Impact of Preksha Meditation on Academic Anxiety of Female Teenagers

The pressure of scoring higher marks to be able to get admission in a higher ranked institution has become a social stigma for school students. It leads to various social and academic pressures on them, causing psychological anxiety. This undue stress on students sometimes may even steer to aggressive behavior or suicidal tendencies. Human mind is always surrounded by the some desires, emotions and passions, which usually disturbs our mental peace. In such a scenario, we look for a solution that helps in removing all the obstacles of mind and make us mentally peaceful and strong enough to be able to deal with all kind of pressure. Preksha meditation is one such technique which aims at bringing the positive changes for overall transformation of personality. Hence, the present study was undertaken to assess the impact of Preksha Meditation on the academic anxiety on female teenagers. The study was conducted on 120 high school students from the capital city of India. All students were in the age group of 13-15 years. They also belonged to similar social as well as economic status. The sample was equally divided into two groups i.e. experimental group (N = 60) and control group (N = 60). Subjects of the experimental group were given the intervention of Preksha Meditation practice by the trained instructor for one hour per day, six days a week, for three months for the first experimental stage and another three months for the second experimental stage. The subjects of the control group were not assigned any specific type of activity rather they continued doing their normal official activities as usual. The Academic Anxiety Scale was used to collect data during multi-level stages i.e. pre-experimental stage, post-experimental stage phase-I, and post-experimental stage phase-II. The data were statistically analyzed by computing the two-tailed-‘t’ test for inter group comparison and Sandler’s ‘A’ test with alpha = or p < 0.05 for intra-group comparisons. The study concluded that the practice for longer duration of Preksha Meditation practice brings about very significant and beneficial changes in the pattern of academic anxiety.

• Neelam Vats
• Madhvi Pathak Pillai
• Rajender Lal
• Indu Dabas

• Academic anxiety
• academic pressure
• Preksha
• meditation.

[1] Manoj Bhatt and Prof. (Dr.) B. P. Gaur, “Role of Preksha Meditation in Promoting Mental Health of Elderly People”, International Journal of Science and Consciousness, December 2016, 2(4), 8-17
[2] Gaur, B.P. and Srivastava, S. (2005) ‘Effect of P.M. on Anxiety, Depression, Stress and Mental Health of Female Prisoners’, Ph.D. thesis of second author supervised by the first, Jain Vishva Bharti Institute (Deemed University) Ladnun (Rajasthan)
[3] Gaur, B.P. and Sharma, A. (2003). ‘Effect of Preksha Meditation on Personality variables and Psychosomatic Health of prisoners’, Journal of Psycho-lingua, 33(1): 87-92
[4] Gaur B.P and Gusain V.S, “Impact of preksha meditation on mental health of female executives of metro city”, International journal of yoga and allied Sciences”, Vol 6, Iss 1, 2017.Gaur and Gupta (1987),
[5] Joshi, M.C., Gaur, B.P. and Gupta, M. (1987) ‘Effect of T.M. on Mental Stress and C.N.S. and A.N.S. function’ Monograph of Transcendental Meditation Department of Psychology Jodhpur University, pp. 23-28.
[6] Joshi, M.C., Gaur, B.P. and Singh, K. (1984) ‘T.M. and self-realization’, Abstract of sub-continental conference on psychology in National development. Magadh University, Bodh Gaya, India in Oct., p. 24.
[7] Lazar, Z, Farwell, L.; and Farrow, J.T. (1972) ‘The effects of the T.M. program on anxiety, drug abuse, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption. Graduate school of Education, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
[8] Atieq Ul Rehman; “Academic Anxiety among Higher Education Students of India, Causes and Preventive Measures: An Exploratory Study”, International Journal of Modern Social Sciences, 2016, 5(2): 102-116
[9] B.P. Gaur and V.S. Gusain; “Impoact of Preksha Mediation and Mental Health of Female Executives of Metro City”, International Journal of Yoga and Allied Sciences, Vol 6, Issue 1, Jan-June 2017, 05-12.
[10] M. J. F Alam; “Impact and Factors of Academic Anxiety: A Review”, IJARIIE- Vol-3 Issue-3 2017.
[11] Cassie Dobson, “Effects Of Academic Anxiety On The Performance Of Students With And Without Learning Disablities And How Students Can Cope With Anxiety At School”, Submitted In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirements For The Degree Of Master Of Arts In Education At Northern Michigan University, April 3, 2012.
[12] Anup Nath and B.P.Gaur, “Influence of Pranayama on Adjustment in School Going Adolescents”, International Journal of Research & Review, Vol.5; Issue: 6; June 2018, p123.