Comparison of Traditional and Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Yoga

Yoga is a holistic life science with a history of approximately 5000 years, designed to prepare the individual for meditation by strengthening the body and calming the mind. Looking at the national and international literature, no study comparing the effects of traditional and artificial intelligence-based practices on quality of life and mental well-being has been found before. The aim of the study was to compare the effects of traditional yoga and artificial intelligence-supported yoga practice on quality of life and mental well-being in students in a randomized controlled trial. The population of the study consisted of approximately 880 students studying at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Departments of Nursing (n=460), Midwifery (n=310) and Emergency Aid and Disaster Management (n=110). In the study, a simple random sampling method was selected according to the literature to ensure homogeneity of the sample. With power analysis, the effect size was 0.35, the α value was 0.05, and the power was 0.90, and the number of samples was found to be 54 people in total, including 18 in the 1st intervention group, 18 in the 2nd intervention group, and 18 in the control group. The research will be collected face-to-face between February 1, 2024, and November 30, 2025, using the Introductory Information Form, Multidimensional Quality of Life Scale, and Mental Well-Being Scale. In the study, two intervention and control groups will be pre-tested. The first intervention group will receive traditional yoga practice, and the second intervention group will receive AI-supported yoga practice. The control group will not receive any intervention during the data collection process. After the interventions are completed, post-tests (Introductory Information Form, Multidimensional Quality of Life Scale, and Mental Well-Being Scale) will be applied to all three groups. In order to eliminate ethical problems in the control group, days and hours suitable for individuals will be determined after the data collection process is completed, and traditional yoga will be practiced preferably once a week for an average of 2 hours or AI-assisted yoga for 1 hour a week for 12 weeks. In this research, at the same time, while applying AI-assisted yoga to the 2nd intervention group, images will be captured with the help of Mediapipe, correct posture will be determined, the angles between the joint points will be determined and recorded, and correct posture predictions will be made with the image processing technique of artificial intelligence.