Enhancing Students' Life through Stress Reduction Exercises in Yoga

Since the 1970's, meditation and other stress-reduction techniques have been studied as possible treatments for depression and anxiety. One such practice, yoga, has received less attention in the medical literature, though it has become increasingly popular in recent decades. Yoga in today's time has been recognized as the best possible approach towards stress reduction and as personality enhancement technique. Today the medical sciences too have recognized its importance and recommend the same in as practices for healthy lifestyle. The present study was conducted on 100 school going girls of Dehradun state of Uttarakhand, India, between the age group of 16-17yrs. Pre and Post-test were conducted on the students using an adjustment inventory and battery of stress scales measuring areas like academic, institutional, self- concept etc. After the pre testing conditions students were exposed to a well-designed three months yoga training sessions for stress reduction employing relaxation techniques and exercises after which the post-test was conducted. The study revealed mean adjustment levels going high in the categories of excellent and good on the scale after the training, while also moving from high stress to low stress in various stress areas as measured. Thus the study reveals the crippling effect of the increasing everyday stress which can easily be eradicated from our lives through simple and inexpensive approach of moving towards yoga.