Figure 1. Classification of Variables
The state of psychological equilibrium in school teachers is of great concern. As a truth, equilibrium is the most delicate, unstable state and gets disturbed even by a slight disturbance in its components. The causal factors of imbalance or disequilibria, in the psychological configuration of school teachers are plenty in number; the environment in which they are living and interacting with others, the work environment and the constitution of the person himself. The complexities of human life, changed structure of families, tough competition in all walks of life, rapid changes in the environment (such as Industrialization, Urbanization and Modernization), changing the values of society, social demand and expectations, work conditions, etc. have flooded the human minds of school teachers with tension and anxiety as they fail to cope with all of them simultaneously and effectively and this causes injury to their psychological well-being or mental health. The aim of the present study is to find out the effects of Yoga on Subjective Well-Being of school teachers. In this study, 36 school teachers are trained in Yoga for 48 days and their Subjective Well-Being is measured before and after Yoga. It is found that, there is a significant increase in the Subjective Well-Being due to Yoga training, thereby giving them a good mental and physical health.
School teachers are considered as energizing sculptors, who transform the school children by chiseling them with knowledge and carving them into magnificent citizens. School teachers take the children from ignorance to intelligence. As every child comes out of the protected environment of home for the first time and is away from the parents, school teachers become a parent substitute. What a child learns and experiences during his school years can shape the child's views about himself and the world around him, which would later play an important role in his success at his school, work and also his personal life. Therefore, school teachers are responsible for the social, emotional and intellectual growth of the children. But, issues such as litigation, liability, accountability, tenure, unions, along with increasingly diverse responsibilities and fast changing ideas have made teaching more stressful. This stress ultimately gives rise to many other psychological problems like depression, anxiety, adjustment problems, etc. They also tend to get a low degree of subjective well-being in their life. All these psychological problems like depression, anxiety, stress, adjustment problems and low subjective well-being lead to a lot of physiological problems like changes in blood pressure, hypertension, diabetes, heart problems, respiratory problems, eating disorders, sleep disorders, etc. All these psychological and physiological problems of the school teachers will finally affect their work efficiency and also tend to pour down all these problems on the school children. This leads to misunderstanding, thereby affecting the learning process of the children. So in this study an attempt is made to improve the subjective well-being of school teachers and find a solution to get rid of these problems which are likely to hinder their Professional Excellence.
Subjective well-being is an analogous term for emotional well-being or happiness elaborated by the positive psychologist (Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim- Prieto, C., Choi, D., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R, 2009). The article by Biswas-Diener and colleagues (2004). "The Psychology of Subjective Well-being" seeks to further legitimize the study of happiness or well-being as within the reaches of science, where previously, it had been viewed by many as rather a subject confined to philosophy or religion; because, these subjects are considered somewhat abstract. Additionally, Snyder & Lopez (2009) defined the subjective well-being in their text, Positive Psychology -A tenet of theories of happiness in which "individual's appraisals of their own lives capture the essence of wellbeing." According to Snyder and Lopez consideration of different types of well-being (subjective, objective, psychological, social, etc.) provides a more comprehensive understanding of mental health.
To help school teachers manage their problems and improve their subjective well being, Yogic Science – Yoga can be tried as a technology. Yoga is a science of the mind and soul. It is the treasure of our yogis and rishis. Yoga is suitable for all people from young age to old age from family men to sadhus. Rather, most of it are for social wellbeing and mental peace in the normal life of the man. So every teacher has to know it, practice it and make people to follow them, so as to have a balanced, awakened mind for the academic achievement, as well as, to have a total happy life. Yoga is assuming importance in improving mental health and quality of life in the treatment of a number of psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders.
Recent research has indicated concern for the degree of stress and emotional well-being among the university staff. A study was done by Hartfiel et. al. (2010), examines the effectiveness of Yoga in enhancing the emotional well-being and resilience to stress among the university employees. In comparison to the wait-list control group at baseline and the end of the program, Yoga group reports marked improvements in feelings of clear-mindedness, composure, elation, energy, and confidence. In addition, Yoga group reports increased life purpose and satisfaction, and feelings of greater self-confidence during stressful situations. These results show that even a short program of Yoga is effective for enhancing emotional well-being and resilience to stress in the workplace. A study was developed by Tim Gard et. al. (2010) suggests an effective method of increasing the psychological well-being, where the practice of Yoga, is an age-old practice that has been said to produce physical and psychological health. The mindfulness subscales of observation, awareness, and nonreactivity of all improves the training, suggesting that benefit of yoga practice is a more refined with an ability attend to one's inner experience.
To examine Yoga's effects on inner-city children's wellbeing, a pilot study was done by Deborah et. al. (2009) from Flushing Hospital, New York, USA, to compare fourthand fifth-grade students at 2 after-school programs in Bronx, New York. The majority of children participating in yoga reported enhanced wellbeing, as reflected by perceived improvements in behaviors directly targeted by yoga (e.g., strength, flexibility, balance). Improvements in wellbeing, specifically in behaviors directly targeted by yoga, were reported. These results suggest the role of yoga as a preventive intervention as well as a means of improving children's perceived wellbeing.
A prospective controlled study was done by Sharma et. al. (2008) from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi to explore the short-term impact of Yoga, on the subjective well-being levels in normal and diseased subjects. There was a significant improvement in the subjective well-being scores of the subjects within a period of 10 days as compared to controls.
A study was done by Moolasarn et. al. (2006) to find out the effects of Yoga on Quality of life of healthy seniors. Participants in the Yoga showed improvements in physical outcomes such as balance and flexibility, and quality of life outcomes such as energy and sense of well-being.
A study was done by Malathy et. al. (2000) on the effects of Yoga on subjective well-being. Forty eight healthy volunteers who participated in the practice of yoga over a period of 4 months were assessed on the Subjective Well- Being Inventory (SWBI) before and after the course in order to evaluate the effect of practice of Yoga on subjective feelings of well-being and quality of life. A significant improvement in 9 out of 11 factors of SWBI was observed at the end of 4 months, in these participants.
The teaching profession is acknowledged as the most stressful profession. Today teachers can no longer resist the epidemic of mental malady. They have been thrown in to the ocean of complexities of modern society and are supposed to sail with their traditional rudders of morale and status. They are expected to be at the same stage of performance, devotion and commitment which they are supposed to live by the rules of the society. These conflicts along with many other factors mentioned, have affected the teachers' mental health. The teachers due to their job stress get depressed and also may get anxiety. Working conditions of school teachers are not what they were in the past. From the teacher's point of view, they are discontented and struggling hard to maintain themselves. Teachers are dissatisfied and stressed at work that results in loss of teaching efficiency in the classroom. As an individual, a school teacher tries his best to satisfy his social, physical and mental needs and to improve the professional efficiency. But these needs cannot always be adequately satisfied due to certain circumstances either created at his work place by the head of the institution, his colleagues or by his family or by the society in which he lives. In such a position, he gets frustrated and this produces tension and stress. If the teacher suffers from such problems, he cannot contribute sufficiently to the process of education which will have an adverse effect on his efficiency. The problem of stress is a serious one. There are many factors which affect teacher leading to stress.
These include,
It is accepted that the student’s misbehavior, the level of resources available, the degree of professional recognition received and the teachers work load will have tremendous impact on the level of reported stress. The teacher is after all an individual and therefore will be influenced by some personal stresses also. These may include the conflict with in-law's relations, spouse, personal long term illness, death of loved ones, death of spouse, large loan, robbery or theft, conflict over dowry, financial, divorce and marital disharmony. It is well known that personal stress and occupational stress together determine the overall level of stress of an individual. Sometimes, a teacher has stress in personal life but does not experience any stress in her teaching job and feels relieved from family tensions while on duty in her school, similarly a teacher who has very little stress in personal life has to face a lot of stress in her professional life. This stress will definitely make the teachers suffer from low level of Subjective well-being. To bring up their well-being to a higher level, a tool is used in this study which is Yoga. The main aim of this study is to find out whether Yoga increases the Subjective Well-Being of school teachers.
The objectives of this study can be listed down as follows.
The following hypotheses have been formulated.
The major objective of the study is to find out the effectiveness of Yoga Subjective Well-Being of school teachers, which the investigator decided to use as the experimental study.
The variables selected for the study were classified under three divisions. (Figure 1) They are,
Figure 1. Classification of Variables
The Yoga package is the Independent variable.
The Dependent variable is Subjective well-being.
The Intervening variables are again subdivided into two sub headings. They are as follows.
(a) Personal variables
(b) Familial variables
(a) Personal variables:
The personal intervening variables are as under,
(b) Familial variables:
Familial variables are as under,
The Personal variables and Familial variables are again subdivided into sub-variables.
Three tools are used in this study. They are
The details of problems of school teachers were discussed with yoga experts and the necessary yoga techniques needed for the study were finalized under their guidance. The finalized Yoga Package was planned to include some of Yogasanas, Pranayama practices and a Meditation which will take approximately half–an-hour to practice. The package was taken to yoga experts and school teachers and its validation was checked with the help of a questionnaire prepared by the investigator.
Scheme and Contents of the Yoga Package are,
1. Yogasana – 20 min.
i. Suryanamaskar – 5 min.
ii. Asanas – 12 min.
(a) Tadasana (standing)
(b) Arthakadi Chakrasana (side ways bending in standing)
(c) Vajrasana (sitting)
(d) Sasangasana (forward bending in sitting)
(e) Kandharasana (backward bending in sitting)
(f) Vakrasana (twisting in sitting)
iii. Savasana (Relaxation) – 3 min.
2. Pranayama – 5 min.
i. Kriya – Kabalabathi (Cleansing the breath) –1 min.
ii. Nadi Suddhi (Regulating the breath) – 4 min.
3. Meditation - So – Hum (Witnessing the breath) – 10 min.
The original Subjective Well-Being Inventory developed by Sell and Nagpal (1992) was a 130 item questionnaire. The 40 item questionnaire used in the present study was developed in 1992 and has been adapted from the original version. The Subjective Well-Being Inventory is designed to measure the feelings of ill-being or well being, as experienced by the individual in various life concerns. There are 11 factors, namely, general wellbeing- positive effect, expectation achievement congruence, confidence in coping, transcendence, family group support, social support, primary group concern, inadequate mental mastery, perceived illhealth, deficiency in social contacts, and general wellbeing – negative effect.
The personal information sheet includes the following information of the school teachers who participated in the experimental study.
1. Sex,
2. Age,
3. Teaching experience,
4. Previous Yoga experience,
5. Surgery undergone,
6. Children,
7. Family income,
8. Family type, and
9. Residence.
The study was carried over at Shree Bal Devadas Kikani Higher Secondary School, Coimbatore. The entire school teachers 36 in number were selected as the sample (Table 1).
Table 1. Break- Up of the Sample
The experimental study was conducted in three phases.
They are as follows.
In the first phase of the data collection, the investigator administered the personal information sheet and the Subjective Well-Being Inventory to the school teachers for getting the pretest score. In the second phase, the yoga training was conducted for the school teachers for 48 days and in the third phase the investigator administered the Subjective Well-Being Inventory once again to the school teachers and the post scores were sought. Scores were calculated with the help of the prepared scoring key. For the study, 't' scores were computed to compare the significant difference between the sub-variables of the sample. After analysis of the data, the results were discussed and broader findings and conclusions arrived are given below.
It is observed from Table 2 that, the mean score value of the psychological variable – Subjective well-being in the post test is lesser than that of the pretest ensuring an increase in that variable after Yoga. Hence it is concluded that, Yoga helps in increasing the subjective well being of school teachers. The result is illustrated in Figure 2.
Table 2. Change in Post Test Score of Subjective Well Being Due to Yoga Among School Teachers
Figure 2. Change in Subjective Well-Being due to Yoga
It is concluded from Table 3 that, Yoga produces the same effects in the Subjective Well-Being of school teachers between the groups with respect to their sex, age, teaching experience, and previous yoga experience. Yoga does not produce the same effects in the Subjective Well-Being of school teachers between the groups with respect to surgery undergone.
It is concluded from Table 4 that, Yoga produces the same effects in Subjective Well-Being of school teachers between groups with respect to the presence of children, family annual income, family type and residence.
Table 3. Test of Significant Difference in Change Score of Subjective Well-Being of School Teachers Due to Yoga With Respect to their Personal Variables
From Table 2 it is understood that, the calculated ‘t' value is greater than the table value at 0.05 level of significance. So it is inferred that, there is a significant difference between pre-Yoga and post-Yoga scores of Subjective well-being of the school teachers as a result of Yoga. Therefore, the formulated hypothesis “There will be a change in Subjective Well-Being due to Yoga among school teachers” is accepted. It is observed that, the mean score value of the psychological variable- Subjective well-being in the post test is lesser than that of the pretest ensuring an increase in that variable after Yoga. Hence it is concluded that, Yoga helps in increasing the psychological variable-the Subjective Well-Being.
From Table 3, it is understood that, the calculated 't' values for the Subjective well being with respect to the personal variables like “sex, age, teaching experience and previous Yoga experience” are lesser than the table value at 0.05 level of significance. So it is inferred that there is no significant difference in them due to Yoga with respect to the above personal variables. Therefore, the following formulated hypotheses are rejected.
But, the calculated 't' value for the Subjective well-being with respect to the personal variable “surgery undergone” is lesser than the table value at 0.05 level of significance. So it is inferred that there is a significant difference, due to Yoga with respect to the above personal variable “surgery undergone”. Therefore, the formulated hypothesis “There will be a change in the Subjective well-being due to Yoga among school teachers between groups with respect to surgery undergone” is accepted.
From Table 4, it is understood that, the calculated 't' values for the Subjective well-being with respect to the familial variables like “presence of children, family annual income, family type and residence” are lesser than the table value at 0.05 level of significance. So it is inferred that there is no significant difference in them due to Yoga with respect to the above familial variables. Therefore, the following formulated hypotheses are rejected.
Table 4. Test of Significant Difference in Change Score of subjective Well-Being of School Teachers Due to Yoga with Respect to Their Familial Variables
The findings and inferences obtained from the analysis of the data of this experimental research leads to arrive at a conclusion that Yoga helps in increasing the subjective well-being. Thus, the Yogic meaning of wellbeing is more than just psychological. It means physical fitness, mental agility and spiritual verve. This psychosomatic spiritual approach emphasizes that we cannot think of sound health by only caring for one or two components of body, mind and spirit and ignoring the other. This results in an imbalance due to which, the harmony of the personality is lost and the person suffers from psychological and psychosomatic problems. Yogic lifestyle aims at the evolution of mind. It talks of the journey from gross to most subtle. This is conceived in Yogic literature as the journey from an namaya kosha to an and amaya kosha. Annamaya kosha consists of our gross body. So only as long as we are concerned with this, we carry desire and aspirations about the material objects to meet our sensual requirements to derive pleasure. But instead of happiness and satisfaction, such cravings ultimately cause frustration, conflicts and maladies. On the other hand, when the source of delight is internalized, and one starts receiving internal stimulation in Yogic sadhana, life becomes blissful. The experience of ananda is extra sensorial and everlasting. Achieving this is a total wellbeing for which, Yoga provides methods and practices. Due to these elaborate functions of yoga, the school teachers experienced a subsequent increase in the subjective well-being. This result is supported by the study of Sharma et. al., (2008.) Malathi et. al., (2000), Hafner-Holter et. al. (2009) and Hartfiel et. al., (2010).
With regard to the personal variables, the results obtained showed that yoga produces the same effects in the Subjective Well-being among male and female teachers. Generally, as the two genders often operate in different social contexts, both tend to develop different emotional dispositions. The issue of maternity, menopause, parenthood, gender role, conditions at home and workplace, familial and social support, etc., often blight women's live in the long run. Much of the causes for the decrease in the subjective well-being among the males arise from their self nurtured identities, especially related to their professional status. So, both male and female teachers need some mechanisms to reduce their emotional dispositions. Yoga works for healing all these problems for both of them by taking the focus of the mind away from the negative thoughts towards the activity itself.
It also shows that, Yoga produces the same effects in the Subjective well-being among the school teachers irrespective of their age. Yoga experts would insist that we can practically engage in Yoga practice regardless of age and still reap benefits from it. So that, the difference in increase of Subjective well being does not exists according to their age.
The results also show that Yoga produces the same effects in the Subjective well-being among school teachers irrespective of their teaching experience. Both dedicated senior and junior teachers have given their whole lives to the profession and forced their administrators to do more administration at the expense of actual teaching. So decrease in subjective well-being may manifest as a result of work related stress in both junior and senior teachers. Hence, the difference was not noticed and the Yoga improves the mood and functioning of the teachers. This can be due to the fact that Yoga reduces stress and depression.
The results obtained show that, Yoga produces the same effects in the Subjective well-being among the school teachers irrespective of their previous Yoga training experience. In the present study, only a less number of teachers has undergone Yoga training previously, but it is human nature that people tend to discontinue the training due to the work pressure and other family commitments. Hence, no significant difference was noticed between the two groups.
Subjective well-being is increased more due to Yoga among the teachers, those who have not undergone surgery than the teachers who have undergone any surgery. This may be due to the fact that if the person who has not undergone any surgery has a good physical and mental health, so that the subjective well-being is also increased due to Yoga training among them.
The results obtained shows that Yoga produces the same effects in the subjective well-being among the school teachers in both the groups with kids and without kids. All the teachers in this experimental group are married. Variations in the level of subjective well-being are common in both the groups of school teachers.
The results obtained shows that Yoga produces the same effects in the subjective well-being among the school teachers irrespective of their family annual income. Decrease in the subjective well-being will occur in all groups of people whether they are poor or rich. People in all the economical conditions atleast will definitely have to lessen the degree of the psychological variations. It is the way that they look upon their life of how they manage the depression, anxiety and stress. When they are unable to deal their situations properly, then they meet with all sorts of mental disorders and maladjustments with their surrounding environment. But in all the cases, Yoga has been acting the same in all the groups irrespective of their family annual income.
The results obtained shows that Yoga produces the same effects in the subjective well-being among the school teachers irrespective of their family type. Low level of subjective well-being happens to affect people in all stages irrespective of their family type. When they are in a nuclear family, even though they are free from all types of duties in their family, since there are only limited family members, they also need to face a certain level of depression and anxiety in this modern world. Yoga helps everyone regardless of the family they have come from and produce the same effects.
The results obtained shows that Yoga produces the same effects in the subjective well-being among school teachers irrespective of their residence. People living in urban areas are subjected to more sophisticated life with all the facilities and actually there should not be any stress, but this life with machines would cut short the time, being spent with the family members leading to a communication gap. This is a great drawback for the people in urban areas. Since they don't talk with each other, the time spent for hearing to others problems get reduced. This will definitely lead to higher level of all sorts mental disturbances. But on the contrast, people from rural areas lead a calm and peaceful life even though they lack some sort of facilities, which are available in the urban areas. Moreover, they had to travel a long distance to reach their work place or far any emergencies like medical emergencies and for any purchasing, etc. Travelling a long distance everyday would lead to a lot of stress not only in their workplace but also at home. These disturbances caused either by rural life or urban life can be eradicated completely through a regular practice of Yoga.
The state of psychological equilibrium in school teachers is of great concern. As a truth, equilibrium is the most delicate, unstable state and gets disturbed even by a slight disturbance in its components. The casual factors of imbalance or disequilibria, in the psychological configuration of the school teachers are plenty in number; the environment in which they are living and interacting with others, the work environment and the constitution of the person himself. The complexities of human life, changed structure of families, tough competition in all walks of life, rapid changes in the environment (such as industrialization, urbanization and modernization), changing values of the society, social demand and expectations, changed work conditions, etc. have flooded the human minds of school teachers with tension and anxiety as they fail to cope with all of them simultaneously and effectively, which causes injury to their psychological well-being or mental health. In the past, mental health has often been implicitly defined in the health literature as the absence of mental illness.
Recent policy documents, however, clearly envisage mental health as encompassing emotional health and well-being. The teaching profession is acknowledged as the most stressful profession. Today teachers can no longer resist the epidemic of mental malady. They have been thrown in to the ocean of complexities of modern society and are supposed to sail with their traditional rudders of morale and status. They are expected to be at the same stage of performance, devotion and commitment which they are supposed to live by the rules of the society. These conflicts along with many other factors mentioned, have affected the teachers' mental health. This affected mental health can be healed by Yoga. Best of all, Yoga is highly therapeutic. Most of the physiological ailments are proven to be relieved, reversed and even healed through the practice of Yoga. Certain psychological illnesses such as depression, anxiety and stress can be also treated by Yoga. The study has indicated that Yoga training produces the positive effects in increasing the subjective well-being among the school teachers. Yet an attempt is made to suggest a few measures for the betterment of physical and mental health of the school teachers based on the findings of the present study as shown below.