A few years ago Sting became more famous for his "tantric" sex marathons than for his music. Whether they were true or just a boutade to be talked about, this exit went to remove the veil on an aspect of yoga that could not fail to arouse some interest.
And yet, we do not want to indulge in itchy curiosities or go into the cultures of Tantra (which would deserve serious study). Rather it is preferable to throw a stone in the lake of reflection and think about whether and how yoga practice and philosophy can play a positive role in our life as a couple.
A new complicity
A discourse that combines yoga with life as a couple cannot fail to have an extremely generic character given the specificity that every relationship brings.
We can therefore start by considering one of the minimum common denominators of most individuals: stress, perhaps the king of the low quality of life that a large portion of society has in common. It has now become an almost abused word, so inflated that it has lost its meaning (along with many others: crisis, culture, renewal, caste etc etc) and yet it undermines our daily lives from the roots. How many times has a discussion resulted from nervousness caused by a tiring day or how many times did we download a frustration on our partner?
Yoga is inserted into the couple at this level: by working on the nervous system, promoting relaxation and well-being, it defuses impulses and tensions before they are poured out on a private level. The benefits that the yogi reaps from a regular and profitable practice also have reverberations on the affective level: the serene, well-disposed and reassured individual will also approach the conflict in a more constructive and purposeful way.
Among other things, it has been shown that the practice together with the partner can stimulate understanding and complicity . Researchers at Loyola University Health System (LUHS) have conducted research on this and the results have shown that paired yoga sessions help: " Strengthen the relationship emotionally, physically and spiritually, to ultimately build a deeper connection and improve health sexual intercourse ”.
Attending a yoga class together or performing asanas in harmony with your * comrade * can be a pleasant and useful time for "alternative" sharing.
Yoga and fertility: a road to conception?
Yoga practice inspires sexuality
Beyond the Sting experience mentioned at the beginning, the studies that show how yoga helps the sexual life of the couple are by now substantial.
We do not want to agree with the distressing exploitation of the discipline in this area that is incurring the same fate already seen for the word Tantra: the vast majority of people do not have the faintest idea of what it means except that it is in some way correlated with sex. There are countless publications in which the validity of this or that ritual is sponsored or the efficacy of this or that yoga position to improve one's performance. The bibliography is endless and the curious reader will be spoiled for choice.
We prefer to rely here on the scientific results conducted by serious research institutes which, however, only confirm the positive effects of the practice on sexuality.
The Journal of Sexual Medicine (Nov. 12, 2009) has developed a trial that demonstrates how yoga improves many aspects of female sex life: desire, excitement, the ability to feel pleasure .
The study took into consideration 40 women, all married and all sexually active, for whom an asana protocol had been drawn up. At the end of the program the researchers found greater satisfaction between the sheets, recording more than encouraging data. Despite the limitations of such research, it shows how a practice like the yogic one based on listening, on the "here and now", on the attention to sensations and emotions can only help even in moments of intimacy with one's partner.
From a physical point of view, asanas improve flexibility and some positions are specifically indicated to enhance sexual functions: for example the position of the cobra (bhujangasana) the triangle (trikonasana). Matsyendrasana, all the asanas that go to work on the opening of the hips.
Literature in this area too is infinite, although not all of quality.
Yogic, not inflexible
The purpose of this article is not to urge you to impose yoga on your partner or, equally, to consider it a sine qua non condition for a satisfying relationship: it would result in fanaticism! It wants to be an invitation to look at your usual practice from a new point of view or, if you don't practice it, to give you one more reason to start doing it ... maybe in two!
