Sure we’ve all heard the news on Sting and his tantric yoga “sexploits”—and let us not forget the acro-yoga type contraptions of Tommy Lee and Pamela—but how about for us regular folk?

What do we stand to gain by extending our yoga practice to the bedroom?

Here are five ways to strengthen ties with your partner and have better sex with yoga:

1)  Strength—Standing postures, standing balance and arm balance postures build strength in the body to better hold your partner up in the shower, against a wall, or anywhere else your imagination and spontaneity take you.

Try the following postures at home to build up strength:

Try the following postures to lengthen your hamstrings, open your hips and bend over backwards for better sex:

3) Mula Bandha (root lock)—Extend the length of your orgasm, create a tighter fit and prolong your erection using this energy lock located at the perineum and anal sphincter. Much like doing Kegel work, the mula bandha is used to engage, protect and deepen work by the pelvis.

How to engage your mula bandha: In a flowing yoga class, such as Vinyasa, you would move through the class with this lock engaged at about 50 percent of what you are capable which helps to stabilize the pelvic bowl. Try to control peeing mid-stream by employing your mula bandha. Lifting the pelvic floor functions to stop and start the flow in a manner similar to Kegels. These same muscles and lift for women are used when squeezing the penis or anything else once inside the vagina. For women, engaging these muscles while thrusting or rotating will help to add more friction and stimulation to the clitoris.

For men, engaging the mula bandha will hold back the need to ejaculate right away (without thoughts of Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day). It will also keep the mood in the right place.

Position to work this bandha in: Down Dog

Additional exercises you can do to strengthen the mula bandha anywhere include counting bandha builders: Start by working with your breath and engaging your bandha to the count of three, then release to the count of three. Next step, breathe and try four and four. For each new breath try adding increments of one until you are able to build up to a count of 10 and 10. Then put all that hard work into action!

4) Bonding—through shared experience. Take classes together, build up a sweat and focus on your form to build confidence in each other’s bodies and in your relationship. Sharing your experiences post class creates a connection on a deeper level, as does mutual participation in healthy and new activities.

Try taking a class together and hold hands during savasana (corpse pose for deep relaxation).

5) Intimacy—through partner yoga! Partner yoga is a way to experience yoga with hands on each other. Each pose maintains contact with some body part. In each posture partners can support and appreciate the connection between one another and in some of these postures work with better eye contact as well.

Try: Partner Boat (below) or Double Bound Angle (featured above).

(Kisses, hugs and whispers of naughty little nothings are welcome here.)

The old adage remains true: the couple that plays together stays together. Spice things up and step out of your routine by making a yoga date, hitting a class or the bedroom floor. Keep your plans open to see where the mood takes you.

Namaste,
Sinda

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Editor:  Lynn Hasselberger