Improvement in Static Motor Performance following Yogic Training of School Children

Abstract

Two groups of 45 children each, whose ages ranged from 9 to 13 years, were assessed on a steadiness test, at the beginning and again at the end of a 10-day period during which one group received training in yoga, while the other group did not. The steadiness test required insertion of and holding for 15 sec. a metal stylus without touching the sides of holes of decreasing sizes in a metal plate. The contacts were counted as 'errors'. During the 10-day period, one group (the 'Yoga' group) received training in special physical postures (asanas), voluntary regulation of breathing (Pranayama), maintenance of silence, as well as visual focussing exercises (tratakas) and games to improve the attention span and memory. The other group (control) carried out their usual routine. After 10 days, the 'Yoga' group showed a significant (Wilcoxon's paired signed-ranks test) decrease in errors, whereas the 'control' group showed no change.

Yoga as a Classroom Intervention for Preschoolers

“…In their pre-and post-design study of 153 children ages 12 to 16, finger-tapping speed increased after participation in yoga for 10 days. Similarly, Telles, Hanumanthaiah, Nagarathna, and Nagendra (1993) compared the hand steadiness of 45 children who participated in yoga and 45 children in a control group. Children who participated in yoga for 10 days demonstrated significantly fewer errors in a stylus task than the control group.…”

Yoga and distractibility

“…For example, there have been promising trends that suggest various physiological benefits such as decreases in heart rate and blood pressure (Cusmano and Robinson, 1992), positive mood enhancement (Szabo et al, 1998), better hand coordination (Telles et al, 1993a), and improved flexibility (Gharote and Ganguly, 1979).…”

Changes in hemiplegic grasp following distributed repetitive intervention: a case series

“…The task was to maintain the stylus in a 0.187 inch diameter hole for 10 s without touching the perimeter. While normative data are not available, this test has shown decreased errors with increased skill (Telles et al, 1993). The outcome measure for hand steadiness was the number of errors.…”