TITLE:
Ten Years after the Great East Japan Earthquake—Natural Disasters and Spiritual Growth, from a Yoga Perspective
AUTHORS:
Satoko Murakami, Chieko Kato, Koichiro Aoki
KEYWORDS:
Yoga, Great East Japan Earthquake, Natural Disasters, Spiritual Growth
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.10 No.4,
April
14,
2022
ABSTRACT: In the Great East Japan
Earthquake, a large number of areas were destroyed by the tsunami. In addition,
there was a loss of houses, familiar hometown scenery, and bereavement of
family and friends. The victims are thought to have a complex experience of
loss. The purpose of this study is to investigate the mental growth of the
victims ten years after the disaster from the perspective of yoga, and to
explore the possibility of overcoming various mental problems of victims in the
natural disasters that are expected to occur in the future. The yoga therapy which was used to support the victims of the disaster
includes the three pillars of yoga: breathing, meditation, and exercises. They
helped the victims to develop their ability to control emotions and to look at things and themselves objectively. This
study conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 people in their 60s
to 80s living in Iwate prefecture, including 10 people who had participated in
yoga therapy after the earthquake (group of participants experienced in yoga
therapy) and 10 people who had not experienced the yoga therapy (group of
participants not experienced in yoga therapy). For the interview items, this
study set up large categories based on the items of the PTG. The verbatim transcripts
were analyzed by means of text mining to create co-occurrence network diagrams
as “the words 10 years after the earthquake”. Further analysis was carried out
while reading the verbatim transcripts to clarify the co-occurrence
relationship of words. The participants’ responses in both groups were
generally positive, because the region is often hit by tsunamis, and the
lessons of over-coming many disasters have been handed down from generation to
generation. However, the participants not experienced in yoga therapy showed
not only compassion and appreciation for others but also negative feelings in
their responses. They appear to accept the current situation, yet they also
have complicated feelings about the situation. Among the participants experienced
in yoga therapy, there were responses about self-awareness and life in the
midst of the unprecedented situation of the earthquake. Some of them said that
the influence of the yoga teacher was significant, suggesting that awareness
gained through yoga therapy added to the strength that had originally been
passed along to them and had an impact on their mental health. It is possible
that yoga can help the mental growth of victims of future natural disasters.