Yoga, a group of mental, physical and spiritual practice, presupposed to be an age-old institution and is premeditated to be more than five thousand years old. Yoga originates from amongst the six orthodox philosophies of Hinduism, evolving out of transcendentalism of ancient India [1]. Presently, to share a tinge of common knowledge, Yoga reconciles, harmonizes and eases the mind simultaneously along with the body, resulting into quantum perks. Yoga when applied in conjunction with meditation can work exceptionally. Yoga can aid to accomplish harmony. This aforesaid conjunction assures to accomplish the unified aspiration of the unity of body, mind and spirit – a prerequisite state of eternal bliss. The impact of yoga on an individual’s physical and mental health, calls for an area of systematic studies. The physical posture aids to bolster the physic and composes it to be more pliable [2]. Employing appropriate breathing interim the postures, guides the mind to be quiet and synthesizes a stress-free life [1]. Yoga not only aids physical fitness but also boosts memory, academic achievement [3] and diminishes stress [4]. 

Importance Of the Study

Yoga adduces to invoke a cognizant and vigilant progression to fix the menacing disputes and dilemmas of adversities, woe, anxiety and hyperactive activity etc. dwelling in the society and aids to induce the clandestine potentialities of man in a methodised and experimental way, by which a man evolves being a brimming individual. All his adroitness matures into an amicable and assimilated fashion to concur the all-round challenge of the modern technological era with its frenzied speed. The specialty of Yogic practice is that the faculties are sharpened in tune with spiritual progress of man. Practicing yoga regularly reduces levels of body-wide inflammation, which contributes to healthier hearts. Numerous factors contribute to heart disease, which includes high blood pressure and obesity, can also be treated and addressed through yoga. Yoga promotes reduction of back pain and muscular stiffness. Better health care is always assured by yoga leading to a fulfilling life. 

Literature Review

Singh and Solanki [5] compared perspective towards yoga between the male and female secondary school students.

The samples were chosen from the Renaissance School located in Bulandshahr (U.P.). Doing this they used Yoga attitude scale of Dr. Mahesh Kumar Muchhal. According to the statistical analysis a compelling difference was not found as per the attitude towards yoga between male and female secondary school students. Kerketta et al. [6] correlated the attitude of male and female students of Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya and forwarding them towards yoga. The subjects were taken from the Department of Physical Education, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur (C.G). To analyze the attitude towards yoga of the subjects Yoga Attitude Scale (YAS) of Dr. Mahesh Kumar Muchhal was used. The result shows insignificant difference was found in the attitude towards the female students. Singh [4] conducted a study to measure Yoga Attitude of Secondary School Students in South Tripura District, Tripura. Doing this, Descriptive survey method of research was followed. No significant difference in attitude towards yoga between the male and female students and as well as rural and urban students, were found by the investigator. Dhake [7] described the attitude of yoga of different courses students of Smt. G.G. Khadse College, Muktainagar. Results of this study were very promising i.e. 60% students found a high level attitude towards yoga. Hazra and Biswas [8] conducted an enquiry to explore the attitude of the university students towards yoga. The investigators selected randomly 60 students, among whom 30 students from Education department and 30 from Physical Education department. The results revealed that the students, who belong from the department of Physical Education, possess higher attitudes towards yoga. Umatiya [9] studied the attitudes of M.Ed. students and teachers towards Yoga. For this the researcher prepared a Yoga attitude scale for the collection of data and applied it on the M.Ed. students. The researcher has applied t-test for data analysis and for finding out the results. It was found that both gender and residence influence the attitude towards yoga for M.Ed. students but no significant difference exists between arts and science students. Soundararajan [10] intended to study the high school students' attitude towards yoga in Perambalur district. The findings of the study revealed that the high school students possess a favourable attitude in terms of yoga. It is interesting to note that, no significant difference was found between male and female as well as rural and urban students towards yoga attitude. Khatun [11] reported teacher-students’ attitude towards Yoga Education at present day context. Results showed that the majority of the teacher- students possess a positive attitude towards Yoga Education.

Objectives Of the Study

• To measure the attitude towards yoga practice among UG college students 

• To compare the attitude towards yoga practice between male and female UG college students 

• To compare the attitude towards yoga practice between rural and urban UG college students 

• To compare the attitude towards yoga practice among Arts, Commerce and Science UG college students

Hypotheses Of the Study

• H_o1: There will be no significant difference between Male and Female UG college students in their attitude towards yoga practice

• H_o2: There will be no significant difference between Rural and Urban UG college students in their attitude towards yoga practice

• H_o3: There will be no significant difference between Arts and Commerce UG college students in their attitude towards yoga practice

• H_o4: There will be no significant difference between Arts and Science UG college students in their attitude towards yoga practice

• H_o5: There will be no significant difference between Science and Commerce UG college students in their attitude towards yoga practice

Population

The population consisted of Undergraduate (UG) College students under the affiliation of Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University of Purulia districts, West Bengal, India. 

Sample

Sample of the study collected from the population through stratified random sampling techniques. The sample profile is given in the Table 1.

Table 1: Sample Profile

Tools Used

Researcher developed and standardized Attitude towards Yoga Practice Scale and applied for the purpose of data collection. This is a five-point Likert type scale consists of 38 items after testing the validity. The scoring pattern of the scale is 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 for positive items and reverse order was followed for negative items. Computed value of reliability in terms of Cronbach's Alpha is 0.793.

Table 2: Norms of the Attitude towards Yoga Practice Scale

Norm Of the Scale 

Data Collection

In the present study the sample size is 570 Undergraduate students of colleges under the affiliation of Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, West Bengal. The investigator met the sample with a printed booklet comprising the scale with prior information. 

Analysis Of the Data 

Descriptive analysis for Attitude towards Yoga: After collecting the responses from Undergraduate students, the investigator has organized the data in tabular form to find the results of the responses. Results found from Table 3 that 16.315% possess a high attitude, 67.37% possess an average attitude whereas 16.315% possess a low attitude towards yoga practice. This result indicates that most of the Undergraduates students possess average attitudes towards yoga.

Table 3: Data Regarding Attitude towards Yoga

Testing of Hypothesis

Testing of H_o1: There will be no significant difference between Male and Female UG college students in their attitude towards yoga practice. The mean of attitude scores for male and female undergraduate students is found 148.57 (SD = 17.034) and 147.53 (SD = 16.030) respectively. From Table 4, ‘t’ value for male and female Undergraduate students is found to be 0.718 which is not significant at 0.05 level. In view of the above H_o1 is retained. This result indicates that gender does not depend on attitude towards yoga practice because both of them are equally conscious about physical fitness.

Table 4: Showing ‘t’ Value for Male and Female

Testing of H_o2: 

There will be no significant difference between rural and urban UG college students in their attitude towards yoga practice

The mean attitude scores for rural and urban Undergraduate students is found 147.22 (SD = 16.385) and 151.95 (SD = 15.752) respectively. From Table 5, ‘t’ value between urban and rural undergraduate students is found to be 2.408 which is significant at 0.05 level. In view of the above H_o2 is rejected. As the mean score of attitude towards yoga for urban students is higher than that of their rural counterpart, it may be concluded that urban students have a more favourable attitude than that of their rural counterparts.

Table 5: Showing ‘t’ value for Rural and Urban students

Testing of H_o3: 

There will be no significant difference between Arts and Commerce UG college students in their attitude towards yoga practice

The mean and SD of attitude scores for Arts UG students is found 147.15 and 16.225 and Commerce UG students is 157.81 and 16.098. From Table 6 ‘t’ value between Arts and Commerce UG students is found 3.542 which is significant at 0.05 level. In view of the above H_o3 is rejected.

Table 6: Showing ‘t’ value for different stream of study

Testing of H_o4: 

There will be no significant difference between Arts and Science UG college students in their attitude towards yoga practice

The mean of attitude scores for Arts and Science Undergraduate students is found 147.15 (SD = 16.225) and 148.42 (SD = 16.204) respectively. ‘t’ value (Table 6) between Arts and Science UG students is found 0.596 which is insignificant at 0.05 level. In view of the above H_o4 is accepted.

Testing of H_o5: 

There will be no significant difference between Science and Commerce UG college students in their attitude towards yoga practice

The mean and SD of attitude scores for Science UG students is found 148.42 and 16.204 and Commerce UG students is 157.81 and 16.098. From Table 6 ‘t’ value between Science and Commerce UG students is found 2.673 which is significant at 0.05 level. In view of the above H_o5 is rejected.

The aim of this research was to conclude the study of students’ attitude towards yoga practice. Major findings were that most of the students’ attitude towards yoga practice is average (67.37%). The result corroborates with the findings of Khatun [11], Umatiya [8], Hazra and Biswas [9]. The internet-oriented society has engulfed the UG students and have made them more aware towards yoga practices, having positive attitudes towards yoga education and health education. It was found that both male and female students do not differ significantly to the attitude towards yoga practice. The finding of the study corroborates the finding of Singh and Solanki [5], Kerketta [6], Soundararajan [10], Sarkar [12], Sinngh [5]. This might be due to the fact that the students are conscious of their physical fitness irrespective of their gender. This concludes to the fact that both male and female in the modern times are well aware and educated.

In this study it was also revealed that students from urban areas possess a more favourable attitude towards yoga practice than the students from rural areas. The results are similar to the findings of Patel [13], Sarkar [12], Umatiya [9] but not with Soundararajan [10], Singh [4]. It was due to urban facilities like internet and social media that aided the urban students to bemore positive towards yoga than their counterparts. It was also found that a stream of study influences the attitude towards yoga practice. Commerce students have a higher attitude than that of Arts students as well as Science students. The sequence is Commerce > Science > Arts.

Yoga is rooted intensely in our tradition which displays a positive outlook and interest in practicing various meditation, asana and pranayama. Hence it can be considered as a right time to think studiously on the inclusion of Yoga and Yogic values in the education system. Present study has indicated that the yoga attitude level of selected samples, are average which is not a good sign for the students’ personality. There is a need to motivate the college authority regarding the importance of yoga education. Higher educational institutes should place greater emphasis on educating learners about the importance of yoga. Yoga’s ability to control the mental noise and relish the moment reduces and relaxes anxiety and stress, which shows extensive beneficial ties in every domain of life. Students normally tend to be stressed individuals, very eager to outperform themselves to prove their stature for every chance they receive. Yoga aids them with inner strength, harmony and calmness to deal with this stress and come back to a peaceful mind. Students who practice yoga regularly, not only achieve lower levels of anxiety and stress, but also achieve subsequently an improved academic performance.

Conflict of Interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

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