The question begs, does yoga improve your sex life? As a budding yogi or yogini you might not have started your yoga practice as a means to greater satisfaction in the bedroom but that doesn't mean that you won't feel the impact that yoga can have on your sex life.
It's pretty easy to assume that making those hamstrings and groin a little longer might help you to perform some of the more advanced Kama Sutra-type poses, but yoga does a lot more than that.
The varied styles of yoga obviously have different physical and physiological impacts but all focus on improving the body's functioning, from better respiratory power, improved circulation, greater core strength to general health and wellbeing.
It gets the blood pumping
Yoga gets your blood flowing. Yogic relaxation techniques can help improve your circulation and yoga postures also help to bring more oxygen to your cells, which function better as a result.
For example, inverted poses, such as headstand, handstand, and shoulderstand encourage venous blood from the legs and pelvis to flow back to the heart, where it can be pumped to the lungs to be freshly oxygenated.
Improved circulation around the pelvic region has been used to treat erectile dysfunction with great results . Not only for the boys, better blood supply to this area improves sensation, increasing orgasmic pleasure . And particularly for women, learning to engage the pelvic floor muscles while practising yoga can help increase awareness, greater muscular control and enjoyment during sex.
It seems that yoga could be the next Viagra! Learning the different breathing techniques and taking them between the sheets can also lengthen or speed up the oncoming of an orgasm with greater intensity as well.
The physical benefits are also complemented by the softening we receive from rolling out our mat, making it easier to be intimate with people, become more comfortable in our skin and experience deep connections with a partner. Tenderness and power are by-products of a dedicated practice, two very sexy words if you consider it.
Spirituality
Also, there is a yogic tradition that teaches the connection between spirituality and sexuality. Yoga teacher and author Mark Whitwell even suggests in his book Yoga of Heart: The healing power of intimate connection, that, "Sex is the principal means to directly experiencing our authentic life."
Everyone's heard of Tantric sex right? Well the sex part is only about 10 percent of what Tantra is all about. In Tantric yoga, the focus is about merging opposite forces, or energies, within the body and harnessing the body's subtle energy, including sexual, to reach higher states of consciousness. This means the coming together of masculine and feminine, ying and yang, front and back, top and bottom etc to help us move past our feelings of separateness and realise our oneness and connection with the divine.
When the man's focus includes maximising his partner's pleasure and experience then both people will have a more enjoyable time and that leads to a balancing of male and female energy for both partners. Finding an equilibrium between strength and softness, not only in our yoga postures on the mat, but in our sexual connection with a partner off the mat, will help us feel more complete, whole and content.
And, as anyone who's experienced it will know, that's the key to great sex. It's also the key to softening our attachment to life and bringing about a larger connection to living.
So, the answer is yes, yoga will not only improve your sex life, it may even improve your chance of having sex, meeting a like-minded soul at your local yoga studio instead of at your local pub.
About Duncan
Duncan Peak is the founder of Power Living Australia , the largest Yoga & Personal Development School in the country. Formerly an elite paratrooper, competitive athlete and business consultant, he has pioneered the delivery of Power Yoga into Australia and is recognised as one of Australia’s most popular teachers.
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