Online Yoga for Individuals With Mood Disorders

We are seeking to understand the acceptability of an online yoga class for individuals with mood disorders. MoodNetwork members who are 18 years old or over who have experienced depression, mania, or hypomania are invited to participate. About 200 MoodNetwork participants will take part in this study.

Yoga practitioners view yoga as a way to promote good physical and mental health, rather than as a treatment for poor health. This world view may be appealing to patients, especially those concerned with the stigma of conventional mental health treatment, or with the narrow focus on decreasing symptoms (instead of a broader focus on living to one's full potential) that defines much of conventional mental health treatment. Yoga classes are widely available and relatively inexpensive compared to other depression treatments. Yoga can be practiced at home with the aid of video recordings or books. We propose to examine the acceptability and feasibility of online yoga practice for individuals with depression, mania, or hypomania.

A 30 minute online Hatha yoga video intervention will be administered to participants.Participants will only participate in one yoga class and complete follow-up questionnaires.

Participants will be shown a 30 minute video of a yoga class that they will be invited to follow along with.

The PANAS is a 20-item questionnaire that contains two 10-item subscales for positive and negative affect, respectively. The positive affect subscale assesses domains of excitement, enthusiasm, and attentiveness, whereas the negative subscale measures domains of distress, guilt, and irritability. Each subscale score can range from 10-50 where higher scores indicate greater levels of affect.

This measure was developed for this study. It includes a Likert Scale item assessing how much participants liked the class (1 "Disliked it very much" to 10 "Liked it very much"). It also collects qualitative feedback on what they liked, disliked, as well as any other commentary. Quantitative data from Likert items are the secondary outcome reported.

A free response survey asking for detail on any pain or injuries that may be relevant or related to the online yoga class

Inclusion Criteria: Fluent in English Over age 18 Self-report of having experienced depression, mania, or hypomania in their lifetime Exclusion Criteria: Any contraindication to exercise (e.g., pregnant, physical injuries or any other reason prohibiting exercise).