It’s no secret that our culture represses sexuality. So it’s no surprise that after years of harvesting repressed sexual emotions, one might find that they quite literally flow out of you. Especially when you are doing something that is meant to open you up, like for instance while practicing your asanas.

The mula bandha, or the root-lock, is one of three interior locks in Yoga. Physically it is almost the same thing as a kegel exercise for a woman, but with guidance from your instructor, coupled with specific breathing patterns, slow breathing patterns, you may find yourself experiencing some kind of arousal. Over time, these types of exercise can enable a woman to not only control her  orgasms, but the level of  their intensity can increase as well.

Enter the Yogasm. That’s right, women are claiming, much more frequently and openly now than they have in the past, to have full blown orgasms during their Yoga practice. While rumors of the Yogasm have run rampant for years, recently the discussion has become the topic du jour.

Sex therapists are also closing in on the phenomenon. “It’s another way a woman can bring herself to orgasm without touching herself”, claims sexologist Dr. Jeffre TallTrees.

In fact many women claim to have the elusive Yogasm during their Bikram Yoga, or Hot Yoga Classes. Bikram Yoga is done for ninety minutes, in a room heated to a minimum of one hundred and five degrees Fahrenheit, and a twenty six position cycle is performed in that time frame. You are heating and stretching the body.

According to BikramYoga.com this heated exercise makes your oxygenated blood move systematically to one hundred percent of your body, into each and every organ. You build pressure and cut off blood supply. When the pressure is released it creates a “lock-gate” effect, and the blood comes rushing back. For some participants these effects, remember they are happening in each and every part of the body, cause females to have orgasms. Especially during “feel-sexy” poses, like the camel pose.

An anonymous woman in NYC spoke to the Daily Beast about her recent Yogasm during class. She says “I was in lotus pose, focusing on breathing, and lifting the muscles of my pelvic floor,” it was then that her instructor came over and pressed his body against her back to better synchronize his breathing with hers. “I was tingling all over”.

This story makes sense, it had a lot to do with outside stimulation. The true phenomenon, I think, occurs when climax is reached working all by yourself. It’s an extremely personal thing that occurs, and the possibility of it happening doesn’t seem too far fetched, especially if you feel sexy during practice. You are all loose and sweaty, and Yoga is extremely graceful. Even when you are sitting and concentrating like the woman mentions above, added to the concentration of the pelvis, or the mula bandha and hello, of course it’s possible.

For all of you male Yogis out there don’t feel bad. While an in class orgasm may not be possible for you, you are surely reaping the sexual benefits as well. Even though men don’t have kegal muscles, the true key to practicing mula bandha is to “isolate the perineum, a crucial area of sexual pleasure for women and men”, says Allan Finger, founder of I.S.H.T.A (Integrated Science of Hatha, Tantra, and Ayurveda) Yoga. “When a man draws his sexual energy in and up toward his navel, he increases his ability to prolong his stamina in the bedroom”. 

Of course there are many skeptics out there, who question the validity of the Yogasm, but I think it’s real. Yoga improves your life in all aspects, why not this one as well. Though it may still be a bit taboo to talk about, that doesn’t mean it is not true.

Peace Y’all

Jenn