The promise of yoga is to unite your finite self with the Infinite Self. There’s no better way to enhance that journey than to practice yoga with your partner or yoga for couples. Sexuality and spirituality are not mutually exclusive. In fact, the ancient yogis understood that a worshipful attitude towards your partner created a neuro-chemical change in the brain that allowed for the experience of ecstasy and bliss in couples meditation and couples yoga.
Meditation is a very private, internal experience that a person has with his or her inner Self. It is an important technique in the quest for a sacred sexual relationship. Meditation improves self-esteem and heals individual wounds, allowing the development of self-awareness that can lead to a heart-centered opening in the love relationship with one’s self or one’s partner. Meditation also connects one to one’s soul and balances the female and male energies in the body. Certain meditations can enhance the feeling of ecstasy experienced during sex. Other meditations have been known to end arguments, get rid of grudges and clear the clouds between couples. Couples Yoga uses a variety of sacred yogic meditations for couples as a way to augment the experience of oneness. These couples’ meditations are an especially beautiful practice that can elevate your relationship to a higher level.
1. Can couples yoga foster romance?
If you begin a couples yoga class with an existing partner, talk with each other before going to the first class about what you want from this. Try not to let your expectations get overblown in terms of how the class can remedy any specific relationship challenges you’re having. Go in with an open mind and heart — not with a sense that this is going to fix something, but a willingness to learn and grow together by sharing and connecting through yoga. It can be sensual though, if practiced with loving intention and can secretly set the mood. If the low lighting and candles — two things that most yoga masters recommend to help de-stress while doing yoga — don’t help set the tone, doing yoga together allows you to perform partner-assisted poses. These types of postures require a partner to help the other person get a full stretch or just get into position. Having to focus on your partner’s body, plus all that extra touching, lets you be playful as you exercise together
Spirituality Merge in Yoga Poses and Couples Meditation
2. What is the purpose of specific moves?
The first part of the class is a time to ground, center, learn to synchronize energy and breath and become sensitive to your partner’s rythms as well as start to gently warm up the body. The second part of the class is a time to build up more heat in the body with some balancing poses that challenge somewhat as well. As partners are able to get into more difficult poses, this builds self-esteem, confidence, emotional mastery, focus and this can heighten the bond as well. Some of the poses are aesthetically wondrous when you are juxtaposing bodies or mirroring. Some poses are childlike and playful and bring you back to a place of wonder and innocence. The last part of the class is both restorative with poses that you melt into in order to rebalance the central nervous system or there is guided Thai massage where intention, rather than technique is emphasized. The last pose is “Corpse” pose where student are able to integrate and process all the deep work and the body can reset itself from a place of renewal and rejuvenation.
3. How does yoga for couples allow one to experience another?
It makes you more attractive. This may not seem important, but the truth is, the more thoughtful and focused on your partner you are, the more endearing you will seem to her or him. . That’s because anytime a person expresses genuine interest in someone else and committed to just being physically and emotionally present — you will feel a sense of safety and support on a purely kinesthetic level. When you experience a profound truth through the experience of the body, it becomes ingrained in your mind and heart as well. Without realizing it, simply committing time to doing yoga with your partner becomes an opportunity to strengthen your level of intimacy — something that always adds strength and solidity to any partnership. It can reveal interpersonal dynamics about the couples that lead to inner growth and intimacy. Learning how to become really attune to your inner world while simultaneously being totally present to your partner is not a gift we often receive.
4. What are we meant to experience?
As each participant learns to let go and trust, the partners begins to explore spiritual levels of the practice together. They build on the energy of each other and create a better understanding of their connection as well as the practice of yoga. It removes distractions that keep humans from focusing on each other.
If you are just starting your yoga journey, it is helpful to know the benefits and risks with certain classes of poses..usually divided into four categories.
If you are pregnant, working through any serious injuries then it is best to consult a rehabilitation doctor or OB/GYN before practicing to know what are some limitations that you should honor. For beginners, let go of striving and competition.
Forward Bends, Side Bends, Inversions (Going Upside Down) Side Bends, Balancing Poses and Twists Yoga Poses for Partner
Forward Bends
Forward bends with the hands clasped behind the head in order to give the shoulders a deeper opening.
Directions: Stand both feet firmly on the ground. Bend both arms forward and then clasp behind and up in the air.
Benefits: Forward bends are calming, they also provide a nice stretch for the hamstrings as well as a nice opening for the shoulders.
Caution/Dangers: Those with high blood pressure conditions that are not taking medication should not do forward bends. 3rd Trimester pregnant women will probably not be able to bend down very far. Those with shoulder injuries should not try to hyperextend the shoulders. All should keep shoulders soft in pose and let shoulders blades slide down the back to give more of an opening.
People often feel calmed when forward bending and also slightly disoriented as they start to come up in the pose. It is helpful to come out of the pose very slowly, one vertebrate at a time, letting the head come up last.
Forward Bend Variation.
Directions: Stand both feet firmly on the ground. Bend both arms forward. Keep knees soft.
Benefits: Forward bends are calming to the central nervous system, they also provide a nice stretch for the hamstrings.
Caution/Dangers: Those with high blood pressure conditions that are not taking medication should not do forward bends. 3rd Trimester pregnant women will probably not be able to bend down very far. You can also use a wall to forward bend on or a solid chair.
Students often feel calmed when forward bending and sometimes slightly disoriented as they start to come up in the pose. It is helpful to come out of the pose very slowly, one vertebrate at a time, letting the head float up last.
If practicing yoga for its calm-inducing, stress-reduction, weight loss, flexibility-increasing and/or fitness maintenance benefits doesn’t strike your fancy, fret not – you don’t have to practice yoga for any of those reasons. If, however, you want to be a better lover, you may want to reconsider.
Inherent in the magic spell of yoga is its ability to calm you down, connect you to yourself, the present moment and those around you, and help you feel less reactive, aggressive and more open, loving and appreciative. Being a better lover involves shifting from a space of reactive defensiveness to receptive openness.
5 Ways Yoga Makes You A Better Lover
How yoga makes you a better lover
Relaxation
To be a good lover, we must move away from our fast-paced, high-stress state when we come home to our partner and families. Staying in a stressful state is dangerous as it leads to chronic stress, which can manifest as physical, mental and emotional pain down the road. You’ve probably known someone who’s had a breakdown, a hospital scare or an illness brought on and amplified by stress.
Yoga helps you relieve stress, as it focuses not only on physical poses that stretch and strengthen the body but also because it focuses on breathing, which counters cortisol (the stress chemical) released in the body. Anything you can do to release your stress will help you be more available to love your partner and enjoy his or her company.
Plus, to have good sex, you must know how to relax. It’s a physiological fact.
Giving AND Receiving
Yoga also teaches you how to give and receive. Practicing yoga can be very challenging, but also extremely rewarding. Understanding the balance between pushing yourself to your limits and easing off to receive the benefits of relaxation during a yoga class is similar to the play between giving and receiving between partners.
Couples yoga is especially beneficial, as most poses require each partner to communicate and work together before either partner can experience the true benefits of the pose. While understanding balance for yourself is a big win, learning how to understand it between you and your partner is a relationship saver.
Strength
It’s hard to argue that yoga does not make you strong. Many a muscly man walks into a yoga class skeptical about such “sissy” workouts, only to leave drenched in his own sweat, appalled at how hard yoga actually can be and somewhat ashamed that his big muscles couldn’t power him through the same poses petite ladies all around him naturally and effortlessly complete.
Besides the physical strength and tone yoga can provide to the body (and the eyes of your partners), the emotional and mental strength yoga builds must not be neglected. Emotionally, yoga makes you less reactive and more receptive, less assuming and more questioning, less freaking out and more calm and in control.
Oh, and women, it also helps you tone up your pelvic floor muscles, which happens to be one component of experiencing better orgasm.
Connection
Practicing yoga by yourself also strengthens your connection to your Self and your spirit. There is nothing religious about yoga in and of itself, but you can certainly feel more connected to God, Buddha, Allah, Jesus, Mohammed, Abraham, whoever.
Practicing yoga with your partner naturally makes you feel more connected to your partner. Besides the fact that you get a full session of yoga touching each other for the majority of the time, you get to experience gentle, relaxing and compassionate touch. For some couples, this is a rarity.
Focus & Self-control
Finally, yoga helps you increase your focus and self-control. What does this have to do with making you a better lover? Increasing your focus helps you perform better at work but also helps you pay more attention to your significant other. It helps you put down the phone and get rid of distractions so that you can better connect with your partner.
Increasing self-control comes from the mental and emotional benefits of yoga, but also a particular muscular engagement called mula bandha. Similar to a Kegel exercise, engaging mula bandha holds your energy in, rather than allowing it to flow out, if you get my gist men. Over time, this increased focus and self-control can account for longer and more enjoyable sack sessions.
Whether you’re looking to feel more connected to your partner, be a better person for yourself and others, increase strength and flexibility, decrease stress and anxiety or just have better sex, yoga can definitely help you out on all fronts.
Ashley Josephine Herzberger helps busy women relax. She integrates yoga, meditation, energy practices and self-care exercises to empower women to redefine and rediscover balance in their work and lives. She recently published her first ebook, available for free download on her website, “The Unconventional Beginner’s Guide to Yoga.” Check out her online yoga community for women at AshleyJosephine.com.
I can’t think of a better time of year to go outdoors with your significant other and enjoy Mother Natures incredible tapestry of colours and texture. From your backyard to your Longwood Gardens, plan an afternoon walk today and get out there and away from your computer, enjoying each others company!
We became members at Winterthur Gardens this year and have been there 2-3 times already. It’s not nearly as crowded as Longwood Gardens and in certain places, it feels as if you are Mr DuPont himself enjoying a quiet time together.
So stop procrastinating and get out there this weekend.
Partner Yoga For Couples at a Retreat Center near Philadelphia in West Chester
The past few Valentine’s day weekend, we decided to host a partner yoga for couples workshop at a retreat center near Philadelphia in West Chester called Temenos, which is about 40 minutes outside of the city. We were looking for a retreat space that was small, intimate and cozy since we didn’t want it to be a huge group. Partner yoga for couples is a very bonding and buoyant practice and it works well whether you are very athletic and a seasoned yoga practitioner or if you are out of shape or limited with injuries.
I am always pleasantly surprised by who shows up for our classes. When we first started to have our events, I thought it would be hippie, crunchy people that were really into the yoga lifestyle that would show up. I thought it would be people that attended yoga classes on a regular basis or people that had a regular spiritual practice such as Qigong or meditation. Instead, I find people that are more often than not without a regular practice and want to explore their spirituality and connect with their significant other as well.
We aim to present our classes and workshops as welcoming to yoga newbies ( or yoga virgins as we call them) and encourage beginners and the stiff and inflexible to come to our events. Some people, especially the guys, are a little intimidated and scared of yoga. They worry that they are going to end up wearing a loincloth or having to attempt to contort their bodies into ridiculous position a la Cirque Du Soleil.
We have had quite an array or people come into the class. We have had military guys, IT guys, a professional football player, construction guys, doctors, nurses and a few yoga teachers as well.
Instead, we start off each class with a grounding and centering exercise where we establish some communications guidelines and go over boundaries and pushing into other past our limits of comfort and flexibility. Then the next part of the retreat, we start to do some simple movements while seated on the floor. It’s usually a simple movement such as raising your arms together in devotion and then your hands our coming back in tandem together. I like to start off with a very simple pose so that it puts everyone at ease.
Often the next move after this is something that will make people laugh and giggle such as bicycle so that people can start warming up their bodies. We encourage people to be playful and creative with this movement and since their toes our interlocking at this point we encourage people to “make-out with their toes” so that people can start to feel more romantic towards each other.
We then usually go into more challenging poses which are some standing poses. Depending on how athletic the group is, we might do a more challenging pose which requires more core strength and flexibility. The couples are often a bit anxious on some of the balancing poses, especially those that are weight bearing and you are trusting your partner to hold all of your weight and not let you fall on the floor. This part of the class produces some adrenaline and confidence. Having a bit of danger and adventure for a couples help to heighten sexual arousal so we always include a bit of this.
Couples Yoga Moves for Beginners or Seasoned Yogis
Then we have a transitional restorative pose to help calm everyone and have them drop down into a more tranquil space. After the restorative pose, we go into the massage part of the class. The massage part of the class is more about intention and we don’t emphasize technique or skill so much.
After the massage part we have a nice juicy-spooning and cuddling shavasana and then we close the class and everyone usually is completely blissed out at this point. We send our students off and encourage them to have wine, herbal tea, soft music and candles so they can start in this peaceful state. Some people say it is like a tantra workshop but we don’t use that word to describe it since it has such a negative connotation these days and don’t want people to get the wrong idea.
For those looking for a marriage retreat in PA near Philadelphia there are so many beautiful locations within a short drive or train ride such as the Poconos.
Here are the factors you want to consider.
Distance – Do you want something that is convenient and just an hour or two drive away? Are you looking for something more remote that might end up being more affordable? Are you able to leave for your retreat at a time that you won’t get stuck in rush hour? Nothing kills googly eyes and coo-ing sounds like a bad traffic jam
Activities – Do you want to be really active with hiking, biking, yoga or swimming or are you content to just lounge around a fireplace and sleep until noon? Do you want the retreat to be structured with speakers and group workshops or do you want to be more independent and spontaneous. If it is a marriage retreat you will want to find plenty of activities that you will want to do together and not just go off and he is fishing the whole time while you are taking pilates classes.
Cost – Are you looking for something that is luxurious and not as conscious about saving money or do you need something that is more wallet-friendly? If you are more budget conscious then you can start subscribing to lists like Groupon or Living Social and see what kind of travel deals they have.
If you are more particular about a certain area or property then you can monitor terms like “Marriage Retreat PA” or “Poconos Getaway” on twitter alerts so that anytime this term gets mentioned on social media (often that happens because there is some kind of discount or offer involved) you will get these delivered to your inbox as one message instead of having to search for them every day.) I used this tactic when we were traveling to Las Vegas and was looking to see if there were any discounts that were being offered.
Adult Only – Are you looking to get away from the kids and want peace and quiet or are you going to bring the kids along and need lots of kid-friendly activities like swimming and arts and crafts? Is there child-care services on premises so that you can leave the noisy ones with them as the two of you have your couple time?
Amenities– Are you looking for something luxurious with all touches likes mints on your pillows or is something rustic and cozy (which will also mean lower-cost) more up your alley? Do you have to be at a place that has WIFI so you can stay connected or do you want to be unplugged and unbothered?
Couples Retreats in PA near Philadelphia
Weather – If the retreat is at a remote location, then you’ll have to factor bad weather ( especially in winter) could hinder your plans. Find out about how good or bad the roads are as well as the refund policy in case of inclement weather. If you are going in the middle of summer are there activities like swimming or classes indoors in case it gets too intense to hike around in 95 heat with humidity that feels like a wet blanket? If it is in the middle of winter, then make sure there are plenty of fun indoors activities so you don’t just feel like you have cabin fever.
