EFFECT OF OM CHANTING AND MINDFUL BREATHING ON ATTENTION SPAN AND EMOTIONAL REGULATION IN SCHOOL CHILDREN

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The capacity for sustained attention and effective emotional self-regulation represents two foundational pillars of children's academic success and socio-emotional adjustment. Children who demonstrate age-appropriate mastery of these competencies tend to achieve better scholastic outcomes, form healthier peer relationships, and exhibit fewer behavioral difficulties in classroom settings. Mindfulness-informed practices such as OM chanting and structured breathing exercises have attracted growing research interest as accessible, non-pharmacological strategies for cultivating these capacities. OM chanting, which originates in the classical yogic tradition of India, exerts a calming influence on the autonomic nervous system and has been shown to modulate the neurobiological circuits implicated in both attentional control and emotional processing. Structured mindful breathing similarly promotes self-regulation by directing conscious awareness to respiratory rhythms. Despite accumulating evidence from studies involving older learners and adults, empirical research targeting the specific developmental window of early childhood (ages 6–8 years) remains limited.

Materials and Methods:

The study employed a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control group design with cluster non- randomized allocation. A total of 60 school-aged children (6–8 years) were recruited from schools

in and around Bengaluru, India, and assigned equally to three groups (n = 20 per group): Group A (OM chanting), Group B (mindful breathing), and Group C (wait-list control). Participants in intervention groups engaged in their respective practices for ten minutes per day across five days per week over an eight-week period, conducted under trained supervision during school hours. The control group continued its regular classroom schedule without structured mindfulness activities. Attention span was evaluated using the Letter Cancellation Test (LCT), and emotional regulation was rated by class teachers using the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC). Data were collected at baseline (pre-test) and at the conclusion of the intervention period (post-test). Statistical analysis included the Shapiro–Wilk test for normality, paired-samples t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests for within-group comparisons, and one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey HSD post-hoc tests for between-group comparisons, with significance set at p < 0.05.

Results: Both intervention groups exhibited statistically significant within-group improvements in emotional regulation, as reflected by higher ER subscale scores and markedly lower Lability/Negativity (LN) scores following the intervention. Group A demonstrated a mean ER increase from 26.20 ± 2.21 to 31.75 ± 3.75 (p < 0.001) and a mean LN reduction from 22.35 ± 3.99 to 13.65 ± 1.23 (p < 0.001). Group B showed an ER increase from 23.75 ± 1.45 to 29.10 ± 3.37 (p < 0.001) and LN reduction from 23.30 ± 1.66 to 14.00 ± 0.92 (p < 0.001). The control group exhibited no significant changes in either emotional regulation variable. Within-group attention gains were observed in both intervention groups (Group A: p = 0.012; Group B: p = 0.008); however, between-group comparisons did not reveal statistically significant differences in letter cancellation scores (p = 0.857). Post-hoc analysis confirmed that both intervention groups significantly outperformed the control group on emotional regulation outcomes, while no significant between-group differences were detected for attention.

Conclusion: Brief, structured practices of OM chanting and mindful breathing, sustained over eight weeks within the school environment, produced meaningful improvements in emotional self-regulation among children aged 6–8 years. Both modalities demonstrated comparable efficacy in reducing emotional lability and enhancing adaptive regulation. While attention performance improved within both intervention groups, between-group differences in attention scores were not statistically significant, indicating that observed gains may partially reflect test-retest familiarity effects. The findings advocate for the integration of brief mindfulness sessions into early primary school schedules as an equitable, culturally responsive strategy for promoting children's emotional well-being and classroom readiness.