Title: Effect of yoga intervention on mindfulness, perceived stress, emotion regulation and affect: a study on senior managers in an Indian multinational corporate

Authors: T.S. Sreekumar; H.R. Nagendra; Judu V. Ilavarasu

Addresses: Division of Yoga and Management Studies, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana, 19, Eknath Bhavan, Gavipuram Circle, KG Nagar, Bangalore 560019, India ' Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana, 19, Eknath Bhavan, Gavipuram Circle, KG Nagar, Bangalore 560019, India ' Division of Yoga and Physical Sciences, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana, 19, Eknath Bhavan, Gavipuram Circle, KG Nagar, Bangalore 560019, India

Abstract: Psychological distress is highly prevalent among leadership professionals. Workplace yoga interventions to enhance psychological wellbeing and further follow-up studies are limited. We studied the effect of a residential five days yoga intervention and later follow-up after three months of home practice on 102 senior level managers of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). They were assessed for various psychological constructs like mindfulness, emotion regulation, positive and negative affect and perceived stress. Results of linear mixed effects model showed that all the variables had significantly influenced the perceived stress, except for emotion regulation. Findings suggest that intervention is effective in addressing the stress of senior managers by improving mindfulness, positive affect, and better emotion regulation strategy, but due to lack of supervised guidance after the program, there is a high chance of further relapse, which needs further attention to maintain an environment of sustained wellbeing.

Keywords: yoga; stress; leaders; mindfulness; emotion regulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2021.112599

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2021 Vol.22 No.1, pp.37 - 52

Received: 01 Jul 2019
Accepted: 01 Nov 2019

Published online: 22 Jan 2021 *

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