Restorative yoga statistics are best understood within the broader U.S. yoga data available for 2022. In that year, 16.9% of U.S. adults age 18 and older reported practicing yoga during the previous 12 months. Among those yoga practitioners, 80.0% said they used yoga to restore their overall health, while 57.4% practiced meditation as part of yoga and 28.8% used yoga to treat or manage pain. These figures come from the CDC National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Data Brief No. 501, published in 2024. The source reports yoga use, not restorative-yoga-style participation specifically.
Contents
- Key restorative yoga statistics
- Yoga participation across U.S. adults
- Restoring overall health
- Meditation as part of yoga
- Yoga for pain management
- Differences by race and ethnicity
- Differences by family income
Key restorative yoga statistics
The CDC NCHS Data Brief No. 501 provides a useful national snapshot of why adults practiced yoga in the United States. Its results describe adults who practiced yoga during the 12 months before the 2022 survey. They do not establish that restorative yoga was practiced as a distinct style, and they do not measure outcomes caused by yoga.
The most relevant figures are:
- 16.9% of U.S. adults age 18 and older practiced yoga in the past 12 months.
- 80.0% of adults who practiced yoga used it to restore their overall health.
- 57.4% of adults who practiced yoga practiced meditation as part of yoga.
- 28.8% of adults who practiced yoga used yoga to treat or manage pain.
- The share using yoga to restore overall health ranged from 75.1% among Hispanic yoga-practicing adults to 81.7% among White non-Hispanic yoga-practicing adults.
- The share practicing meditation as part of yoga ranged from 49.1% among yoga-practicing adults age 65 and older to 70.8% among yoga-practicing adults of other or multiple races who were non-Hispanic.
- The share using yoga to treat or manage pain ranged from 21.1% among Asian non-Hispanic yoga-practicing adults to 37.8% among yoga-practicing adults with family incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level.
These are descriptive percentages for the measured groups. The CDC source does not say that the percentages represent clinical effectiveness or that one group benefits more from a particular yoga style.
Yoga participation across U.S. adults
The overall participation rate was 16.9% among U.S. adults age 18 and older in 2022. Participation differed by sex, age, race and ethnicity, and family income.
Women reported yoga practice at a rate of 23.3%, compared with 10.3% of men. By age, 21.3% of adults ages 18–44 practiced yoga, followed by 14.1% of adults ages 45–64 and 8.0% of adults age 65 and older.
Participation by selected demographic group
| Group | Practiced yoga in the past 12 months |
|---|---|
| Men | 10.3% |
| Women | 23.3% |
| Ages 18–44 | 21.3% |
| Ages 45–64 | 14.1% |
| Age 65 and older | 8.0% |
| Asian non-Hispanic adults | 22.5% |
| Black non-Hispanic adults | 12.6% |
| White non-Hispanic adults | 19.3% |
| Hispanic adults | 10.5% |
Among the race and ethnicity categories reported by the CDC, 22.5% of Asian non-Hispanic adults practiced yoga, 19.3% of White non-Hispanic adults practiced yoga, 15.7% of adults of other or multiple races who were non-Hispanic practiced yoga, 12.6% of Black non-Hispanic adults practiced yoga, and 10.5% of Hispanic adults practiced yoga.
Family income also tracked with reported participation. Yoga practice was reported by 10.4% of adults with family incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level, 14.0% of adults with incomes from 200% to less than 400% of that level, and 23.0% of adults with incomes at 400% of the federal poverty level or more.
Source: CDC NCHS Data Brief No. 501 (2024). The measurement period was the past 12 months in 2022 among U.S. adults age 18 and older.
Restoring overall health
Restoring overall health was the most commonly reported reason in this dataset. Among adults who practiced yoga, 80.0% used yoga to restore their overall health. The measure reflects respondents’ reported reason for yoga use; it is not a medical assessment of restoration or recovery.
The percentage was similar for men and women: 79.6% of men who practiced yoga and 80.2% of women who practiced yoga used it to restore overall health. By age, the corresponding figures were 78.4% for adults ages 18–44, 83.3% for adults ages 45–64, and 79.1% for adults age 65 and older.
The CDC’s race and ethnicity results show 75.6% among Asian non-Hispanic yoga-practicing adults, 76.7% among Black non-Hispanic yoga-practicing adults, 81.7% among White non-Hispanic yoga-practicing adults, 79.5% among yoga-practicing adults of other or multiple races who were non-Hispanic, and 75.1% among Hispanic yoga-practicing adults.
The reported health-restoration percentages by family income were also close together: 80.2% among yoga-practicing adults with family incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level, 78.9% among those from 200% to less than 400%, and 80.5% among those at 400% or more.
Meditation as part of yoga
Meditation was part of yoga for 57.4% of adults who practiced yoga. This finding is relevant to restorative practice because it identifies a substantial overlap between yoga participation and a meditative component, while still referring to yoga generally rather than to a specific restorative sequence.
Women who practiced yoga reported meditation at 59.3%, compared with 52.9% of men. The age pattern was 62.0% among yoga-practicing adults ages 18–44, 53.9% among those ages 45–64, and 49.1% among those age 65 and older.
By race and ethnicity, 70.8% of yoga-practicing adults of other or multiple races who were non-Hispanic practiced meditation as part of yoga. The corresponding shares were 70.7% among Black non-Hispanic adults, 66.8% among Hispanic adults, 56.7% among Asian non-Hispanic adults, and 54.0% among White non-Hispanic adults.
The income pattern moved in the opposite direction from overall yoga participation. Meditation as part of yoga was reported by 65.3% of yoga-practicing adults with family incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level, 56.7% of those from 200% to less than 400%, and 55.7% of those at 400% or more.
Yoga for pain management
Pain management was a less common reported purpose than restoring overall health or including meditation. Among adults who practiced yoga, 28.8% used yoga to treat or manage pain.
The percentage was 31.8% among men who practiced yoga and 27.5% among women. By age, 27.9% of yoga-practicing adults ages 18–44 used yoga to treat or manage pain, compared with 31.5% of those ages 45–64 and 27.2% of those age 65 and older.
Across the reported race and ethnicity categories, 21.1% of Asian non-Hispanic yoga-practicing adults used yoga to treat or manage pain. The figures were 26.0% among Black non-Hispanic adults, 30.0% among White non-Hispanic adults, 25.0% among adults of other or multiple races who were non-Hispanic, and 31.9% among Hispanic adults.
Family income showed the widest spread among the pain-management figures. The percentage was 37.8% among yoga-practicing adults with family incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level, 32.8% among those from 200% to less than 400%, and 25.4% among those at 400% or more.
The CDC figures describe reported use for treating or managing pain. They do not identify pain conditions, treatment duration, yoga style, or clinical outcomes.
Differences by race and ethnicity
Race and ethnicity results show that the three reported reasons do not move in lockstep. Asian non-Hispanic adults had the highest overall yoga participation in the supplied CDC categories at 22.5%, but among yoga practitioners they had the lowest reported use for pain management at 21.1%. Black non-Hispanic yoga practitioners reported meditation at 70.7%, while 76.7% used yoga to restore overall health and 26.0% used it to treat or manage pain.
Hispanic adults had a 10.5% overall yoga participation rate. Among Hispanic adults who practiced yoga, 75.1% used it to restore overall health, 66.8% practiced meditation as part of yoga, and 31.9% used yoga to treat or manage pain. White non-Hispanic adults had a 19.3% participation rate, and among their yoga practitioners the corresponding reason-specific figures were 81.7%, 54.0%, and 30.0%.
For adults of other or multiple races who were non-Hispanic, overall yoga participation was 15.7%. Among practitioners, 79.5% used yoga to restore overall health, 70.8% practiced meditation as part of yoga, and 25.0% used it to treat or manage pain.
Differences by family income
Family income provides another way to read the restorative yoga statistics. Overall yoga participation was 10.4% below 200% of the federal poverty level, 14.0% from 200% to less than 400%, and 23.0% at 400% or more. Participation therefore differed across the income groups in the 2022 U.S. results.
Among people who did practice yoga, the percentage using it to restore overall health was 80.2%, 78.9%, and 80.5% across those same three income groups. The percentages for meditation were 65.3%, 56.7%, and 55.7%. The percentages for treating or managing pain were 37.8%, 32.8%, and 25.4%.
| Family income group | Yoga participation | Restore overall health | Meditation as part of yoga | Treat or manage pain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Below 200% of federal poverty level | 10.4% | 80.2% | 65.3% | 37.8% |
| 200% to less than 400% | 14.0% | 78.9% | 56.7% | 32.8% |
| 400% or more | 23.0% | 80.5% | 55.7% | 25.4% |
The first column of reason-specific percentages describes adults within each income group who practiced yoga; it is not the percentage of all adults in that income group. This distinction matters when comparing participation with reasons for practice. The CDC source reports the survey results for 2022 and does not establish why these group patterns occurred.