Investigating the Effects of Yoga and Pranayama on Enhancing Physical Fitness in Adolescent Girls
Author : Dr. Tangarani and Dr. Gajanana Prabhu B
Abstract :
Yoga is regarded as a methodical effort towards self-perfection through development of latent potential on the physical, vital, mental, intellectual and spiritual levels. The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of various yogic exercises and pranayama on selected physical fitness components of female adolescents. For the purpose of the study thirty female students studying at Sri Aurobindo Residential High School were randomly selected as subjects. Among them fifteen were allotted to the experimental group and the remaining fifteen were considered as control. Their age ranged between 13 to 16 years. Physical fitness test was conducted during pre and posttest situations on 100 meters, 200 meters, standing broad jump, shot put and long jump. These subject under experimental group were provided systematic training on yoga and pranayama for a duration of six weeks as per the experiment protocol. The statistical techniques employed for this study were Mean Standard Deviation and t-ratio to find out significant differences between the Mean scores of the groups. The obtained value of ‘t’ was tested for significance at 0.05 level of confidence. Except shot put and standing broad jump there were no significant differences between the remaining components between the two groups. Further, there was absolutely no difference in the pre and posttest scores of experimental group. Detailed discussion on findings is presented in this paper.
Keywords :
Yoga, pranayama, physical fitness, adolescents.
