Yoga and Couple Relationship Satisfaction: The Synergy Between Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence

Couple relationship satisfaction is an important predictor of physical and mental health. Despite this, currently offered interventions for distressed couples are not always effective. The present cross-sectional online survey design examined how yoga practice, mindfulness, and emotional intelligence interrelate when predicting relationship satisfaction. The study consisted of 128 heterosexual married or cohabiting Australian adults (mean age 29.7 ± 9.3) who practice yoga. Supporting the hypothesis, a serial mediation analysis revealed that time spent practicing yoga had a positive influence on relationship satisfaction through mindfulness, and then through emotional intelligence (b = 0.005, 95% CI 0.001 to 0.009). The findings also showed a direct effect of time spent practicing yoga on relationship satisfaction; however, there was no support for the individual mediating effects of mindfulness and emotional intelligence on the association between time spent practicing yoga and relationship satisfaction. The current findings suggest that yoga may be an effective and easily implemented approach to improving mindfulness and enhancing emotional intelligence, as well as heterosexual couples' relationship satisfaction.