EFFECT OF YOGA PRACTICE AND PHYSICAL EXERCISE

ON FLEXIBILITY AND RESTING PULSE RATE

Name of the Scholar

S. PADMANABAN
(En. No. )

A PROPOSAL
SUBMITTED TO THE ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY THROUGH THE
SCHOOL OF YOGA STUDIES ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY
ANNAMALAI NAGAR FOR THE DEGREE
OF MASTER OF SCIENCE

February 2010
 INTRODUCTION

Yoga is an ancient science and philosophy that has been

practiced for thousands of years.The popularity of Childrens’

Yoga is increasing. It can be found in after school and lunch time

programs, special education classes, pre-schools, daycares, yoga

centers and dance studios. Yoga with school aged children

balances quiet and active poses with game playing, singing,

storytelling, drawing, simple breath meditations and rest.

Children can easily follow the teacher’s instructions by learning

the names of different body parts, their locations and function. As

children learn the names of the postures and movements they

develop a yoga vocabulary. They can use their yoga poses to play

games, take on the qualities of different animals or use their

imaginations to make up stories about animals on a farm, climbing

a mountain or trekking through a jungle. They can each assume

the role of leader and teach their classmates a yoga posture or

breathing exercise. Their yoga improves very quickly.1

1
www.yoga4kids.org

2
 Yoga is the science of right living and, as such, is intended to

be incorporated in daily life. It works on all aspects of the person:

the physical, vital, mental, emotional, psychic, and spiritual. Yoga

aims at bringing the different bodily functions into perfect

coordination so that they work for the good of the whole body.2

According to Swami Satyaand Saraswathi3 “Yoga is not an

ancient myth buried in oblivion. It is the most valuable inheritance

of the present. It is the essential need of today and the culture of

tomorrow”.

Joshi4 says that the breaths of every one of us are numbered

and our of life span dependent on how many time we shall breath in

a given like and thus as a consequence of this fact, we must reduce

the number of breaths so as to live longer this idea was responsible

for the origin of pranayama.

Yoga is a Sanskrit term. It represents Yoke, which

symbolically means to join or to unit. Yoga is intended for union or

2
Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Asana Pranayama Mudraa Bandha, (Munger, Bihar:
Yoga Publications Trust, 2002), p. 1.
3
Swami Satyanand Saraswath, Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha, (Varanasi:
Bharagava Bushan Press, 1999), p.1.
4
K.S.Joshi, Yogic Pranayama – Breathing for Long Life and Good Health, (New
Delhi: Orient Paper Backs, 1986), p. 14.

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harmony of mind and the body.

Rajan5 is of the opinion that the deep full breathing

(pranayama) has proved beyond doubt to the extremely good for

sportsman for improving their cardiovascular system, there by

developing endurance and resistance power also attaining physical

and mental relaxation. Gharote6 describes the physiological effects

of pranayama as follows.

Yoga is one of the size orthodox systems of Indian

philosophy. It was collated, coordinated and systematized by

patanjali in his classical work, the yoga sutras, which consists of 185

terse aphorisms. In Indian thought, everything is permeated by the

supreme universal spirit (paramatma or God) of which the individual

human spirit (jivatma) is a part. The system of yoga is called

because it teaches the means by which the jivatma can be united to,

or be in communion with the paramathma, and so secure liberation

(moksa).

Yoga has also been described as wisdom in work or skilful

living amongst activities, harmony and moderation. “Yoga is not for

5
Captain M. Rajan, Yoga Stretching and Relaxation for Sportsman, (Madras: Allied
Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1985), p. 9.
6
M.L. Gharote, “Pranayama”, Yoga Mimamsa, 23, (January 1985), p. 66.

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him who gorges too much, nor for him who starves himself. It is not

for him who steps too much, nor for him who stays awake. By

moderation in eating and resting, by regulation in working and by

concordance in sleeping and waking, yoga destroys all pain and

sorrows”.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The purpose of this study is to find out the effect of yoga

practice and physical exercise on flexibility and resting pulse rate.

HYPOTHESES

1. There would be significant improvement in flexibility

due to yoga practice and physical exercise.

2. There would be significant improvement in resting pulse

rate due to the yoga practice and physical exercise.

3. There would be significant difference between the

experimental groups and control group.

METHODLOGY

Selection of Subjects

The subjects will be randomly selected and will divided into

three groups and Group I (n = 10) will undergo yoga practice and

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 Group II (n = 10) will undergo the physical exercise and Group III

(n = 10) acted as control. These selected subjects were from

various classes of Government Girls Higher Secondary School,

Villupuram and their age ranged between 16 and 18 years.

Selection of Variables

The data will be collected before and after the yoga practice

and physical exercise on both the experimental and control

groups. The following criterion variables will be selected as

testing variables

1. Flexibility

2. Resting pulse rate

Selection of Tests

The present study is undertake primarily to assess the

effectiveness of yoga practice and physical exercise on flexibility

and resting pulse rate. The investigator analysed various literatures

and also consulted with yoga and physical educational professionals

to use most suitable tests for the purpose of the study and it is

presented in Table - I.

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 Table – I

TEST ITEMS FOR THE SELECTED VARIABLES

Sl. No. Dependent Variables Test

1. Flexibility Sit and reach test

2. Resting pulse rate Pulse rate per minute at

rest condition

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Three groups will be tested before and after the training period

of eight weeks. The selected subjects are allowed to take part in

regular curricular activities.

Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) will be used to find out

the effects of yoga practice and physical exercise on flexibility and

resting pulse rate prior to and after the training programmes.

Since, three groups is to be compared, whenever the obtained

‘F’ ratio is significant, the Scheffé S test is also applied as post hoc

test to find out the paired mean difference.