How can Yoga help students alleviate examination stress and make them perform better?

Many students know the feeling of what Exam-o-phobia or exam fever. Students become excessively nervous, and it affects students’ psychologically, socially, emotionally and cognitively. This phobia is now turning in to a deadly disorder, and it is mostly due to the pressure students’ face from their parents to perform better academically.

In India, the rates of student suicides are the highest in the world, simply due to failure in exams or the unbearable pressure of exams. According to WHO, 2016 data indicated an alarming figure of 8,00,000 students who commit suicide each year purely from this reason. Suicide is slowing becoming the second leading cause of death amongst students.

Failure in 2016 examinations led to around 2,500 suicides by students’, i.e. seven deaths every single day. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) announced it in its 2015 data and it made a shocking revelation that one student commits suicide every hour in India.

Smt. Hansaji– “Today yoga is even more relevant. It is every human being’s duty to learn yoga. Dear students and parents each life is precious. It is a gift. You should not take life no matter how helpless you feel or your situation is. Everything is transitory this adversity will pass.”

Nishpanda Bhava is one of the most potent yogic systems developed by Shri Yogendraji at The Yoga Institute to instill a spirit of vairagya, which means ‘letting go’. We pass through life but hold onto all and sundry, from material possessions to our thoughts, opinions, likes, our dislikes, regrets, insatiable desires, and failures in exams.

This simple technique clarifies that life goes by just as the sounds around us. All sounds represent life, its events, situations, and representative of people who come and go. We understand that they persist, acknowledge them and allow ourselves to move on without regret, analysis, and judgment.

“The dramas of the world carry on. I will let it pass, I will be still and hold my own!”

Yoga at the Institute is a way life. Life is movement and hope, and it goes on.

Recommended Pranayama

Pranayama includes simple breathing exercise, yet a powerful tool to calm the exam fears, anxiety and nervousness.

Students can do Yogendra Pranayama I, II, III, IV and Anulom-Vilom pranayamas to beat exam stress.

Recommended Asana

All forwarding bending yoga poses or asanas like Paschimottanasana, Hastapadasana, Chakrasana etc. help to relieve stress. Surya Namaskars can be done but within limits. These postures improve the blood circulation to the head region and thereby improve the amount of oxygenation to the head region. This, in turn, helps students to keep calm, be attentive and sharp during exam time. (Ensure you learn to do the asanas right and under the supervision of a qualified yoga teacher)

  1. Follow healthy routines. Go to bed on time around 10 pm with all lights out and get up early to study around 5.00 am to 6.00 am.
  2. Diet is crucial and do not overeat. Eat every four hours. Eat healthy sattvik meals, fresh seasonal fruits, organic greens, whole grains etc.
  3. Hydrate yourself well with enough liquids. Example: Each morning on an empty stomach drink 2-3 glasses of lukewarm water, at breakfast have a glass of milk, at lunch, a glass of buttermilk, in the evenings, a light herbal tea, at dinner, soup etc. Plan your liquids at regular intervals.
  4. Quality rest and sleep important (Pranayama IV before bed helps)
  5. Be active (Talasana, Pravatasana, Yastikasana with correct breathing pattern)
  6. Rest your precious eyes and do Trataka (Eye cleanse Kriya)
  7. Recreation is essential to relax with family members. Share jokes, anecdotes for at least half an hour daily.

Yoga can help students alleviate examination stress and make them perform better. Check out some of the workshops we regularly conduct to benefit the students.

http://theyogainstitute.org/specific-health-camps/#stress

http://theyogainstitute.org/specific-health-camps/#pranayama

http://theyogainstitute.org/wellness-camps/#meditation

http://theyogainstitute.org/happiness-workshop/

http://theyogainstitute.org/childrens-regular-classes/