most probably written after the well-known Bhagavad Gita. In fact, this body of knowledge also included the so-called Ashtanga yoga, also known as the eight limbs of yoga, according to Patanjali teachings. These eight limbs are the yama or restraint, niyama or observance, pranayama or the breathing teachings, pratyahara or the preparation for meditation, Dharana or the concentration, dhyana or the meditation, Samadhi or the absorption, and finally asana or the physical exercises. A great variety of these texts are known as the sacred Hindu philosophies (Cleary 1995).

5.2. Generated Ideas and Alternative Solution

The generated ideas are aimed at raising the awareness about perceptions of branding that relate to the value of yoga and help people to synchronize their body, mind, and soul. The awareness also refers to the implications of branding that provides insights into the yoga practices. Hence, in the United States, the brands of yoga grew drastically since the increase in people who practiced yoga at that time. The figure of sixteen million yogis already doubled after several decades of such practices. Consequently, the alternative solution for the research study is to consider the growing interest of the target audience in particular brands of yoga that would make people visit yoga studios on the regular basis (Mallinson 2011).

5.3. Selection of the Best Fit Solutions

The implication of diversity refers to the perceptions of branding quite differently. It is considered that brands of yoga could offer people a nonspiritual approach to yoga that they can learn and improve their health. In fact, it is agreed that the whole of humanity has access to yoga practice and not a single nation. In other words, yoga could not be considered as the property of one person or a group of yoga practitioners. Thus, the yoga practice could be legally distributed all over the world, regardless of the religious beliefs, class of people and their faith. Moreover, the yoga practice style of Tara was perceived as the highly materialistic, but it worked for all the target audience. In fact, she did not use the Sanskrit words but simply practiced yoga in her class and added some chants to make yoga more entertaining. Therefore, the contribution of yoga is indeed the establishment of unity and integrity of people from different nations that finally unites them (Bahnemann 2007).

5.4. Recommendations on the Best Alternative

The recommendation on the best alternative could be presented by means of the implications of the case study that address the flow of branding yoga all over the world, which is considered with respect to the specificity perception as follows. In other words, the specificity of the yoga practice could be perceived by means of creating new brands for yoga through the adoption of different yoga styles. As a result, the target customers have more options to choose from grounded on all their needs. The examples of such adoption are the Hatha yoga studios “Hot Yoga” by Bikram and yoga studios by Tara Styles with the implications for relaxation of her “Strala Yoga” (Larson 2008).

5.5. Action Plan

The action plan could be perceived with respect to the number of players of the case study and the number of facts from the dispute on the true origin and original roots of the yoga practice. In particular, the Hindu American Foundation in the United States that was in charge of evaluating the quality of the Yoga Journal referred no reference to Hinduism. At that time, the yoga industry totaled six billion US dollars a year, as it was reported by Suhag Shukla, the Managing Director of the Yoga Journal. There was a desire to claim the roots of yoga and take them back to Hinduism. Thus, Suhag Shukla was in vain trying to reach the Yoga Journal, main editor. As a result, there was a launch of the campaign known as the “Take Back Yoga – Bringing to Light Yoga’s Hindu Roots”. The idea was not about the implications of branding but about the acknowledgment of yoga practitioners in terms of the Hinduism contribution to humanity with the establishment of the yoga practice. Afterward, Chopra acknowledged that Americans tend to claim their rights to everything, particularly if it concerns the ancient times. In 2010, Aseem Shukla, the member of the Hindu American Foundation, wrote a discourse at the Washington Post claiming the unfaithful approach of conventional yoga practitioners. Thus, it was reflected as the faith in “The Theft of Yoga” with the consequent answer from Chopra claiming that the yoga practice does not have its origin in Hinduism. Nevertheless, he agreed that the yoga practice still has roots in the Indian tradition. Hence, the action plan is to think about yoga practices by considering the details of individual yoga practitioners. The fact is that the existing yoga practitioners will continue their asana rehearses, irrespective of the yoga origin and/or its true roots. In this case, the only action plan could be not to argue about the authorship and striving to bring more value to the target customers of yoga all over the world (Eliade 2009).

5.6. Limitations of the Study

The major limitation of this research study is the inability to review the sacred knowledge of the past by the researcher since there is no language skill to understand the Vedic notions. Thus, the researcher should take advantage merely of the findings collected in the alternative sources without knowing if they are right or wrong as well as to which extent there could be errors in perceptions of the yoga practice and its original roots (Saraswati 2008).

5.7. Scope of the Further Research

The scope of the research is in the number of implications. At first, the purpose of future actions is to consider the discussion that already proves the relation between yoga practice and the ancient Hindu traditions. It means that the target readers should still perceive their yoga practice as it was previously with the only difference of having some evidence for its origin. The other future research studies could consider the implications of both inputs and outputs of the yoga practice for the existing yoga practitioners. The time frame for the consequent studies could be different taking into account the efforts, time and money (Sarasvati 1998).