Abstract
The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the efficacy of an 8-week yoga-based physical exercise program to improve mental and emotional well-being and consequently reduce burnout among teachers. We considered yoga because it is a discipline that enhances body awareness and encourages the contact with nature and the respect for every form of life, with a view to a more sustainable and greener global system. We recruited 40 professional educators (40–47 years), teachers in a public high school who reported perceiving signs of stress and emotional discomfort. We randomly assigned the 40 professional educators to either an experimental yoga practice (~60 min, twice a week) group (n = 20) or a control group (n = 20) that received a nonspecific training program (~60 min, twice a week). At baseline and after training we administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory: Educators Survey (MBI-ES) and the State Mindfulness Scale (SMS) to assess teachers’ perceived level of awareness and professional burnout. We found a significant Time × Group interaction for the MBI-ES and SMS, reflecting a meaningful experimental group improvement (p < 0.001). No significant pre–post changes were found in the control group. The results suggest that an 8-week yoga practice could aid teachers to achieve a greater body and emotional awareness and prevent professional burnout.
Highlights
Western work life is one of the most important causes of stress, discomfort, and anxiety
The results reveal that the 8-week of yoga exercise intervention program significantly helped teachers attain a greater awareness of their emotions and body sensations and improved professional burnout symptoms
From the present research work, it could be deduced there was a positive correlation between stressors and yoga practice
Summary
Western work life is one of the most important causes of stress, discomfort, and anxiety. The working environment in Western culture is characterized by speed competition, dissatisfaction, excessive requests, holding more positions at the same time, job insecurity, and short timeframes [2]. It is for this reason that stress in the workplace is considered a real public health issue [3]. Disillusion, and emotional discomfort can lead down the road to burnout [4,5]. It is mostly related to the working environment and occurs as a result of a prolonged period of heavy workload in association with high-pressure work situations [6], and it is a cause of a permanent state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion
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