Yoga, Body Images, and Social Media

Overview

How is yoga represented on social media: as a practice for well-being, or as an expression of an elegant, middle-class lifestyle? This project examines images of women practicing yoga on Xiaohongshu, exploring the relationship between bodily representation, health practices, and lifestyle ideals.

My role

As second author, I contributed to this study of how women’s yoga images represent health practices and lifestyle ideals on social media.

Approach

The study uses visual content analysis of manually collected images of women practicing yoga on Xiaohongshu. It approaches these images as representations of bodies and lifestyles, asking how a health practice is given social meaning through visual presentation.

Findings

The project considers how yoga imagery may connect the pursuit of well-being with ideals of elegance and middle-class lifestyles. This perspective draws attention to the social meanings attached to yoga, examining how images can communicate aspirations about how to live as well as how to care for the body.

Manuscript

Title: Practice for Well-Being or for Middle-Class Elegance? A Content Analysis of Yoga Images on a Chinese Social Media

Status: Accepted for presentation at the 112th National Communication Association Annual Convention (NCA 2026). Revised manuscript under review at Social Media + Society.

Access: For a copy of the manuscript, please email ytpeng@unc.edu.