Effect of Pragya Yoga as a Holistic Practice in Promoting Psychological Well-being in Young Adults

Abstract

Adolescents and young adults are now facing mounting emotional distress and mood instability, thus reviving academic interest in integrative meditation. The current study focused on the impact of 30 days Pragya Yoga intervention on the psychological well-being of young adults aged between 18 and 25 years. Simple random sampling was used to distribute 83 respondents (37 male, 46 females) into experimental and control groups. The experimental group were subject to systematic Pragya Yoga program involving asanas, pranayama, meditation, relaxation, and self-reflection, but the control group got nothing. The grading of psychological well-being was done through the PGI General Well-Being Measure that was pre-intervention and post-intervention. The findings showed statistically significant improvements in the well-being of the yoga group. There was an increase of 25.6 to 28.6 with a large effect size (d=1.398) in the male participants. There was an improvement of female participants (25.4 to 27.2 with a moderate-large effect size (d=0.768). The standard deviations were declining across the genders, resulting more emotionally stable after the intervention. The control cohort was exhibited insignificant improvement and thus supporting specificity of the practice. Overall, the results indicate that Pragya Yoga produces significant improvements of emotional regulation, self-image, and well-being providing a viable and culture-specific mental-health source to young adults.