Background:Academic excellence is essential to provide opportunities for students to work together to improve their understanding of concepts in their academic core. Academic excellence helps students to teach problem-solving and collaborative learning strategies.Objective:The objective of this study was to assess Guna (personality traits) in students undergoing Yoga Instructor's Course (YIC).Materials and Methods:In all, 68 YIC students with a mean age of 28.03 ± 9.38 years participated in this single group pre–post study. The Personality Inventory data were collected before (pre) and after (post) the YIC.Statistical Analysis:Means, standard deviations, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, and Wilcoxon signed rank test were used for analyzing the data with the help of SPSS 16.Results:The data analysis showed 11.33% decrease (P < 0.01) in Tamas Guna (dull personality trait), 0.68% decrease (P =0.819) in Rajas Guna (violent personality trait), and 10.34% increase (P <0.01) in Sattva Guna (balanced personality trait) scores.Conclusion:This study suggests that YIC can result in the improvement of Sattva Guna (balance personality trait) among students, thus paving the way for their academic excellence.

More than 153 million children worldwide have been orphaned by the loss of one or both parents and millions more have been abandoned. There is a strong association between child health measures and the health of their primary caregivers. Poor caregiver health is a strong signal for poor health of orphan children. The strategies to support orphan children may include taking steps to ensure food security, foster gender equality, and prevent and treat traumatic events. Yoga, a feasible and acceptable activity with self-reported benefits to child's mental and physical health, may play effective role in the rehabilitation of orphaned children.

Background: Although yoga is an effective treatment for chronic low back pain (CLBP), little is known about the mechanisms responsible for its benefits. Objective: To study the effect of Integrated Approach of Yoga Therapy (IAYT) on disability, depression, and pain in patients with CLBP. Method: Seven days intensive residential IAYT program in a single group pre-post study was conducted in a holistic health centre at Bengaluru, India. Thirty-five patients (22 females, 13 males) with CLBP were selected conveniently to undergo the IAYT program. The IAYT program was a combination of Asanas (physical postures), Pranayama (breathing practices), and meditation, apart from interactive sessions on the philosophical concepts of yoga. The modified Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Straight Leg Raising (SLR) Test were administered before and after the IAYT program. Statistical Analysis: The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 16 was used for statistical analysis. The Shapiro–Wilk test showed that the data was normally distributed. Paired samples t-test was used to compare the means. Results: The data analysis showed significant change (p< 0.001, in all cases) with 54.13% decrease in the RMDQ scores (t = 0.759), 36.46% increase in right (t = 0.887) and 36.04% (t = 0.884) in left SLR scores, and 71.47% decrease in BDI scores (t = 0.797). Conclusion: The present study suggests that 7-day intensive residential IAYT program reduces disability and depression and improves spinal mobility in patients with CLBP. Thus, yoga may play a vital role in the management of CLBP. Additional randomized control trials are needed before a strong recommendation can be made.