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Impaired kids benefit by yoga practise, finds new study

“The kids' improvement is very impressive. We are happy with the results and pleased that the school is taking it the next logical step by introducing yoga for all its students,” said Dr Menon, a research officer at the institute who led the study. “The practise of yoga asanas helps stimulate neurons and re-wires the kids' brains. It is only with regular practise that such results can be achieved and sustained.”

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Photo courtesy: Kaivalyadham
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A new study has concluded that regular practise of yoga asanas and pranayam by intellectually-disabled children helps them to better sustain their attention span, improves their ability to comprehend and follow instructions, aids sensory-motor co-ordination as well as brings stability to their gestures and posture. Based on the study's results, the children's school, Samwad Shala, has introduced the practise of yoga in its curriculum for all its students. 

The five-month, exploratory study, was conducted by yoga institute and research centre Kaivalyadham from December 2014 to April 2015. The study is the first in the institute's 91-year history, and perhaps only the second one in India, that set out to scientifically test the effects of regular yoga practise on intellectually-disabled children; the first one was done at the Bangalore-based S-Vyasa University in 1989, according to Dr Praseeda Menon of Kaivalyadham. The Santacruz-based Yoga Institute has done similar studies on cerebral palsy children.

“The kids' improvement is very impressive. We are happy with the results and pleased that the school is taking it the next logical step by introducing yoga for all its students,” said Dr Menon, a research officer at the institute who led the study. “The practise of yoga asanas helps stimulate neurons and re-wires the kids' brains. It is only with regular practise that such results can be achieved and sustained.”

The study involved four children, aged between 7-17 years, from Samwad Shala, a Lonavla-based, non-profit school for the hearing-impaired and mentally-challenged. All the four had “mild-moderate intellectual disability” levels. Yoga instructor Anjali Agnihotri along with one co-educator from the school, would instruct and demonstrate yoga asanas to these four children five days in a week. After the first two months, in which they were taught simple asanas, Agnihotri introduced dynamic asanas, sequences, such as the Surya Namaskar and the Bhramari Pranayama.

All four had been administered two psychological tests and sat through structured interviews with a clinical child psychologist before and after the end of the study. Regular video recording of the yoga training was also carried out as a monitoring tool and for expert opinion.

“When we tested the kids on the same psychological tests after the five-month yoga training, their motor co-ordination skills, attention span and the ability to learn and act upon instructions had improved significantly,” says Dr Menon. “Sometimes it is difficult to analyse qualitative results based merely on numbers. But when we saw the videos, there was a marked improvement in the kids' ability to hold a posture or stance. All these improvements in basic skills not only prove helpful for the children in managing their daily lives but also for their parents and special educators in creating avenues for their rehabilitation,” she says, pointing out the example of the eldest child, a 17-year-old girl, who now demonstrates the asanas to other children in the school.

Yoga instructor Agnihotri, who spent many a troubled days trying to train the kids in yoga, now feels a deep sense of satisfaction, accomplishment and pride over their abilities. She recalls that there were days when training the kids became nearly impossible because one of them was so hyperactive that he would keep interrupting her. “The other kids would join in the laughter and I'd wonder if it was the right decision to do this. This kid has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and would not sit still even for half a minute,” says the 35-year-old. “Now he sits quietly for a few minutes at a stretch. Another child, for whom even simple asanas were a challenge is able to do them on his own now without help. His biggest challenge was that he was an introvert. 'Om' chanting and breathing exercise have helped him open up.”

Shirish Ghurye, who documents research at Santacruz's yoga institute, points out that a study involving four kids is based on a very small sample, the results are not surprising since yoga asanas work on a person's neuro-muscular coordination while pranayam helps calm the mind — both of which would help improve the skills of those with disabilities. Yoga practitioner and trainer, Manohar Bhatia, who has trained differently-abled kids in yoga agrees. “The practise extends to the child's behaviour as it enhances their mental stability by eliminating fluctuations.”

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