Yoga and Emotional Intelligence (EI)

Up until recently, Intelligence Quotient (IQ) was considered to be the best indicator of a person’s intelligence and consequently their success in personal and professional life. In the last few years, however, the concepts of Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Emotional Quotient (EQ) have become popular topics of discussion and are now being considered a more accurate indicator of a person’s performance at a professional level.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate between them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action (Salovey & Mayer, 1990, p 5). Goleman identifies five components of EI: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skill.

Because of the wealth of information available online as well as in many books, I do not plan to spend any time discussing the details of EI/EQ. However, I would like to discuss how yoga can help us get in touch with our own emotions and how to develop a better control over them.

Patanjali, in his Yoga Sutras, has defined yoga as the ability to understand and control fluctuations of the mind. "Fluctuations of the mind" represents any content of the mind as it changes from moment to moment. Our mind is constantly in a state of flux as new thoughts, emotions, images etc occupy the mind at any given time. The content of the mind can change based on direct perception through the five senses, inference based on previous perceptions, misconceptions due to ignorance, pure imagination or by bringing stuff up from past memories. For the purposes of understanding how the mind processes information, it can be considered to be composed of four components – cognitive mind, intellect, ego and memory. It is the cognitive mind that gathers information from the senses or from memory. The mind feeds the input to the intellect which is supposed to make decisions. The intellect, in our normal state of existence, is conditioned to consult with the ego for guidance. The ego makes use of the memory, and all its likes and dislikes, prejudices, fears and phobias etc before handing over the decision back to the intellect. The intellect then communicates the decision back to the mind. The outcome could be movement of the limbs, or some further thinking etc. This is a very simplistic way of looking at the functioning of the mind, but hopefully adequate in understanding how emotions play a role in our life. Emotions like anger, jealousy, hatred, fear, anxiety, love, compassion etc are all a result of the ego’s involvement in the  decision-making process, as outlined above.

As we are well aware, negative emotions like anger and hatred etc have a highly detrimental impact on our ability to make correct decisions. The type of decisions we make and the actions we perform are directly related to our performance at the work place. It is therefore important that we learn to make decisions based on our pure intellect without getting the ego involved. This is where we can turn to the practice of yoga to help us in that direction.

In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali has given us the "eight limbs of yoga" called the Ashtanga Yoga which provide a guide map of how to achieve the objective of yoga which is to still the mind’s fluctuations. These are:

1. Yamas (guidelines for social interactions) – truthfulness, non-harming, non-stealing, abstinence, non-hoarding
2. Niyamas (guidelines for self-control) – cleanliness, contentment, austerity, self-study/study of scriptures, surrender to a higher entity
3. Asana (physical posture)
4. Pranayama (breathing techniques)
5. Pratyahara (sense withdrawal)
6. Dharana (focus/concentration)
7. Dhyana (meditation)
8. Samadhi (total absorption)

According to Patanjali, a regular yoga practice will help us cleanse the mind of its dross and sharpen the intellect so it learns not to be influenced by the negative ego. As we have seen before, our objective is to allow the intellect to make decisions without involvement from the negative ego. Such decisions will obviously help us in all the endeavors that we undertake including our professional careers.

A well-integrated practice of yoga includes asana (postures), pranayama (breathing), relaxation and meditation. 

The practice of asana gives us a strong, flexible body, cleanses the system of toxins, improves the glandular functions and prepares us for a deeper yoga experience. Pranayama helps with energizing and strengthening the nervous system, improving lung capacity and helping with emotions. Meditation is the key practice in finally stilling the mind so that the unnecessary chatter in the mind is subdued and we can make a connection with our true essence.

The pranayama practice is supposed to be the best means of dealing with emotions. We all know that emotions can control our breathing pattern. For example, when we are very angry or agitated, our breathing is very fast, uneven and uncontrolled. When we are feeling very sad, we might have uncontrolled sobbing breath. When we are calm and engrossed in some activity, our breathing is very gentle, even and soft. These examples tell us that our emotions can control the breathing pattern without any effort from our side.

As we know, breathing is perhaps one of the very few physiological functions which is both voluntary and involuntary. When we are not paying attention, breathing just happens. However, we do have the ability to change and control our breathing in many different ways. We can make the breathing slow, fast, forced, soft and subtle etc. These are some of the variables which have been used to devise a large number of pranayama practices. While on the one hand, the emotions can control the breathing patterns, the yogis tell us that the opposite is not only true but highly desirable. Which means that by controlling our breath in different ways we can control our emotions and moods to a great deal. Pranayama is now routinely used for therapeutic benefits; some of the main benefits are controlling the blood pressure, calming the mind, developing deeper focus, cleansing purifying the nervous system etc.

In the yoga classes that I teach, many of my students have reported that as a result of their yoga practice, they can handle difficult situations both at home and work much more effectively, without getting aggravated.

I found this excellent report on the internet which provides details of a research study on yoga and EI. 

Question for you: Has yoga helped you with your emotions? I would love to hear your feedback in the comments box below.