HOW THE INTEGRATED YOGA PRACTICE IMPACTS THE VISUAL PROCESSING OF SPECIALLY ABLED CHILDREN?

Abstract

Background and objectives: To investigate if integrated yoga practice affect the Visuo-spatial Cognition of Specially Abled Children. Material and method: Eighty clinically diagnosed mentally challenged persons aged between 12 - 25 years were randomly allotted to control and study groups. Study group practiced Pranayama (Nadishodhan and Kapalbhati),Aum chanting and Meditation for 30 minutes daily, 6 days in a week for 3 weeks.Control group carried on with their normal school routine.Visual Processing was studied for a) Visual- Spatial Relation b) Picture Recognition and c) Planning.The parameters were measured twice,once before the starting of the intervention and later at the end of follow-up period. Results: Both the groups were comparable in their baseline scores.At follow-up,scores of the visual- spatial relation and picture recognition showed significant improvements in both the groups,but,the change in the scores of planning was significant only in study group. However,the improvement in all three categories were significantly higher in the study group as compared to the control group. Interpretation and Conclusion: This study demonstrates the beneficial influences of pranayama and meditation on Visual Processing, suggests that pranayama and meditation improves the performance of prefrontal lobe and other cortical and subcortical areas and their neuronal connection involved in this process. It may further contribute in improvement of overall intelligence of mentally retarded persons.