UNITED STATES, March 1, 2015 (USA Today): Nearly 10% of U.S. adults and 3% of children participated in yoga in 2012, up from 5% of adults and 2% of children a decade earlier, says a new survey from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease and Prevention. Another survey, from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, says more than 24 million U.S. adults practiced yoga in 2013, up from 17 million in 2008. That makes it roughly as popular as golf.
Other signs that yoga is a growth industry: The Wall Street Journal recently reported that some yoga classes are so overcrowded that peace-seeking yogis are getting into fights over mat space. Yoga Journal, a print and online magazine, is celebrating its 40th anniversary and “business is booming,” with a growing print readership of 2.1 million and more than 5 million online page views a month, says editor in chief Carin Gorrell.
Since 2012, Medicare has covered cardiac rehabilitation programs that include yoga. The programs also include a vegetarian diet and meditation. “I’ve always thought that it’s not a matter of if we are going to include yoga and mindfulness techniques in healthcare, it’s always been when, and the when has arrived,” says M. Mala Cunningham, a psychologist at the University of Virginia who founded a program to certify yoga instructors and medical professionals to use such techniques with cardiac patients.
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