A randomized control trial of the effect of yoga on Gunas (personality) and Self esteem in normal healthy volunteers.
Sudheer Deshpande, H R Nagendra, Raghuram Nagarathna
International Journal of Yoga January 2009 DOI: 10.4103/0973-6131.43287 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 226 |
| Population | Normal adults aged 18-71 years, both sexes, who attended motivational lectures and met inclusion/exclusion criteria |
| Interventions | pranayama meditation notional correction mild to moderate physical exercise |
| Duration | 8 weeks, 1 hour daily, 6 days a week |
| Measures | The 'Gita' Inventory of Personality (GIN), self esteem questionnaire (SEQ) |
| Keywords | Guna Yoga Self esteem |
| Key findings | Both yoga and physical exercise groups improved significantly on all Guna and self-esteem domains over eight weeks. Significantly more yoga participants showed increased Sattva and decreased Tamas, while the exercise group did not. Yoga's effect size exceeded exercise's in three of seven self-esteem domains. |
Abstract
To study the efficacy of yoga on Gunas (personality) and self esteem in normal adults through a randomized comparative study. Of the 1228 persons who attended motivational lectures, 226 subjects aged 18-71 years, of both sexes, who satisfied the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and who consented to participate in the study were randomly allocated into two groups. The Yoga (Y) group practised an integrated yoga module that included asanas, pranayama, meditation, notional correction, and devotional sessions. The comparison group practised mild to moderate physical exercises (PE). Both groups had supervised practices for one hour daily, six days a week, for eight weeks. Guna (personality) was assessed before and after eight weeks using the self-administered "The 'Gita" Inventory of Personality" (GIN) to assess Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. Self esteem in terms of competency (COM), global self esteem (GSE), moral and self esteem (MSE), social esteem (SET), family self esteem (FSE), body and physical appearance (BPA), and the lie scale (LIS) were assessed using the self esteem questionnaire (SEQ). The baseline scores for all domains for both the groups did not differ significantly (P > 0.05 independent samples t-test). There were significant pre-post improvements in all domains in both groups (P < 0.001 paired t-test). The number of persons who showed improvement in Sattva and decrease in Tamas was significant in the Y but not in the PE group (McNemar test). The effect size for self esteem in the Y group is greater than for the PE group in three out of seven domains. This randomized controlled study has shown the influence of Yoga on Gunas and self esteem in comparison to physical exercise.