Mental Well-being and Healing: A Comparative Study of Practitioners and Non-Practitioners of Yoga, Meditation, and Mantra Chanting

Description

Kamya Singh¹ and Shruti Suryakant Bedekar² (Educator & Mental Health Therapist, Jaipur, Rajasthan¹¹ and Counsellor & Educator, Dapoli, Maharashtra²)

The current study was meant to evaluate the state of the mind of those who practice yoga, meditation and mantra chanting against those who do not practice these practices. The sample size was 100 respondents including 54 practitioners and 46 non-practitioners chosen in the Delhi-NCR region with the help of the purposive sampling technique. Each participant was given a sociodemographic questionnaire and four standardized measures of the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ -12), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ -9), and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS). SPSS was used to carry out an analysis. Practitioners (n=54) scored higher on mental well-being, general health, emotional health and life satisfaction scales than non-practitioners (n=46), who had higher scores on psychological distress and depressive symptoms. The findings indicate that the regular practice of yogic and meditative practices has a favourable effect on the psychological and overall well-being.