The HarmonicaYoga™ Positivity Ratio Testing
In the summer of 2011, at one of my five day Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health workshops, I conducted a small before and after study using Dr. Barbara Fredrickson's Positivity Ratio questionnaire.
My teaching assistant handed out the one page Positivity Ratio questionnaire, asking people to indicate the ratio of different positive to negative feelings, before my workshop started. The students did not use their own names. Each answer sheet, both before and after, were identified only by the name of a childhood friend or pet of the student's, so that before and after sheets could be identified and compared without knowing whose they were.
I had hoped, naturally, that people would have a higher positivity to negativity ratio after the workshop. But the actual results amazed me.
We had an average increase of 518% Positivity to Negativity Ratio!
Dr. Fredrickson's work is described in her website, (the Positivity Ratio Questionnaire is available there, too) and her book "Positivity" provides more detail on her interesting work.
Here is a more detailed account (three pages total) including the raw data obtained from the study.
HarmonicaYogaPositivityStudy