Analysis of Well Being of People Practicing Yoga

Background: De-stressing for achieving a sense of well being has become an absolute necessity for people to reduce psycho-somatic disorders. The degree to which one experiences control over one’s response to life events will have a buffering effect for adverse life events and will enhance wellbeing. Subjective wellbeing indicates how people evaluate their lives in terms of feelings of wellbeing or the lack of it. Yoga helps in significant reduction of stress, contributing to a feeling of better wellbeing. Aim: This study analyses the effect of yoga on subjective well being of people. Research Design: Survey method was adopted for the study. Sample: Consisted of 100 randomly selected yoga practitioners. Tools used: They were interviewed using a questionnaire consisting of 13 subjective well being parameters (OECD, 2013), with three responses, scored as 3, 2 and 1. Subjective Well Being Index (SWBI) was worked out as the sum of the scores of the parameters. The data was analyzed through analysis of variance. Results: The mean SWBI of yoga practitioners mostly improves with the years of yoga practice. However, even up to two years of yoga practice contributes to a very promising condition of well being, with more than 89% of the respondents experiencing either very much or slight improvement / reduction in all the well being parameters. More than 10 years of yoga practice gives the maximum SWBI of 37, equivalent to about 95% of the maximum possible index, while 6 to 10 years of yoga contributes to an index of about 34. Even though the SWBI of up to 2 years, 2 to 4 years and 4 to 6 years of yoga practice are statistically on par, they differ significantly from that of the yoga practice categories above 6 years. 6 to 8 years and 8 to 10 years of yoga contribute to SWBI, which is also significantly different from the SWBI of more than 10 years practitioners. Conclusion: The results of the study establish the effect of yoga in achieving a feeling of well being among people, which would ultimately contribute to better physical health also for them. Hence, psycho-somatic disorders existing under the fast, hectic and tense conditions in the society can be reduced considerably through the practice of relaxation techniques such as yoga. In this context, it will be worthwhile if institutions such as yoga centres, recreational clubs, residents’ associations, schools, offices etc. take initiative in popularizing such mind – body relaxation techniques through awareness programs which also include information from research carried out, demonstration of the techniques etc. with the objective of creating a healthy society.