M. Gunasekaran
Chennai

The present study was undertaken to explore the effect of Yoga on cognitive development in children with Learning Disabilities. L.D. is prevalent throughout the world, estimated to effect nearly 10% of the population. The medical remedy is not usually recommended even by medical professionals. Many therapies are tried all over the world, which are providing relief in varying degrees to the L.D. effected children, and Yoga is one such important therapy system. In this study, a sample of 10 L.D. effected children in the age group 8-9 years of age were selected, and were pretested with Shonells battery test and with materials using Fry's graph method. A cocktail of Yoga systems was prepared specially for this study comprising Asana, Pranayama and Dhyana of the Asthana Yoga in the Patanjali Yoga System. The children were trained for a period of 45 days and a post-test was done. Significant differences in the cognitive ability of the children were noted and the training resulted in improvement over male and female children alike. Overall improvement in the learning behaviour was also noted in all areas of learning during the post-training period.