Yoga for Archers: Development, Validation, and Feasibility Testing of a Yoga Module

Archery performance requires a combination of enhanced cognitive, physical, and psychological skills. Yoga is a mind-body intervention that has shown a positive impact on sports performance, including archery.

This study aimed to evolve a validated and feasible yoga module to improve cognitive abilities and reduce competitive anxiety among archers.

The study comprised three phases: (1) The module was developed by thoroughly reviewing classical and contemporary yoga literature and published research studies. (2) Forty experts validated the module by rating on a 3-point Likert scale (0-2), and Lawshe's content validity ratio (CVR) was used for validation. (3) Fourteen elite archers received six supervised yoga sessions over 2 weeks. Feasibility was assessed based on intervention fidelity, face validity, and outcome measures - cognitive functioning, competitive anxiety, self-confidence, and balance at baseline and 2 weeks.

The final yoga module retained 32 practices (CVR >0.29) from the initially developed module containing 43 practices. Feasibility study reported 100% acceptance and 92.9% retention rates, with no adverse events. The instructor's rating reported all practices as easy to learn and perform. The participants' feedback rated it as highly satisfactory and helpful in improving attention, anxiety, and balance. At 2 weeks, significant reductions in competitive anxiety and improvements in reaction time, accuracy, self-confidence, and balance compared to baseline were observed.

This study provides archers with a validated yoga module. This module was found to be acceptable, feasible, and effective in improving cognitive functions and balance while reducing anxiety among archers.