Effect of integrated yoga module on personality of home guards in Bengaluru: A randomized control trial

BACKGROUND: Home Guards Organization is an independent disciplined and uniformed body of volunteers. All categories of home guards (HGs), who work in the field, experience varied emotions and are required to cope with varied situations. Yoga practices may be helpful to master such emotions and should lead to improvement in personality. OBJECTIVE: To study the efficacy of integrated yoga module (IYM) on personality (Gunās) (yogic personality measure) of HGs. METHODS: Of 500 HGs who attended introductory lectures, 148 HGs of either gender, who satisfied the inclusion and exclusion criteria and who consented to participate in the study were randomly allocated to two groups. The yoga group (YG) practiced an IYM for 1 h daily, 6 days a week for 8 weeks along with their routine work. The control group (CG) remained on routine work. Personality was assessed before and after 8 weeks using the self-administered Vedic Personality Inventory. RESULTS: Baseline scores for all domains for both groups did not differ significantly (P > 0.05, Shapiro Wilk's test). Sattva score in YG significantly increased from 39.87 ± 2.02 to 47.14 ± 7.22, where as it decreased significantly from 43.66 ± 4.39 to 37.74 ± 10.26 in CG. Rajas score in YG significantly decreased from 29.15 ± 0.98 to 27.46 ± 4.38, where as it increased significantly from 28.60 ± 3.55 to 32.74 ± 5.37 in CG. Tamas score in YG significantly decreased from 30.98 ± 1.04 to 25.40 ± 5.11, where as it significantly increased from 27.74 ± 4.43 to 30.51 ± 5.50 in CG. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that IYM can profitably be suggested for HGs as a cost-effective means to help them cope with stressful situations.