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A yoga programme lowers an archer's competitive anxiety and raises self-confidence

1 study · 14 archers measured

ForContextAgainst202420262025, for, n = 142025, context, n = 14
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

There is a single study, and it was designed for another purpose: to build a yoga programme for archers and see whether it could be delivered, not to show that it works. Forty experts rated the proposed practices, thirty-two of which were kept across postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation, and fourteen elite archers from the Assam team preparing for India's National Games did six supervised one-hour sessions over two weeks; thirteen completed them. On the competitive state anxiety questionnaire, taken at the start and after two weeks, somatic anxiety falls from 17.8 to 15.6 (p = 0.001), cognitive anxiety from 19.1 to 14.8 (p = 0.002), and self-confidence rises from 28.5 to 32 (p = 0.005); twelve archers out of thirteen say they feel less anxious. But it is a before-and-after study with no control group, the measurements were taken in training rather than close to a competition, and anyone who has just finished a programme they enjoyed may answer the same questionnaire more favourably for that reason alone.

Also phrased as: "yoga and competition anxiety"; "yoga for self-confidence"; "yoga for archers"; "pranayama and anxiety in archery"; "yoga before competition"

In practice

It is said that yoga calms the nerves before competition, and that its breathing and postures help archers step up to the shooting line calmer and more sure of themselves.

Evidence

  • 2025
    For Archers Published later

    14 adult elite Indian archers preparing for their National Games, 13 of whom complete six supervised one-hour yoga sessions over two weeks, before and after with no control, in the study that builds and validates the programme. CSAI-2R collected by an independent assessor at the start and after two weeks: somatic anxiety from 17.8 ± 3.98 to 15.6 ± 3.27 (-12.4 per cent, p = 0.001, paired t-test), cognitive anxiety from 19.08 ± 3.62 to 14.77 ± 2.52 (-22.6 per cent, p = 0.002, Wilcoxon).

    Yoga for Archers: Development, Validation, and Feasibility Testing of a Yoga Module · Abhijit Baishya, Darshana Hazarika, Kashinath Metri

  • 2025
    For Archers Published later

    In the same study self-confidence on the same scale rises from 28.46 ± 5.72 to 32 ± 6.27 (+12.4 per cent, p = 0.005, Wilcoxon, 13 archers).

    Yoga for Archers: Development, Validation, and Feasibility Testing of a Yoga Module · Abhijit Baishya, Darshana Hazarika, Kashinath Metri

  • 2025
    Context Archers Published later

    In the same study 12 archers out of 13 say they are satisfied and intend to continue, 13 out of 13 find the programme useful and say they feel more attentive, and 12 out of 13 report less anxiety and better balance. These are the opinions of people who have just finished the programme, gathered without any comparison.

    Yoga for Archers: Development, Validation, and Feasibility Testing of a Yoga Module · Abhijit Baishya, Darshana Hazarika, Kashinath Metri

Status history

  1. 1990 Not studied No one in the registry's bibliography had yet measured archers' anxiety and confidence before and after a yoga programme: the question had no data.
  2. 2025 Reported The first data arrive. Thirteen elite Indian archers complete two weeks of a yoga programme built for shooting and validated by forty experts. On the CSAI-2R somatic anxiety falls from 17.8 to 15.6 (p = 0.001), cognitive anxiety from 19.1 to 14.8 (p = 0.002) and self-confidence rises from 28.5 to 32 (p = 0.005), and almost all of them say they feel less anxious. It is a before-and-after study with no control group, within a feasibility study: a single supporting study, hence reported.

Related

Related articles

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). A yoga programme lowers an archer's competitive anxiety and raises self-confidence (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/yoga-competition-anxiety-confidence

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_yogaansiafiducia,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {A yoga programme lowers an archer's competitive anxiety and raises self-confidence},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/yoga-competition-anxiety-confidence},
  note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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