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6 Yoga Poses to Improve Your Sex Life
By Isadora Baum for Men’s Health.
Hate yoga? Well, there’s a pretty good reason why you might want to give it a shot: yoga can actually improve your sex life, according to health experts.
“Because yoga helps people develop a sense of calmness, strength, stamina, agility, knowledge of their own bodies, and the ability to remain in the present moment, and make small adjustments, it can greatly enhance sexual performance and confidence, regardless of which asana (poses) are practice,” says sex therapist Gracie Landes, LMFT, CST.
What’s more, research shows that practicing an hour of yoga daily is linked to prolonging ejaculation and enhancing overall sexual performance. That’s because certain yoga poses can work out your kegel muscles (yes, guys — you have them, too), which can help strengthen your erection and help you last longer in bed. (There’s also a possibility yoga can increase testosterone, thus enhancing libido, according to the book The Science of Yoga: The Risks and Rewards, but more research needs to be done to determine this.)
Hit up a yoga class with your partner and rush back home for some shower sex. You’d be surprised how much more flexible (and aroused) you’ll both be. Here are a few poses to get you started.
Better known as cat and cow, these movements tone the hip and pelvis, increasing blood flow to those areas and strengthening the muscles that support your genitals, which can lead to better sexual function and performance.
“Set up on hands and knees. In cat, press through the hands and round the back, paying attention to turn the sit bones to the back of the thighs. Move into cow, by tilting the pelvis and dropping the belly towards the floor. Repeat 10 times,” says Megan Kearney, a yoga instructor with Yoga Medicine®.
2)
“Cobra is one of the best spine and core-strengthening postures in yoga,” says yoga instructor Dean Pohlman, the founder of Man Flow Yoga. When you have a strong core, you’re able to thrust and have more control over your pelvis, which can make for better performance, says sexologist Lawrence A. Siegel, CSE, AASECT.
To do cobra, lie on your stomach, and place your hands under your shoulders with your elbows pointing straight back, close to your sides. “Spread your fingers wide and relax palms under your shoulders. Engage and rotate thighs inward so kneecaps point straight down and all toes are touching the floor. Squeeze your big toes, ankles, knees, and inner thighs toward each other,” says Pohlman.
Press your pelvis into the floor and inhale as you use your core to lengthen the spine forward and slightly lift your chest away from the floor. Pull shoulder blades down and toward each other, and use your hands to pull (not push) your body forward and up. Hold the posture for 30-120 seconds, for one to two sets.
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“This pose is an effective, beginner-friendly yoga posture for developing and improving pelvic floor muscles,” Pohlman says.
Sit on the floor, bend your knees, and place your feet flat on the floor, with heels 1.5 to 2 feet away from the hips. Lightly grip your knees with your hands, sit as upright as possible, and lean back slightly, says Pohlman.
“Keeping your chest lifted and your torso still, squeeze your hip flexors and abdominal muscles toward each other to engage core. Let go of knees, and reach arms forward and up, palms up,” he says.
Continue to firmly engage your abdominal muscles and hip flexors, and slowly lift your feet off the floor and straighten your legs. Pull the sternum toward the ceiling, while keeping the spine neutral. Hold the posture, inhaling as you lengthen the spine, and exhaling as you tighten the core. Hold for 30-90 seconds, for one to two sets.
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Bridge pose “opens the chest and upper back, increasing circulation and respiration,” says Landes. It also opens and stretches the pelvic region and tones the legs, as “squeezing your glutes together helps to improve ejaculation and blood flow in the genital area,” Pohlman says.
Lie on your back and rest your arms at your sides, palms facing up. Bend your knees and plant your feet hip-width apart, no more than a few inches away from glutes. Tighten your abs and engage the core as you prepare to lift your hips.
“On an exhale, lift your hips slowly but firmly away from the floor. Squeeze the hips, glutes, and core to form a straight line from shoulders to knees. Reach your tailbone toward your knees to lengthen the spine,” Pohlman says. Hold the posture, inhaling as you lift your hips higher, and exhaling as you tighten your core. Hold for 30-120 seconds, for one to two sets.
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