Impact of adoption of yoga way of life on the emotional intelligence of managers

Abstract

The popular perception that a high intelligence quotient (IQ) is not necessarily a good predictor of professional and personal success has led to a growing interest in understanding the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in improving the performance of business managers. This paper studies the impact of the yoga way of life on EI using data collected from 60 managers in a business enterprise and reports enhanced EI as a result of the practice of yoga. The results indicate the importance of yoga as an integral element in improving managerial performance in organisations and the need to further explore this construct in greater detail.

Development of a Chinese Emotional Intelligence Inventory and Its Association with Physical Activity

“…In our study, a positive relationship was found between physical activity and emotional intelligence, indicating that the more physical activity participation the university students have, the higher their emotional intelligence. The finding of our study are in line with the finding from the other studies (Adhia, Nagendra, & Mahadevan, 2010;Li, Lu, & Wang, 2009) that yoga exercise enhanced both of the emotional scores in managers, Adhia, Nagendra, & Mahadevan (2010) further explained that yoga provides a means to de-stress individuals and improve personal satisfaction, also help them to disengage from the negative role and unhappy involvement one has created for oneself, moreover, becoming more self-aware, self-regulated, and with a proper perspective of life and various relationships through yoga practice might lead to the enhancement of EI.…”

“…There has been very few study on the association between physical activity and emotional intelligence in the past, only recently has there been two empirical studies linking emotional intelligence to exercise participation (Adhia, Nagendra, & Mahadevan, 2010;Li, Lu & Wang, 2009). In our study, a positive relationship was found between physical activity and emotional intelligence, indicating that the more physical activity participation the university students have, the higher their emotional intelligence.…”

“…The studies of the association of EI and physical activity received attention recently (Adhia, Nagendra, & Mahadevan, 2010;Dietrich & Audiffren, 2011;Li, Lu, & Wang (2009). Dietrich & Audiffren, 2011 reported the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between EI and exercise, while Li, Lu, & Wang (2009) found that physical activity was one of the predictor variables of emotional intelligence.…”

“…The effects of physical activity towards emotion include enhanced positive activated affect (Reed, & Ones, 2006) ; pleasant emotions (Kerr & Kuk 2001), positive mood, moderate anxiety-reduction effects (Biddle 2000), elevating their sense of happiness (Szabo 2003), and have higher score in optimistic levels (Kavussanu & Mcauley 1995), and increased in emotional intelligence (Adhia, Nagendra, & Mahadevan, 2010). Yet, very few empirical studies have investigated the influence of physical activity or exercise participation on emotional intelligence (Li, Lu, & Wang, 2008).…”

“…Not until recently has there been one empirical study investigate the impact of exercise participation on emotional intelligence. Adhia, Nagendra, & Mahadevan (2010) examined the impact of yoga on EI and managerial performance in managers from a business enterprise, and reported that yoga practice enhanced both of the EI and managerial performance in managers…”