Everyone does yoga for their own reasons. Some want to be flexible, some want to become more spiritual, and some people do it because it’s a great workout. Whatever your reasons are, the fact is yoga offers multi-fold benefits and a greater sex drive just happens to be one of them. So here’s one more reason to get on the mat and get your yoga on.
If you’re thinking the connection between yoga and your libido is too far fetched, you may want to consider the facts again. A 2009 study in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found that yoga can improve sexual desire, arousal, orgasm, and overall sexual satisfaction by increasing circulation to the pelvic region, activating and engaging the body’s core region, sharpening our focus, and increasing oxygen levels in the body.
People mostly don’t talk about their sex lives but deep inside, you wish you could do more to spruce things up. Candles and chocolates can set the mood but when it comes to performance, it’s completely up to you. So here are 7 yoga poses that can boost your libido and make sure you always come out a winner. But remember that all good things take time and effort. Practice these poses regularly and you’ll slowly see how things start getting better for you.
1. Cat-Cow Pose
Start on your hands and knees with your wrists directly under your shoulders, and your knees directly under your hips. Point your fingertips to the top of your mat.
Place your shins and knees hip-width apart. Center your head in a neutral position and soften your gaze downward.
Begin by moving into Cow Pose: Inhale as you drop your belly towards the mat. Lift your chin and chest, and gaze up toward the ceiling.
Broaden across your shoulder blades and draw your shoulders away from your ears. Next, move into Cat Pose: As you exhale, draw your belly to your spine and round your back toward the ceiling. The pose should look like a cat stretching its back.
Release the crown of your head toward the floor, but don’t force your chin to your chest. Inhale, coming back into Cow Pose, and then exhale as you return to Cat Pose.
2. Bound Angle Pose
Begin seated in Staff Pose (Dandasana) with your spine straight and your legs extended in front of you on the mat. Rest your arms at your sides with your palms on the mat.
Bend your knees and draw your heels in toward your pelvis. Press the soles of your feet together and let your knees drop open to both sides. It’s important to allow your knees to drop open only as far as they will go. Never press on your knees in this pose!
Clasp your big toes with your first two fingers. Press the outer edges of your feet firmly together, and also press them firmly into the floor.
Sit up straight. Extend through the length of your entire spine through the crown of your head.
Gaze softly straight ahead, or at the tip of your nose.
To release the pose, first release the clasp from your toes. Then, gently lift your knees and extend your legs once again along the floor in Staff Pose (Dandasana).
3. Pigeon Pose
Start on your hands and knees, bring your right knee forward and place it more or less behind your right wrist. Place your ankle somewhere in front of your left hip. The more your lower leg is parallel to the front of the mat, the more intense the hip opener.
Slide your left leg back, straighten the knee and point the toes. Make sure your leg is behind your body and not drawing outwards and your heel is pointing up to the ceiling.
Draw your legs in towards each other to help keep your hips square. Gently lower yourself down and use some support under your right buttock if needed, to keep your hips level.
On an inhale lift your upper body, come on your fingertips, hands shoulder width apart, draw your navel in, tailbone down and open your chest.
On an exhale walk your hands forward on the fingertips and lower your upper body to the floor. You can rest your forearms and forehead on the mat.
Stay here for 5 breaths or longer and on an exhale try to release the tension in your right hip. Balance your weight on both legs.
Come out of the pose by pushing back through the hands and lifting the hips, move the leg back and come on all fours.
4. Eagle Pose
Begin standing in Mountain Pose (Tadasana), with your arms at your sides. Bend your knees. Balance on your right foot and cross your left thigh over your right. Fix your gaze at a point in front of you. Hook the top of your left foot behind your right calf. Balance for one breath.
Beginners can omit the foot hook and cross the leg over the top of the standing leg, instead, resting the toes gently on the floor.
Extend your arms straight in front of your body. Drop your left arm under your right. Bend your elbows, and then raise your forearms perpendicular to the floor. Wrap your arms and hands, and press your palms together (or as close as you can get them).
Lift your elbows and reach your fingertips toward the ceiling. Keep your shoulder blades pressing down your back, toward your waist.
If your palms don’t touch yet, press the backs of your hands together, instead, or hold onto a strap.
Square your hips and chest to the front wall. Draw your belly in and up.
Gaze at the tips of your thumbs. Breathe smoothly and evenly. Hold for up to one minute, focusing on your breath and keeping your gaze fixed and soft. Gently unwind your arms and legs and return to Tadasana. Repeat on the opposite side.
5. Bridge Pose
Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Extend your arms along the floor, palms flat. Press your feet and arms firmly into the floor. Exhale as you lift your hips toward the ceiling.
Draw your tailbone toward your pubic bone, holding your buttocks off the floor. Do not squeeze your glutes or flex your buttocks.
Roll your shoulders back and underneath your body. Clasp your hands and extend your arms along the floor beneath your pelvis. Straighten your arms as much as possible, pressing your forearms into the mat. Reach your knuckles toward your heels.
Keep your thighs and feet parallel — do not roll to the outer edges of your feet or let your knees drop together. Press your weight evenly across all four corners of both feet. Lengthen your tailbone toward the backs of your knees.
Hold for up to one minute. To release, unclasp your hands and place them palms-down alongside your body. Exhale as you slowly roll your spine along the floor, vertebra by vertebra. Allow your knees to drop together.
6. Downward Dog Pose
Start on your hands and knees. Form a table such that your back forms the table top and your hands and feet form the legs of the table.
As you breathe out, lift the hips up, straightening the knees and elbows, forming an inverted V-shape with the body.
Hands are shoulder width apart, feet are hip width apart and parallel to each other. Toes point straight ahead.
Press your hands into the ground. Widen through the shoulder blades. Keep the neck lengthened by touching the ears to the inner arms.
Hold the downward dog pose and take long deep breaths. Look towards the navel. Exhale. Bend the knees, return to table pose. Relax.
7. Seated Wide-Angle Forward Bend
Sit on the edge of a firm blanket with your legs extended in front of you in Staff Pose (Dandasana). Place your hands on the floor behind your body and lean your torso back slightly. Then open your legs as wide as it is comfortable.
Press your hands firmly into the floor and gently bring your buttocks forward along the floor, helping to widen the legs even further. Work toward opening your legs to a 90-degree angle, or even wider.
Keep the tops of your kneecaps and your toes pointing straight up toward the ceiling. Flex your feet and strongly engage your thigh muscles, pressing your legs down toward the floor. Reach out through your heels.
With your spine long and straight, begin to walk your hands forward between your legs. Maintain the length of your front torso; do not let your back round. You might only walk your hands an inch or two forward, and that is fine.
Continue to increase your forward bend until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, but do not push it too far. If your spine rounds or if you feel any pinching pain, ease up.
As you come deeper into the pose, reach your arms to the sides and clasp your big toes by making a loop with your thumbs and first two fingers. Bend your elbows out to the sides. Keep the front of your torso long. Gaze forward and place your chin on the mat.
Hold for up to three minutes. Gently walk your hands back toward your body, bringing your torso upright while keeping your spine long. Bend your knees and bring your legs back together in Staff Pose.
