Friday, August 19, 2011

Yoga for Better and Great Sex


In ancient times yogis practiced celibacy in an effort to channel all of their energy toward spiritual advancement. It kinda makes you wonder how these devilishly wise guys could have gotten it so wrong. Today yoga lovers are finding that more time on the mat means more—and steamier—time spent reveling in the pleasures of their tightly toned bodies without any of those tantric contortions you may have heard of. To take a walk on yoga's carnal side, add these easy moves to your routine. Or just do them by themselves to turn up the heat in your bedroom.
Bringing Flexy Back
Having more flexible muscles and joints definitely helps you assume those compromising positions and hold them comfortably too. Opening your hips in particular increases your range of motion in the nether regions, allowing for more direct stimulation in just the right spots. After all, one micro-movement in missionary is sometimes all it takes to ring the bell.
Hot yoga: Bound angle pose (baddha konasana) 
In a seated position, bring the soles of your feet together and grab your ankles, allowing your knees to relax toward the floor. Then hinge forward from your hips as far as is comfortable, keeping your spine long and back flat. Hold for 10 to 15 slow breaths.
Perfect Your Pelvic Prowess
You've likely heard of Kegels and maybe your yoga teacher even talks about engaging your mula bandha—different terms for the same strengthening move that works one key muscle that increases your ability to engage and lift the pelvic floor. That brings you more control and sensation down there when you want it.
Hot yoga: Root lock (mula bandha)
You can do this seated or standing by simply contracting and then releasing the muscle located between your pubic bone and tailbone, as if you wanted to stop the flow of urine. You can even do this at your desk, squeezing and releasing, say, 10 times, at three workday intervals, priming the pump for evening engagements.
Yogini Staying Power
Vigorous, shake-the-headboard sex is a strenuous workout. "The better shape you are in, the more pleasure you have with sex and the longer you can do it," says Kimberly Fowler, owner and founder of Yoga and Spinning Studio in Venice, California.
Hot yoga: Yoga pushups
Start in the plank position, arms extended. Engage your abs as you lower your body slowly to low pushup (chaturanga). Stop when your torso is about 2 to 3 inches away from the floor. Keep your elbows in, shoulders away from your ears, and collarbone broad, as you hold there for five breaths then lower to the floor. Repeat three times, building up to five.
Reboot to Knock Boots
A killer day at work can leave you too beat to boink. But a few minutes of nonstrenuous yoga when you get home can turn another night with Netflix into an erotic evening entwined with your mate.
Hot yoga: Legs-up-the-wall pose (viparita karani) 
Change into some yoga-friendly clothes and take 5 minutes for this pose. Lie on your back with one hip touching a wall, then swing your legs up and turn your body to face the wall. Rest your legs against it from heels to butt, arms at your side or alongside your ears. Bring your awareness to your breath and just follow it without changing it for 5 minutes. This position allows more oxygen-rich blood to flow from your lower body back up to the heart and the brain, so you'll get up reenergized, refocused, and ready to tumble.
Breath of Desire
While most poses simply help prepare you for a libidinous rendezvous, this breathing exercise can actually heighten your pleasure in flagrante.
Hot yoga: Breath of fire (kapalabhati pranayama)
While you're getting busy, add rapid, forceful, and rhythmic breaths through the nose with the mouth closed. Don't worry if your partner thinks you're hyperventilating; he'll forget all about it when you reach a spine-tingling climax.
Double Your Pleasure 
If your man does yoga too, sex can improve exponentially. Practicing together is like foreplay, says Jacquie Noelle Greaux, creator of the Better Sex Through Yoga video. "You start to breathe together, sweat together, and move together. It gets your energy synced up." Some mat work just might make him more sex-imaginative as well. "Yoga sparks creativity," Fowler says. "[In bed], women don't want bang-boom from a man, they want an explorer—and yoga invites you to explore."