A Fresh Breath: Pranayama and Academic Performance

• In Event: 33.078 - Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: 33.078-19 - Understanding Teacher Stress and Student Welfare Roundtable

Abstract

This study explores differences between student performance for those who did yogic breathing, pranayama, compared to those who did not. Students from two third grade sections at a suburban, private, English medium Junior Middle School (KG-8) near New Delhi, India, were assigned to a treatment (pranayama breathing) and control (no pranayama breathing) conditions. Utilizing a pretest, posttest with intact control group experimental design, we compared performance gains in Hindi, English and math controlling for group differences. Students who engaged in daily pranayama breathing outperformed those who did not engage in pranayama breathing in Math by more than two-fold.

Authors

• Shana L. Pribesh, Old Dominion University

• Abha Gupta, Old Dominion University