Yoga across the Lifespan: Health Promotion, Performance Optimization, and Well-Being in Sports, Occupational, and Everyday Contexts

Yoga, encompassing physical postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), and mindfulness-based practices, has gained increasing recognition as a holistic, integrative approach promoting physical, psychological, and social well-being. Once primarily regarded as a spiritual or exercise practice, contemporary research has demonstrated its versatile applications in health promotion, preventive medicine, clinical rehabilitation, professional performance, and stress management. Evidence indicates that yoga contributes to improvements in musculoskeletal strength and flexibility, autonomic regulation, emotional resilience, and overall quality of life across diverse populations. Nevertheless, significant gaps persist, including heterogeneity in intervention protocols, methodological variability, and inconsistent reporting of physiological and psychological outcomes, which hinder comparability and translation into practice.

Emerging studies reveal that yoga can influence multiple regulatory systems (neuromuscular, respiratory, and autonomic) contributing to enhanced physical performance and recovery, improved cognitive and emotional balance, and reduced burden of chronic disease. These benefits appear relevant not only for athletes or physically active individuals but also for sedentary adults, older adults, clinical populations, and workers exposed to occupational stress. Yet, despite a growing body of evidence, questions remain regarding underlying mechanisms, optimal program design, dose-response relationships, and the long-term sustainability of yoga-based interventions. Addressing these questions requires a coordinated, interdisciplinary approach bridging physiology, psychology, neuroscience, and applied health sciences.

This Research Topic aims to consolidate and advance understanding of yoga’s multidimensional effects across the lifespan. It seeks to synthesize evidence on health, performance, and well-being outcomes; unravel underlying mechanisms of action; and inform the development of standardized, evidence-based approaches suitable for clinical, community, sport, and occupational contexts. By fostering collaboration among researchers, clinicians, and practitioners, this initiative aims to integrate yoga more meaningfully within health promotion, rehabilitation, and performance enhancement frameworks.

To gather further insights across these areas, we welcome original research, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, case reports, and theoretical contributions addressing the following themes:

Physical function, including strength, flexibility, balance, and motor control

Cardiorespiratory and respiratory function

Autonomic regulation and stress resilience (e.g., heart rate variability)

Mental health, cognitive outcomes, and quality of life

Yoga in clinical populations (e.g., musculoskeletal, cardiometabolic, neurological conditions)

Ageing, frailty, and functional independence

Performance enhancement and recovery in school, sport, and occupational settings

Comparative analyses of yoga styles, intensities, and delivery formats

Integration of yoga into healthcare, rehabilitation, and community-based programs

Methodological rigor, reproducibility, and translational approaches in yoga research

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Registered Report
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Yoga-based interventions, Lifespan health promotion, Mind-body practices, Performance optimization, Well-being and rehabilitation

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.