BUILDING BONDS OF INTIMACY AND TRUST WHILE GETTING HEALTHIER

Couple's Yoga: A Great Way to Heat Up Your Relationship,  by Maryellen Grady


On your next anniversary or just a regular Friday night give a gift that will make a lasting difference in your relationship--a couple's night at a yoga studio or a series of studio practices for couples. Some yoga studios have special workshops for couples which include soft lights, music and sensual massage. No prior yoga experience is usually required. Try a date-night class and you both will probably enjoy it so much you will want to sign up for a series of couple's classes.

Benefits of Couple's Yoga

Partner or couples yoga where two people work together in various yoga postures is not a new concept, but it is a growing trend of the past few years. The majority of yoga students in the U.S. are women. Couple's yoga is the perfect invitation for more men to enjoy the amazing benefits of Hatha Yoga on the body as well as on the relationship. Men find that couple's yoga gives them an opportunity to be more sensitive without embarrassment. Men also find that the combination of muscle-toning and stretching has a terrific effect on their sex life.

As a couple practices yoga together, they will at times alternate assisting each other and supporting the other's yoga postures.  At other times they will work together with equal input to create new postures that can only be done by a couple.

The benefits of couple's yoga classes are that they can help you reconnect or find a new level of intimacy. They are a unique and healthy way to spend time with someone you love. The result can be a deeper personal connection which helps build more trust. As each participant learns to let go. the couple begins to explore spiritual levels of the practice. They build on each other's energy which contributes to a better understanding of their relationship dynamics.   Yoga removes the everyday distractions that often prevent a couple from focusing on each other.

The increased vigor and stamina that comes from both the poses and the breathing exercises will be a joyous side effect in renewed passionate lovemaking.  Physically speaking, yoga eliminates problems that can get in the way of complete sexual pleasure  like tight hamstrings, back pain, muscle pulling or cramping or even stress and hypertension.  Couple's yoga has many unexpected benefits in every area of your individual and shared lives.


The Benefits of The Breathing Exercises  So Crucial to Yoga

Breathing exercises done in tandem are part of couple's yoga.  Most likely the first effect you will notice is that it's been a while since you drew in an unstressed, slow, complete cleansing breath. Then you mindfully and slowly exhale it through your nostrils while you release not just your stress, worries and other negative feelings such as anger, but the toxins and impurities we breathe in every day. This breathing practice of breathing in brings vitality and replenishing energy.  You not only might find yourself reading a a good book while waiting in a long line at the post office instead of looking at your watch in irritation, you might let a few of the Universe's other children in a hurry get in front of you Concentration and focus ar thereby improved. Your stress level will be so low, and this is not a guarantee but it a probability, you might find yourself blessing the driver who cut you off instead of yelling or gesturing. hour traffic. Read some first-person experiences in Yoga Journal, if you doubt it.

Try the Microcosmic Orbit for couples. This bonding position is nearly cosmic in the way it allows two people to feel as if they are one. Begin by sitting back to back with your partner with your legs crossed in a comfortable manner. Place your hands on your knees with your palms up. Begin deep breathing from your abdomen with your tongue placed on the roof of your mouth. Focus attention on your abdomen. As you inhale, visualize your breath rising up your back and over the crown of the head to the third eye center on the forehead. As you exhale, the breath flows down the front of the body, down under the pelvis and rises again up the back with the new inhalation. Your breaths will fall into rhythm with each other and feel as though they are one.

Try A Posture With Your Partner Now or Tonight

Here's a simple couple's yoga posture that will help open your spine and loosen the hips. It is also good for fun and play. Sit and face your partner with your legs stretched straight out in front of you to meet your partner's. Grab hands and gently pull each other back and forth.

More Benefits From Couples Yoga

Some couples feel that after practicing yoga together they have more of an ability to communicate with more understanding, clarity and sensitivity.  Others say it has sparked a new romance in their relationship,  and put a flame under things in the bedroom. The couple begins to find one another more attractive or desirable. 

Ambiance is important. Do your yoga some days by candlelight and with soft music. Remember to use plenty of touch and massage.  Celebrate your relationship as you do your yoga postures and poses that are a kind of cosmic spiritual dance the more advanced you get.