Integrative Connection, a Discovery: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Couple Experiences in a Traditional Partner Yoga Practice

Abstract

This research fills a gap in the literature by seeking to understand through couples’ own perspectives their experiences in, and meanings made of, a traditional Sivananda partner yoga practice. Eleven couples followed a series of four, three-hour Partner Yoga for Couples workshops. Each couple had an in-depth interview with the researcher to explore their experiences. Participant expressions were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, interpreted through attachment, interpersonal neurobiology, and transpersonal development frameworks. It was found that all participant couples reported having a novel connection experience unlike anything they had experienced before. This novel connection experience appeared to occur when (1) couples engaged actively together, (2) in a body-based manner integrating different aspects of self, that (3) required them to interdependently collaborate, creating together what neither could alone. The term Integrative Connection is proposed, to capture this novel connection phenomenon. A trans-theoretical Developmental Model of Integrative Relational Connecting is also proposed, to explain the couples’ arrival at this integrative connection, through their potent relational experiences within the partner yoga for couples practice.