In spirituality, there isn’t a villain bigger than the ego. The Ahamkara, or the concept of me-ness, is the biggest obstacle on the path to enlightenment. While ego itself is not bad, spiritual practices look down upon an individual’s excessive attachment to the self. With yoga, a powerful tool for connecting to the higher self, is one way to rid yourself of ego. But that might just be a huge lie, says a recent study. It says far from helping you eliminate the ego, yoga makes you more of an obnoxious narcissist.

The study published the Journal of Psychological Science, contradicts the belief that yoga helps you attain an ego-less state. The paper says that the “ego-quieting effect” flies in the face of the principle of self-centrality. The principle says that practicing any skill, yoga included, makes it a self-central activity. This breeds self-enhancement, which is anything but anti-ego.

So the researchers who conducted the study recruited 93 students of yoga over a period of 15 weeks. They assessed parameters such as self-centrality and self-enhancement after yoga practice and without practice. The researchers also followed 163 meditators for over 4 weeks and tested them on the same parameters. The results were shocking to say the least. They found that self-enhancement was higher in people who practiced yoga and meditation. The study concluded that neither yoga nor meditation helped in quieting the ego. Instead, they boosted self-enhancement.

Spiritual Narcissism

Even before the study was published, there existed the term “spiritual narcissist,” applicable to people who used spirituality as a mask to conceal their insecurity, need for adulation or to avoid any kind of constructive methods for self-growth. Some self-proclaimed spiritualists brag about being spiritual and having supernatural powers. If the person is truly spiritual, he or she will be more sympathetic to the spiritual shortcomings of the other. But far from being tolerant to that, spiritual narcissist gets angry when at others who are not as “awakened” or profound as he is.

Should You Stop Performing Yoga?

Although the study has thrown open some uncomfortable truths, we can’t say for a fact that you should stop practising yoga. For starters, maybe the participants weren’t adept at the practice. Or maybe they didn’t select the right people for the research. Despite the recent unfavourable tag, the health benefits of yoga are well documented. And if you want to reap these benefits, you should practice yoga.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 02, 2018 05:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).