Yoga for working memory in adolescents

Abstract

The current education system’s focus has been on logical and scientific thinking right from the primary level. During this process, the vital part of education: detachment has been ignored. Concentration and detachment are the key processes of education for the comprehensive development of personality in the teenagers as per Swami Vivekananda. Yoga, an ancient science, in its original form consists of diverse practices, such as physical postures (äsanas), regulated breathing (präëayäma), meditation, understanding the spiritual basis of life and ethical practices. Recent studies have shown Yoga based add-on programs in Modern education, enhance psychological well-being. LITERARY RESEARCH In this chapter of literary research, attempts were made to understand prajïa (awareness), from ancient Indian scriptures. This chapter elucidates the role of prajïa in development of mind and its different aspects (antaùkaraëa), and removal of impurities (småtimala) leading to a state of mastery over the mind (sthithaprajïa sthithi). Relevant slokas are presented text-wise, and a coherent discussion has provided for the same. Finally, with the theoretical model which depicts the whole concept to understand the process of the cognitive refinement was summarized. REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE Review of scientific literature enumerates working memory, yoga, mindfulness and its relevance to adolescents. Evidence shows that working memory skills are closely linked to performance on scholastic tests. Further working memory is highly predictive measures of literacy, mathematics, and language comprehension. Yoga has been found to be beneficial for even mentally challenged and healthy adolescents on cognitive function. Cyclic Meditation (CM) is a unique practice which incorporates mind and body movements, along with awareness is a potential for prevention of clinical levels of psychopathology and improving overall psychological well-being in healthy individuals. Further mindfulness-based intervention has shown significant enhancement of mental health and well-being. More research is needed to understand the influence of yoga practices on the working memory in adolescents. Further to our knowledge outshoot of a yoga-based intervention, the mindfulness has not explored over working memory. AIM The primary aim was to explore the efficacy of yoga on working memory among adolescents. OBJECTIVES 1. To establish normative data for working memory task in Indian adolescents. 2. To explore the relationship between yoga related psychological states and working memory in healthy adolescents. 3. To evaluate the effect of intense yoga based personality development program on psychological domains and working memory in healthy adolescents. 4. To examine the immediate outcome of cyclic meditation on working memory and state anxiety in healthy adolescents.