Vivek Koul
India is enthusiastically marching towards the path of Industrialization and Globalization but on the other hand the growing complexities in the life of average Indians in this modern society have really turned an ugly shape. It is also in place to mention here that due to growing life complexities and daily hectic life, more and more people are now getting addicted towards drug abuse and many other types of ill addictions. Modern life is becoming more and more stressful & tougher day by day and many people are suffering from stress related illness. Due to this stress and anxiety, suicide cases are also increasing day by day which is a cause of utmost concern for all of us. In this pretext, imparting Yoga education in educational institutions can be a remedial and effective tool to combat all such stress related issues and ailments. Imparting yoga education to the school children may serve as an effective tool for reducing mental stress and depression in today's hectic life. This sort of learning should be imparted from the childhood so that its foundation is strengthened. This may serve a preventive role in adolescent mental health and also helps an individual to reduce stress, provide positive feeling of being in control of one's life and promote general well being. Therefore its introduction at the elementary school level is of great importance. It should be made mandatory at the school level which in turn makes students feel energetic every time and free from all kinds of psychological stress. Yoga education in schools can immensely contribute to health of school children by disseminating knowledge & awareness about the value of health, inculcating & nurturing health, promoting habits and life style. Yoga is the exercise of physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the individual that was coined in the ancient India. Yoga has been demarcated as unification with the divine. The main objective of yoga is emancipation. The postures of yoga are beneficial even to eliminate health ailments. The National Council of Education, Research and Training (NCERT) have decided to acquaint yoga in CBSE schools. A lot of schools are already practicing yoga in a casual way but the NCERT plans to propose a formal and structured approach for the proper implementation. The National Curriculum Framework categorized yoga as an integral component of health and physical education and shall be a mandatory subject till the secondary school. There are numerous benefits when someone practices yoga on a daily basis, in terms of health benefits, increasing concentration, improvises the immunity, increment in the energy. Yoga creates a positive impact on the psycho – social and mental and physical development of a child. Once yoga implemented in schools will reap a lot of benefits; yoga helps to build all round fitness not only for children but also for adults in terms of a healthy lifestyle as well as happy and joyful living. By practicing yoga regularly it keeps your weight under control and helps increase your flexibility. With the increasing course load and competition to be the best, children are already stressed for their studies and to give their best performance, practicing yoga in school will help them deal with stress and also relieve them of the stress. This will also help in reducing the suicide rates found amongst school children. In such a stressful life we often lack mental peace, which yoga will help us gain mental peace and deal with difficult situations. The yoga postures not only rubdowns the organs and strengthen the muscles as well as helps to improve breathing techniques which in turn help in releasing stress and improves immunity. In today's time, life is hectic not only for adults but also for children; first attend school, then tuitions and then extra – curricular activity classes. To fulfill the day's needs they need immense energy to perform during the day, by practicing yoga they will gain energy to perform for the entire day. With so many health benefits and mental peace, it will help the child to be a better individual and perform high in his life professionally as well as personally. Hence it will be very beneficial for the kids to have yoga as a separate subject in the school. The yoga, therefore, should be integrated in modern education to such an extent that the analytical and synthetic faculties of man should be balanced. In other words, yoga should be integrated in such a way that a harmony between external and inner-core of life should be maintained properly so that the wholeness is achieved. So it is the need of the hour to introduce yoga education in school premises for the betterment of the child's mental health, physical health and over all general well being.
