An Examination of the Factor structure of the Effortless Meditation Scale and its Benefits on Wellbeing

Dhyana or effortless mediation (EM) is one of the eight limbs of yoga. The effortless meditation techniques have been applied in the field of health as wellness centres. The objective of this paper is to develop the factor structure and find the reliability and validity an instrument to measure the students’ health and wellbeing based on the effortless meditation. We used SPSS and AMOS version 25 to present the analysis of the items in the instrument using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Samples of 604 students aged 11-18 years were selected from 20 secondary schools in Bhopal region, India. The effortless meditation items scale had initial 30 items, with a five point rating scale questionnaire that assessed health and wellbeing. The final tool containing 13 items scale had standardized regression coefficients (0.89). Internal consistency represented by Cronbach’s alpha of 0.98 was in the acceptable range. Three different fitness indices comprising Absolute, Incremental and Parsimonious fits were also analysed and found to be acceptable within the limits. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a one-dimensional factor structure of the Effortless meditation scale (EMS). The extracted EM scale is found to be a valid and reliable measure for health and wellbeing of one self and society. There is a scope for further research work in the other main domains of yoga concept.