A Pilot Study of the e � ects of Yoga Prana Vidya ( YPV ) protocols on social behaviour , cognitive abilities and IQ of mentally challenged children

A Pilot Study of the e ects of Yoga Prana Vidya (YPV) protocols on social behaviour, cognitive abilities and IQ of mentally challenged children Khatri R.1, Bembalkar S.2, Nanduri V.3* DOI: https://doi.org/10.17511/ijpr.2021.i01.02 1 Rajkumari Khatri, Senior ENT & Head Neck Oncologist, YPV Trainer & Healer, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. 2 Shilpa Bembalkar, Technical officer(B), ICMR National AIDS Research Institute, Pune, Maharastra, India. 3* V S Nanduri, Consultant Research & Publications, Yoga Prana Vidya ashram, Sri Ramana Trust, Thally, Tamilnadu, India.

and improvement in a positive mood, spiritual health, spiritual experiences, and tolerance to pain. [10] There is scientific evidence that yogic practices enhance mental health. [12] A study of the effects of the integrated approach of yoga therapy (IAYT) for mentally retarded children found significant improvement in the moderately retarded test group compared to their initial performance, as well as in that of the control group.
[13] This improvement in static motor performance can be attributed to better eye-hand co-ordination, improved fine motor control, concentration, and also an overall state of well-being and relaxation. [13] [14] Healing happens in a state of consciousness exactly opposite to the state of crises [15].   ailments. [20] In the usual way of healing both healer and client (patient)are in the same room which is called proximal healing. The other way is when the healer is far from the client (patient), at a distance even extending to several hundred or thousands of Kilometers, and the healing energy is effectively delivered [21], which process is known as distant or distal healing.
One of the authors is the principal investigator of this study who is an experienced Yoga Prana Vidya

Results
Quantitative analysis: The pre and postintervention data collected from the pilot study group were statistically analyzed using the R programme to compare for changes. Table 1 below shows the year-wise distribution of various test scores performed on the participants in the study. In the matter of IQ as assessed by the clinical psychologist, it is observed from Table 1and Figure   2 that the increase in IQ was present, however not found statistically significant.

Fig 2:Graphical representation of IQ year wise
From Table 2 it is observed that at the end of the 2nd year of YPV intervention, the number of "moderately" retarded children decreased from 13 to 2, and 6 of them improved to the "mild" category.
However 5 of those categorised earlier as mild moved up to the "severe" category increasing the number from 2 to 7. The principal investigator and the clinical psychologist investigated these 7 cases in which there appeared a deterioration of the response or there was no response. It was found that 3 were non-responsive, and 2 were very aggressive and on sedative medication, and did not attend the practice classes.
The other 2 children were epileptic, and because of frequent epileptic attacks their mental activity was negatively influenced. However, on the other hand, as they went on practising in the intervention there was a reduction in the frequency and duration of the epileptic attacks. But due to damage to the brain by epilepsy there was not much improvement in their learning abilities, but some improvements in concentration, understanding and memor y were observed.

Other factors:
The beta coefficient shows the increase in concentration (fig 2), concept test (Fig   3), memory test (Fig 4), understanding (Fig 5), drawing test (Fig 6), social behaviour (Fig 7), and  Colour recognition (Fig 8). The ability to recognize the shape was not significant. 2. language skills: Initially out of 21,15 had normal speech, 5(23%) have no speech, 1 has slurred speech. next year 3 (14.28% ) had no speech, while other 3 had developed slurred speech and in last year, only 2 (9.5%) have no speech, remaining all were able to communicate.
3. Restlessness: There was a noteworthy reduction in restlessness from 68.4% to 28.6% in the Ist year but slightly increased to 33.33% in the next year. After 6 months from the start of the intervention, physical violence reduced almost to nil. After 1 year it was observed that they were doing group activity peacefully, helping each other in work, sharing food and other things amongst them, helping those who are weak and not able to do a certain activity, help each other in dressing.
Their anger, abusive tendencies, and aggressive behavior were dramatically reduced in frequency and severity, induced by provocation. At the end of the 1st year, the no of children with normal behavior is increased to 6 (28.57%), and at the end of II nd year to 16 (76.19%).

Outcomes of YPV intervention on Epilepsy cases
It has been observed that out of 21 subjects with MR, 8 (38.09%) were on antiepileptic drugs, and out of this 8, one subject had no history of epilepsy Others, wanted to remain in a group rather than living alone. Before this intervention, teachers had to catch hold of the children for the classroom study, games, and food, but after these practices they became more responsible and started coming to the classroom to study, asking for doing exercises, meditation and games; the teachers did not have to go around looking for them.  Also, some of them won prizes in various vocational competition programs in the town. At the beginning of the intervention, the investigator used to take 1hr and 45 minutes to make them learn yoga and meditation, but now the investigator can finish the same in 30 to 40 minutes only.

Discussion
In the present study, it has been observed that the YPV intervention has brought several noteworthy and significant changes in the qualitative and quantitative measures of the parameters in the life of mentally challenged children. There was a statistically significant improvement in the mild and moderately retarded children in their cognitive abilities viz.
Continuing the practice of the YPV techniques helps to maintain, sustain and make further progress of their learning skills and social behavior, though not much significant change in the IQ as observed.
The gross motor skill was the same pre and postintervention but fine motor skills like drawing, vocational training in the form of craft learning were improved, and started writing with a pen/pencil [15][16][17].
Also, in children with mental retardation combined with refractory cases of epilepsy, there was a significant reduction in the severity, frequency, duration of epilepsy which has led them to live a better quality of life, improving their cognitive abilities.
For example one child with cerebral palsy had absenteeism from the school for 6 months, and as these children have a short memory, when they join back the classes, the same repetition again is needed to brush up the previously learned things, which is one of the challenges these children have [18][19][20][21].

Conclusion
There was a noticeable improvement in concentration, understanding, social behavior, memory, concept formation following YPV intervention, along with this, the frequency, duration and severity of the epilepsy is reduced in the refractory subjects of epilepsy with mental retardation.
What does the study add to the existing knowledge?
The present pilot study has demonstrated that YPV,  [Crossref] 06. Gurjeet S Birdee, Gloria Y Yeh, Peter M Wayne, Russell S Phillips, Roger B Davis, Paula Gardiner.
Clinical Applications of Yoga for the Pediatric Population-A Systematic Review. Acad Pediatr.