Researchers randomly assigned 51 students registering for physical education (PE) at a Massachusetts high school to yoga or regular PE classes, with two-thirds assigned to yoga. The classes were based on Kripalu yoga, which links physical postures (asana) with yogic breathing (pranayama), meditation (dhyana), and relaxation (shavasana). Regular PE classes consisted of standard PE activities.

The researchers administered a battery of assessments measuring mood, tension/anxiety, and self-regulatory skills, the latter believed protective against development of mental health problems. Yoga-participating teens fared better on several of the tests. While students in the PE group tended to demonstrate increases in mood problems and anxiety, yoga participants stayed the same or improved. While positive emotions showed no change, yoga participants demonstrated lessening of negative emotions, whereas PE students experienced a worsening. Self-regulatory skills did not show change. Participants in the yoga program rated the program highly, with nearly three-fourths of students expressing an interest in continued yoga classes.

This study is promising given the increasing recognition and inclusion of wellness initiatives and mindfulness into high school curricula. High school is a critical stage of development, which some emphasize to be a crucial period to establish “mind-body hygiene” that can function as preventive medicine in future decades. Mind-body curricula may support the development of health coping patterns in response to stress as well as resilience. Yoga is a promising approach given its incorporation of physical exercise with relaxation, deep breathing, and meditation (each of which has been suggested highly effective in stress management and health). A growing number of studies suggest yoga to exert positive effects in children and teens, echoing research in adults which has demonstrated its effectiveness in benefiting a broad spectrum of mental and physical health problems.

Despite this study’s novel contribution, limitations remain. The sample size was small, and with two-thirds of students in the yoga group, the control group may have provided a non-representative basis of comparison. The study authors note their results are “generally consistent” with the few previous studies in this area. They call for larger, more rigorous studies which track a more diverse and representative sample of students, following students into adulthood to observe yoga’s longitudinal impact on mental and preventive health.

Do you know of any yoga in your local school district? What do you think about the ability of yoga to benefit high school students?