Comparison of the Effectiveness of Yoga Training Based on Mindfulness and Self-Management on Anxiety Symptomsin Adolescents

Adolescence is one of the most important and at the same time the most stressful and traumatic stages of individuals’ lives. Most of them may experience anxiety during this period. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of yoga training based on mindfulness and self-management on anxiety in adolescents.

This experimental study was a pretest-posttest design with a control group and follow-up. The statistical population of this study included all the female high school studentsin Karaj city in 2018-2019 academic year. 45 students were considered as the sample size in two experimental groups (each group of 15 students) and control (15 students). The experimental groups underwent approach yoga training based on mindfulness (12 sessions 90 minutes) and self-management training (12 sessions 90 minutes): but the control group received no training.To collect data Beck anxiety inventory of Beck, Epstein, Brown, and Steer (1988). Data analysis was performed using SPSS-24 software in two sections: descriptive and inferential (analysis of variance with repeated measures and Bonferroni).

The results showed that yoga training based on mindfulness and self-management was effective in decreasing anxiety symptoms in adolescents (P<0.001). The results also showed that the effect of both treatments was lasting until the follow-up stage(P<0.01).

It can be concluded that self-management training has more effectiveness in reducing anxiety. Self-management education has helped to reduce students' anxiety by regulating emotions and managing stress and yoga-based mindfulness training by reducing impulses and stressors through relaxation.