Yoga in Honk-Kong: An Explorative Study

The dominance in popularity of women associated with yoga explores gender-based issues that have influenced sporting and fitness activities and in this case yoga. The adoption of Yoga into west5ern society has made it a practice for women, and this has significantly limited men from using the practice for fitness purposes. One of the societies where yoga has been adopted is in Hong Kong. Hong Kong represents a modern society dedicated to elements of good health and wellness and yoga has grown as an excellent option for fitness and wellness for many in society. Yoga was first developed as a method of spiritual development and evolution, but through the years it has evolved into methods used for developing fitness, stress reduction as well as the management of a good and healthy lifestyle. It has also been used primarily in western society for the rehabilitation of psychological, social, and physical problems. It has been used to return people to good health. It bears excellent health benefits that improve general health and wellbeing.

Aims and Purpose of the Paper
The research is aimed at exploring the social factors that influence the practice of yoga. Gender-based issues affect yoga, and this is in regards to the fact that it is mostly a practice dominated by women and has, therefore, been considered for a long time as a feminine activity. These are notions that have affected the pursuit of healthiness through the use of the practice of yoga. Hong Kong is part of the world that the popularity of yoga has also influenced that as a health fitness approach.

However, it also a society for which the practices have been affected by social factors.

Research problems
As described above, yoga represents a very comprehensive and effective method of developing good social, psychological, and physical well-being. It is an easy and effective way of losing weight reducing stress and rehabilitation from different health conditions. However, there are social factors that hinder people from accepting and using it as a fitness method. The social factors surrounding the practice hinder its successful use by all people in a society. One of the main factors is associated with gender. Yoga has always been considered a feminine practice. Men have always affiliated themselves with hard ways of fitness such as lifting weights. Another element of femininity is a group workout which is a critical element of yoga. Most women prefer to work together in groups to empower each other through workouts. It is, however, difficult to find men working out together and this is because most men like to exercise in isolation or very small groups. The media has also played a serious part in the development of perceptions about yoga as an activity for women. The outfits themselves also associated with practice with women. There is excellent popularity of yoga pants which are tight clothing worn by women during yoga sessions. There are, therefore, gender-based issues that influence the practice of yoga in society and most of them are founded on the idea yoga is an activity for women.

Methodology
The research is aimed at determining society’s attitudes about yoga and how such perceptions influence the application of the practices based on gender concerns of the society.
Previous research on the development and evolution of yoga in Hong Kong and neighboring nations would be instrumental in creating a clear picture of how the practice is perceived. However, information from previous research would not be sufficient to answer the questions raised by the research, and it is for this reason that the research will employ various research methods.
The research used a total of 60 participants with 15 being male and 45 being female. The sixty participants were involved in answering questionnaires with designed questions aimed at collecting information about their perspectives about gender issues linked with yoga. An addition 4 participants were interviewed. The participants were issued with semi-structured questionnaires that were based on forty unique questions.
The research will be inductive because of the development of a specific observation which yoga is a feminine practice and developing generalized theories from the research.

Findings
One finding of yoga from the research is that it is a feminine practice with activities associated with women and it is for this reason that most men in Hong Kong do not engage in it as a form of workout and fitness.
Yoga is a practice that should not be gendered but throughout time and the development and evolution of the practice primarily in a western society where it has grown and developed as a feminine form of artistic expression. It is characterized by its distinct posing and body posture that makes it appear feminine. The element of flexibility significantly defines yoga as a practice, and the average man does not view such bending and flexibility as a necessity for working out.

Limitations of the research
The research was marked by various restrictions that include financial constraints caused by the demand for data collection and analysis. The sample size is quite large meaning that it would involve a lot of interaction with different people as a way of collecting information through interviews and issuing of the questionnaires. Another limitation would be the time needed to develop a comprehensive study incorporating all methods of data collection.
Another limitation was associated with the lack of cooperation from all participants. The number of people that volunteered for the study was not enough to provide an accurate description of the phenomenon. The sample size was not enough to be a good representative of the entire Honk Kong population because they were chosen from limited areas of the city.
There was also a lack of adequate resources. Recording information on paper was marked by a lot of shortcomings such as data leakages. Another limitation was the lack of data on Hong Kong people to provide literature about the issue.

Recommendations
Understanding the social dynamics that define the application of yoga in Hong Kong can be instrumental in developing ways of promoting yoga as a fitness practice. The perception of yoga as a feminine practice is responsible for the low number of men engaging in it for fitness. This is even though yoga represents a simple and effective way of getting fit and living a healthy life. More study on the topic is needed, and this is because yoga’s popularity has grown in recent years especially in western culture. More understanding of the various social aspects that affects sporting activities is needed.
One of the most significant limitations of the research was the lack of representation of the entire Hong Kong population. One recommendation is a better organization that could lead to the collection of information from different centers in the city. The sample size needs to represent the entire population for the research to be more accurate.

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