Introduction: Educational interventions aimed at enhancing well-being are the need of the hour. Yoganidra has potential to enhance well-being through release of stress on physical, emotional and mental planes of consciousness through creation of an experiential state of deep relaxation through an inner awareness with simultaneous detachment. The study was done to analyze the effects of Yoganidra on various dimensions of well-being amongst trainee teachers.
Methodology: Trainee teachers participated in Yoganidra sessions over three months. Various aspects of well-being studied were 1) Perceived stress (using Visual Analogue Scale and Perceived Stress Scale), 2) Happiness (using Faces scale), 3) Overall quality of life (using Cantrils self-anchoring ladder) and 4) Psychological general well-being (using Psychological General Well Being Index-Short). An investigator designed tool was used additionally to capture certain deeper qualities of well-being hitherto not overtly measured in standard tools employed.
Results: Seventy-seven trainee teachers participated in the sessions over three months. Significant reduction in perceived stress scale score (p=0.005) along with improvement in happiness (p=0.0004), overall quality of life (p=0.039) and psychological general well-being (p=0.0003) was observed. There was statistically significant improvement in the qualities of enthusiasm (p=0.04), quietude (p=0.0008), mental stability (p=0.004), happiness (p=0.02) and feeling inspired (p=0.03).
Conclusion: Yoganidra practice brings about reduction in perceived stress, while enhancing emotional and cognitive dimensions of well-being such as happiness, psychological general well-being, overall quality of life, enthusiasm, quietude and stability. It can be considered as a useful tool for enhancing well-being.
Key words: Yoganidra, psychological general well-being, physical well-being, emotional well being, cognitive well-being, happiness, quietude
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