Effects of a combination of Nidra yoga versus Iyengar yoga on mental health, resilience, and self-esteem in college students: A randomized controlled trial

College students are at risk for mental health issues. Yoga is a relaxation therapy in several conditions both physically and mentally. Iyengar yoga and yoga Nidra are the two practices to improve mental health. There is limited data on a combination of both yoga practices; we called Nitha yoga in college students. This study aimed to evaluate if Nitha yoga was effective in mental health of college students. This was an intervention study and enrolled college students with an age of 18 years or older, registered for yoga and social dancing class, and were able to participate in the study for eight weeks. Eligible students were randomly assigned to either the Nitha yoga group or the Iyengar yoga group by simple random sampling method. Nitha yoga comprised of Iyengar yoga for 20 min plus Yoga Nidra for 30 min. The Nitha yoga group performed the Nitha yoga practice once a week for 50 min, while the Iyengar yoga group performed the Iyengar yoga practice once a week for 50 min. The total duration of study was eight weeks. At the end of study, the outcomes of the study including general health, personal resilience, relational resilience, and self-esteem were assessed. In total, 40 students participated in the Nitha yoga group and the Iyengar yoga group. Both groups had comparable baseline characteristics. After eight weeks of yoga intervention, the Nitha yoga group had significant improvement in six outcomes than the Iyengar yoga group including anxiety insomnia score, social dysfunction score, severe depression score, personal resilience score, relational resilience score, and self-esteem score. The Nitha yoga program significantly improved mental health, resilience, and self-esteem in college students compared with the Iyengar yoga program.