I just got back from another blissful hour and a half of yoga. It’s a discipline that has become, for me, an addiction. Sure it’s trendy and, according to InStyle, is part of the workout regimen of choice for countless celebrities. But I like to think that I do it for its more practical benefits — strengthening, toning, relaxing. People who rave about yoga usually boast all these qualities of the practice. It is, they say, a miracle-worker for the mind and the body. And that’s true. But it’s also the best thing to happen to my sex life since, well, since my boyfriend.
During class today, as I lay in “happy baby” pose — a groin stretch that is said to look like a baby in a crib but in my opinion looks more like a porn-movie material — I couldn’t help but think that the sexual benefits of yoga too often go overlooked. Now is the ultimate yogi lifestyle celibacy is essential, but I’m not about to give up sex for yoga. They go too well together. Yoga, at its most basic, is about breathing and stretching. Neither of which may seem very sexual at first, but take a look at some sex-position illustrations in your Human Sexuality book and then tell me flexibility has nothing to do with it.
Clearly I am not the first person to discover this match made in heaven. There are web sites galore that elaborate on how yoga compliments sex. One of my personal favorites, www.usefulyoga.net, explains in detail how yoga enhances the pleasurable sensations of intercourse. According to this site, “Proper breathing is important in lovemaking … satisfaction and fulfillment can be enhanced. [Ejaculation] can be delayed by yogic breathing during intercourse.” In other words, the more control you have over your breathing, the longer you can delay an orgasm and sustain all the pleasurable physical sensations that lead up to it.
Often in class I think that maybe some of the positions were created solely for the bedroom. The useful yoga website, which is maintained by a yoga center in Kerala, India, explains, “It is especially important for women to learn to contract and relax the muscles from hip to knees. When practiced regularly this helps to condition the vaginal wall[s] and to tighten them, to bring them under control so [women] can use them at will during intercourse, to increase sensitivity [and] give maximum pleasure to both the partners.”
Of course the stretching that takes place in a yoga class drastically improves flexibility. And flexibility is what turns those Human Sex illustrations into reality. Even if you don’t have the time to devote to a yoga class, you can buy a video. Online you can purchase the “Better Sex Through Yoga” or “Better Sex Through Yoga: Gay Men” video series. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
But my most convincing argument comes from watching how my boyfriend has responded to this new addition to my life. The first time I told him I wanted to try yoga all I got in response was a loud cackle. Less than a year later he was yoga’s biggest advocate. As I was searching for this week’s column topic, it was he who said “you should definitely write about yoga.” Apparently he’s looking out for the sexual pleasure of all his fellow Northwesterners.
But don’t take our word for it. Try it yourself. And feel free to send thank-you gifts.