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Untitled Document
Part I: Yoga and Hindu Philosophy.
Part II: A Comparative Study of Three Different yoga Modules on Intelligence Quotient in Normal Children.
By
Vishwajeet Singh
ABSTRACT
PART- I:
Yoga & Hindu Philosophy
Yoga as a science has been present in india since times immemorial and over the years there has been a revival of interest in it. The report commences with a brief introduction to this ancient science and moves forward to give historical survey as far as yoga is concerned.
Yoga basics and the stages of it have been discussed in succeding chapters. The report also looks into the various schools of yoga with particular emphasis on Säïkhya and Pataïjali system. Lord Çiva as the ultimate Lord of yoga with the Çiva sutras have been dealt at length.The ultimate book, Bhagavad Gétä and the teachings there in for yoga are given due place and importance in succeding chapters .Yoga has been kept alive due to the saints who have passed it on to succeding generations and the report takes into account as it discusses the tradition of saints.
The end chapter aptly looks into the growing popularity of yoga with confirmed reports of revival of interest and also the attempt by certain section of society to give yoga a religious look.Ultimately the report ends with a brief discussion of yoga in modern world.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Yoga, as a 'science' of achieving this transformation of finite man into the infinite One, has to be recognized as something intrinsically Indian. Yoga has been called a living fossil. It has had five thousand years of glorious history. It belongs to the earliest heritage of India's humanity. The Indian liberation teachings - the great Yogas of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism - clearly represent an invaluable resource for contemporary human kind.
The path ahead is difficult and dangerous, but that is inevitable in any great undertaking. The goal of individual salvation and collective transformation may be far away, and may need man generations to arrive. Let us recall that immortal verse from the Kaöha Upaniñad which exhorts us to arise, awake and move onwards across the sharp and difficult razor-edged path laid out by the great spiritual beings of the past ages:
%iÄót ja¢t àaPy vraiÚbaext
Uttiñöhata Jäagrata Präpya Varännibodhata
]urSy xara inizta ÊrTyya
Kñurasya Dhärä Niçitä Duratyayä
Êg¡ pwStTkvyae vdiNt.14.Éag 1vi‘ 3.
Durgaà Pathastatkavayo Vadanti1.(1.3.14)
kQaepin;dœ Kaöhopaniñad
Karel Werner writes: "The uniqueness of Yoga and its great value for our time lie in the fact that it is based on a living tradition that has remained efficient since ancient times; that it has developed systematic methods for pursuing and reaching its aim; and that these method can be applied and studied today both on the popular level by people with personal inclinations towards following a spiritual path and on the academic level by research workers in various fields such as comparative religion, philosophy, psychology, psychotherapy, and physiology. All other forms of mystical practice are, by contrast, largely a matter of the more or less distant past (e.g. the ancient Greek mysteries, Egyptian magic practices, Gnosticism, various forms of shamanism, and medieval Christian mysticism) or if they are partly alive, which some might claim to be, they are closed systems accessible only to believers."
Dr. S. Rädhäkåñëan who had a great respect for Yoga wrote: "It is good to know that the ancient thinkers required of us to realize the possibilities of the soul in solitude and silence, and to transform the flashing and fading moments of vision into a steady light which could illumine the long years of life."
(Yoga is to transform the whole man, to discipline his body, to purify his mind, to touch the very foundations of his being.)
PART-II:
A comparative study of three different yoga modules on intelligence quotient in normal children (9 to 12 years)
The present study was aimed to assess the intelligence quotient (IQ) in children’s after intensive practice of Integrated Approach of Yoga and to compare the effects of three different yoga modules through Draw-a-man test. Subjects included normal healthy English-medium school children (n = 207) aged between 9-12 years (Mean ± SD, 10.86 ± 0.91). They were randomly assigned to three groups, Såñöi i.e. for Creativity Development (CR), Sthiti i.e. for IQ Development (IQ), and Laya i.e. for Physical Stamina Development (PS). They were taught three different yoga modules of Äsana (yoga postures), Präëäyäma (breathing exercises), kriyä (cleansing techniques), meditation, games and lecture by trained instructors. But daily time schedule for all the three groups remained the same. Draw-a-man Test was administrated to children in all three groups on the first and ninth days of a residential program. Paired‘t’ test was used to compare the change in IQ scores in the three groups. Results showed that there was significant improvement (p < 0.001) in the IQ group. The improvement in the IQ group was 3.91%, 0.44% in the CR group, and 0.10% in the PS group. Analysis between the three groups was done by means of one-way ANOVA, followed by post-hoc multiple comparison (Tukey test), which showed that the group, which practiced IQ-specific yoga module, showed significant improvement, compared to CR and PS groups. Result from a gender analysis showed that there is no significant difference in any group.
Hence the results suggest that yoga module specially designed for IQ group showed significant improvement in IQ.
SUMMARY & CONCLUSION
1. The present study is done to assess the efficacy of ‘Integrated Yoga Module (IYM) with the use of three different yoga modules on intelligence quotient.
2. The present study was also done to examine whether the intelligence quotient group (yoga module) showed much improvement in the IQ in school children. The present study was also done to check whether gender had an effect on the changes in IQ scores.
3. In this study, school children (n= 278, age range = 9 to12 years) were randomly assigned to three groups namely IQG, CRG, and PSG.
4. The groups had interventions of IYM to enhance CR, IQ and PS. The number of students in each group was IQ (n=68), CR (n=69), PS (n=70).
5. The assessments for intelligence quotient were taken on the 1st and 9th day of the course. The subjects were told that intelligence quotient test were for their self- assessment to understand the benefits derived from the course. The necessary conditions for the test namely, the seating arrangement, timing was strictly adhered to.
6. The scoring done for the test was based on Draw a man test Indian version for children. The intervention for the study included yoga practices, which were very specific for the three yoga modules.
7. The analysis of data was done after checking for elimination of abnormal data and attrition of data. The normality test showed that the groups were of normal distribution. The ‘f’ test showed that the groups were homogenous. The Paired’t’ test indicated that IQ group showed improvement. The Multiple comparison Tukey test showed that there was significant difference between groups. It showed that the IQ group showed more significance than the other two groups. The scores showed results with regard to gender too.
8. Hence the above study shows that Yoga has a role to play in the improvement of intelligence quotient, with greater improvement in the IQ group. The improvement in IQ may be due to the balancing effects having influenced the intelligence quotient.
The results suggest that the hypothesis was correct, i.e. it has shown improvement in the intelligence quotient group. Age as a factor may also be related to the increase in test scores. Further studies could be done after matching for age, for the three groups, to test the speculation.
Key words: Intelligence, Creativity, Physical Stamina, Yoga.
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