Exploring the role of yoga in the management of aggression: A narrative review

Aggression, driven by biological, psychological, and environmental factors, disrupts emotional balance and social stability. While pharmacological treatments offer temporary relief, they come with adverse effects, highlighting the need for alternative approaches. Yoga, with its holistic approach, has been recognized for its role in promoting emotional regulation, reducing stress, and managing aggression. This narrative review aims to evaluate and compile existing research through extensive database searches to examine the effect of yogic interventions on aggression. Data were obtained using a systematic search process by searching online databases such as PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar using keywords like “Yoga”, “Aggression”. Controlled human trials used yoga as an intervention with the appropriate control group, and aggression-related outcomes were selected for inclusion. The included studies exhibited methodological heterogeneity. Limiting the review to English-language studies published between 2020 and 2025, and excluding the integrated approaches. Out of 597 potentially eligible articles searched, 08 studies that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected. Most of the selected studies demonstrated that yoga significantly reduced aggression levels and enhanced emotional regulation by managing stress, anxiety, anger, and related factors in various populations. Interestingly, one study reported that the reduction in aggression was not attributed to yoga itself but to improvements in other psychological factors. Existing research highlights yoga as a promising non-pharmacological approach for managing aggression across diverse populations by enhancing emotional regulation and related factors. However, Future studies should explore additional yoga modules, integrate them with established therapies, and investigate psycho-physiological mechanisms to optimise their therapeutic effectiveness in aggression management.