Associations Between Yogic Practices and Enhanced Empathy and Emotional Maturity in Adolescents: A Review
Author(s): Beena Rajpoot, Rajkumar Sharma, Sham Ganpat tikhe
Publication #: 2512011
Date of Publication: 16.12.2025
Country: India
Pages: 1-10
Published In: Volume 11 Issue 6 December-2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.62970/IJIRCT.v11.i6.2512011
Abstract
Adolescence, an absolutely critical stage spanning 10-19 years, is marked by extremely intense emotionally demanding situations, with struggles with empathy and understanding and relating with others' feelings, as well as with emotional adjustment and maturity, involving control and regulation. The objectives of this review include synthesizing literature on associations of yogic practices with empathy and emotional maturity among youth with a focus on patterns from observational and review-based research. A narrative synthesis was carried out on sources accessed via academic databases like ‘PubMed’, ‘ResearchGate’, ‘Frontiers’, and systematized searches with terms ‘yoga empathy adolescents’, ‘yogic practices emotional maturity youth’, and so on. The criteria set forth included research and reviews on ‘adolescents’ (10-19-year age group), on ‘empathy and/or emotional maturity components’, with ‘publications within 2015-2025’. Findings throughout reviewed literature are consistent with a positive relationship between yogic practices and benefits for empathy and emotional maturity. Cross-sectional and observational research, including residential camps for n = 500+ youth, revealed significantly positive changes within empathy, altruism, and competence after exposure. Integrative reviews among school-aged youth (>1,000 participants) summarized a positive relationship with yoga and improvements within emotional control and resilience. Yogic practices are significantly linked with increased empathy and more mature emotional intelligence among adolescents. These findings clearly favour involving yoga as a holistic strategy in educational and community environments that could easily be implemented with accessibility among various levels of adaptive capabilities for adolescents. Nonetheless, these designs clearly recommend additional longitudinal research be conducted for additional testing.
Keywords: Yogic Practices, Empathy, Emotional Maturity, Emotional Regulation, Adolescents, School-Based Yoga, Psychosocial Development, Mental Health
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