Yoga EQ began in recovery centers, a project of Gro Huntington, an addiction fellowship in West Virginia. The practice evolved as a way for clients to access their natural coping skills, leading to emotional balance and preventing relapse.
Our classes and workshops teach these EQ basics: - Emotional Recognition and Management - Relationship Building - Supporting Recovery Community Trauma-informed yoga is a powerful tool for victims of assault or abuse. Fusing ancient wellness principles for connecting to breath and body with empirically proven techniques, Yoga EQ helps students reclaim their inner power by reclaiming their bodies. Neuroscience and psychology are beginning to make startling discoveries about trauma and how it is housed in the body. Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., Medical Director of the Trauma Center in Boston discusses the effect of trauma on the body: “We have learned that trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain, and body. This imprint has ongoing consequences for how the human organism manages to survive in the present. Trauma results in a fundamental reorganization of the way mind and brain manage perceptions.” Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is vital to success in an individual's inner and outer world. EQ is a better indicator than IQ on whether a person will be successful, and any rehabilitation program needs in-depth emotional intelligence development to facilitate client success. In Yoga EQ, as clients are becoming reacquainted and grounded with their bodies, they are learning emotional recognition and regulation. Once we understand what we are experiencing, we can act without being reactionary. Since EQ has an internal and social component, clients at later stages begin to use the safe space of the yoga class to relate to one another through leading movement, partner yoga, discussion, and sharing, thus building empathy and breaking down codependent coping mechanisms. |