Mapping Conditional Associations Among Wellbeing, Distress, Spirituality, and Yoga Practice: A Network Analysis

Background/Objectives: Yoga practice is associated with enhanced wellbeing and reduced psychological distress; however, the conditional interrelations among yoga frequency, perceived health, wellbeing, distress, and spirituality remain insufficiently understood. This study aimed to map these associations and identify variables uniquely relevant to wellbeing among yoga practitioners. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 326 yoga practitioners (94.2% women; Mage = 39.84, SD = 14.81). A Gaussian graphical model with EBIC-graphical LASSO regularization was used to estimate conditional associations among eight variables. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to identify independent predictors of wellbeing. Results: The network retained 20 of 28 possible edges (sparsity = 0.286) and revealed three clusters: health wellbeing (yoga frequency, perceived health, and wellbeing), distress (anxiety and stress), and spirituality. Global experiential spirituality showed the highest strength and expected influence, whereas WHO-5 wellbeing was the most central node in terms of betweenness and closeness. Stability was acceptable to excellent (CS coefficients: strength = 0.70, closeness = 0.60, betweenness = 0.40). The association between yoga frequency and wellbeing persisted independently of distress. The regression model explained 48.1% of the variance in wellbeing (adjusted R² = 0.469, p < 0.001). Higher environmental, but not transcendent, spiritual health (β = 0.136), better perceived health (β = 0.256), and more frequent yoga practice (β = 0.104) uniquely predicted higher wellbeing, whereas depression (β = -0.362) and stress (β = -0.198) uniquely predicted lower wellbeing. The environmental spirituality association was significant in this main model but, in a supplementary model that included all four experiential spirituality domains, was attenuated and depended on model specification. Conclusions: Wellbeing among yoga practitioners is a multidimensional construct uniquely associated with lower levels of depression and distress, as well as self-rated health and environmental spirituality. Depression and stress showed negative associations with wellbeing, whereas perceived health, regular yoga practice, and environmental spirituality showed positive associations. These findings highlight potential correlates of subjective wellbeing among yoga practitioners and underscore the importance of considering both distress-related and positive health-related factors, including perceived health, regular yoga practice, and environmental spirituality (interpreted with caution given its sensitivity to model specification), in future research.