A Positive and Significant Relationship Between Stress and the Practices of Yoga Among 18 to 24 Years Student

Stress is also considered as negative consequence or resultant of modern and a fast moving way of living. In an age of highly dynamic and competitive world, human beings are facing all kinds of stressors or factors of stress that affect their family as well as work life. Hans Selye (1936) [1] first introduced the term stress into life - science. The term stress is derived from the Latin word ‗Stringere‘ which means to be drawn tight. Stress is a complex, dynamic process of interaction between a person and his life. The famous behavioral scientist Stephen P. Robbins (2006) [2] defined it as: ―stress arises from an opportunity, demand, constraint, threat or challenge, when the outcomes of the event are important and uncertain. The stress response is a complex emotion that produces physiological changes to prepare us for fight or flight to defend ourselves from the threat or flee from it was quoted by Walter-Cannon (1932). Keeley and Harcourt (2001)[4] in their study ―Occupational Stress: A Study of the New Zealand and Reserve Bank‖ revealed that stress is caused by heavy work demands in the job itself, which the unskilled employee with little control over how the work is done, cannot adapt to or modify. Kulkarni G.K. (2006) [5] in an article ―Burnout‖ published in Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2006 said that rapid change of the modern working life is associated with increasing demands of learning new skills, need to adopt to new types of work, pressure of higher productivity and quality of work, time pressure and hectic jobs are increasing stress among the workforce. Further he added that privatization and globalization has ignited mergers, acquisitions, and precarious employment has critically affected the domestic industry. Stress that an employee encounters affects the productivity of organization (Bhattacharjee, 2009) .

There is no standardized process for handling concerns or grievances relating to stress at work place in the organization. The notion that the employees should learn to cope up with stress at work, stress at work place is quite normal and that we need to manage it is completely wrong. Negligence productivity even. Stress produces the degree of physiological, psychological, and behavioral deviation from healthy functioning. But stress if is of moderate conditions remain positive also. This positive stress is called eustress, referring to the healthy, positive, constructive outcome of stressful events and the stress response. This stress is enough to activate and motivate people in order to achieve goals and overcome their life‗s challenges. Employees frequently experience enough stress that not only hinder their performance and efficiency but also increase their risk of mental and physical health problems. So, the main focus is more on distress than eustress. Work stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. Job stress can lead to poor health and even injury (Sauter et al., 1999) [7]. Thus stress can be considered as a silent killer and may exert harmful effect on physical, psychological and behavioral well-being of the employees. And organization must implement effective stress management techniques in order to maintain the productivity of the organization with Stress –free employees. Practice of Yoga and Meditation as stress management techniques are rapidly being adopted by many of the good organizations who are employee focused.

Today people are stressed from overburden of work, job insecurity, information overload, conflicting roles and the increasing pace of life. Stress deteriorates the performance of employee which results in low turnover rates of the company. Stress, is the body‗s physical and psychological response to anything that‗s perceived as irresistible.

Mind tools (Source: www.mindtools.com) Stressors, the causes of stress, include any environmental condition that brings burden of physical or emotional kind on an individual. Basically there are four main types of work-related stressors: interpersonal stressors, role-related stressors, task control stressors and organizational and physical between stress and performance. It is the responsibility of the organization to introduce the practices such as Yoga, Meditation etc. for managing stress at workplace. Stress management programs into the organization will have Stress –free and happy employees, performing better and will have long term commitment and retentions in the organizations. The objective of the present paper is to explain certain stress management practices like Yoga and Meditation to reduce the stress level amongst the employees of any organization.

The corporate body has a moral responsibility to practice healthy work culture and environment. The employee spends most of his productive period of the day at his work place of the company. The management and the policy drafters must analyze the work environment they provide to the employees and should change in accordance to the comfortability of the employees. Yoga is one of the six foundations of Indian philosophy and has been used for millennia to study, explain, and experience the complexities of the mind and human existence (Feuerstein, 1998) [9]. Patanjali‗s Yoga sutras outline a skillful way of conducting life that fosters moderation and harmony (Becker, 2000) [10]. Bhole(1997) [11] in his conceptual paper, explained different aspects of Yoga. The Yoga way of life encompasses the philosophy of Karma Yoga (path of detached action), Jnana Yoga (knowledge of self), Bhakti Yoga (trust in the supreme order) and Raja Yoga (asana, pranayama, meditation, etc). The various meditation techniques work at the mental level, all these practices are intended to develop a certain type of awareness within oneself which in turn brings about a change in their emotional functions. Many researchers have noted the benefits of exercise in diminishing the stress response. Yoga has been recommended and studied in relationship to stress, although the studies are less scientifically replicable. Nonetheless, several researchers claim highly beneficial results from Yoga practice in alleviating stress and its effects. According to Srinivas (1994) [12], a series of techniques collectively known under the general label, ‗Yoga‘, present a rich source for generating indigenous organizational development techniques. Yoga offers a well formulated approach to planned change. The findings from empirical studies on Yoga revealed that long-term practitioners of Yoga had acquired a remarkable voluntary control over their autonomic processes which helped them in coping with psychological stress. Dr. K.N Udupa (2000) [13] concluded in his research that stress-related disorders evolve gradually through four recognizable stages.  The psychological changes such as anxiety, irritability and insomnia arise due to over

• In the second stage symptoms such as high blood pressure, elevated heart rate and increased intestinal motility surface.

• A more profound physical or biochemical imbalance starts invading,

• In last an irreversible symptom that often requires surgical or long term management appears.

Many of the yoga-based programs that have been widely studied in the use of stress reduction are being formulated and customized as per the corporate needs. The mindfulness-based stress reduction program includes guided instruction in mindfulness meditation practices, yoga and gentle stretching, inquiry exercises to enhance awareness, individual instruction, group dialogue and home assignments. The Yoga classes are to be designed incorporating breathing techniques exercises for strength, vitality, and flexibility, guided relaxation and meditation.

Meditation has proved to be of great help to combat stress and revitalize the mind. After doing meditation for 10 to 20 minutes once or twice a day, stress is seemed to be drifting away with positive energy. Meditation that cultivates mindfulness is particularly effective at reducing stress, anxiety, depression, and other negative emotions. Meditation is a skill tool for Life Enhancement, Workplace Efficiency, Stress Management, Emotional and Spiritual Fulfillment. It helps in balancing mind and body and increases mental alertness, concentration – resulting in clarity of decision making. A recent survey found that 60% of general practitioners wanted educational material to help in the management of stress, and that 28% of those seeking education were experiencing significant levels of stress. Experiments have shown that meditators maintained psychological equilibrium under stress more effectively than non- meditators. The art of meditation has made its way into the corporate environment and is one of the best way to reduce stress in the workplace. Most of the companies today such as IBM Corp., Infosys etc. are offering meditation programs on-site to their employees to help them reduce stress. Meditation workshops have become a valuable training tool in the workplace because meditation has so many practical applications. It is a skill that can be easily learned and can be done anywhere, anytime stress occurs — walking down the hall, at a worker‗s desk, or in a stressful meeting. Even a few minutes of meditation done throughout the day can make a huge difference in a worker‗s attitude, productivity and effectiveness.(Richard Geller (2007)

It is crystal clear that there is a positive and significant relationship between stress and the practices of yoga & meditation. It is moral responsibility of the organizations to implement upon such practices that would surely build right attitude and outlook of the problems at the work place to the employees. Stress can be minimized if companies take the right initiatives at right time in right direction. Stress –free employees perform better, work harder, happier and are more committed to the organization as compared to their counterparts.

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