Published on: 3/1/2018IST

Yoga can amp up your sex life and give you the stamina you crave. You can work your pelvic floor muscles by zeroing in on your mula bandha (root lock), kandharasana (bridge pose), and the supta baddha konasana (reclining bound angle pose). Wash away fatigue and rejuvenate your body by practising poses like the balasana (child’s pose) and padmasana (lotus pose). Experience improved sex when you practice the upavistha konasana (sitting wide-legged straddle pose).

To rev up your sexual stamina and go the distance in bed, you need a body and mind that can keep up. Yoga can help you find those fresh reserves of energy by improving your strength and flexibility and working muscle groups that are engaged during sex. It can even ease stress and anxiety that could be wearing you down mentally. Plus, some positions and concepts like the mula bandha or the bridge pose are designed specifically to target the pelvic zone and the pelvic floor muscles, directly impacting your sexual experience and vitality. So why not get started with a yoga routine that can overhaul your sex life?

Mula Bandha (Root Lock): Yoga’s Answer To Kegels

You’ve probably heard of pelvic floor exercises or Kegels. Exercises designed to strengthen these muscles can improve your sexual experience and build your stamina in this department. Yoga too has its version of these exercises and they’re called “moola bandha” or “mula bandha.” Mula indicates the base of your torso or the perineum and mula bandha is connected to one of energy centers located on the spine (muladhara chakra).

Mula bandha helps you stretch your pelvic floor muscles and stimulates the area. It also improves circulation in the region and heightens your awareness of this zone. It can boost arousal, help control erections, and improve stamina and overall sexual function as well.¹

Finding this position may seem tricky since it isn’t a part of the body you can see. Here’s how you can engage in mula bandha.²

• Exhale fully and smoothly but slowly. As you do this, you should feel the pelvic floor even as you allow every last bit of the breath to leave your body.
• Contract or clench these muscles, engaging them against gravity.
• Exhale and release them fully, allowing them to go toward gravity.

Kandharasana (Bridge Pose): To Tone Pelvic Muscles And Boost Circulation To The Genitals

The bridge pose of yoga helps tone up the vagina and is not unlike a Kegel in many ways – the same pelvic muscles are engaged here too. It can help ease menstrual cramps, a real downer for sexual stamina in women trying to have sex close to or even during their period. Men too can benefit from the strengthening of the spine, lower back, and arms that this pose accomplishes.³

• Lie down on your back, knees bent, feet shoulder-distance apart.
• Slowly lift your buttocks off the ground, arching your back as you do this. Ensure the heels of your feet remain flat on the ground.
• Use your hands to support your lower back. Your head, neck, shoulders, upper arms, and feet will support the weight of your entire body.
• Hold this position as long as you can without straining yourself.
• Lower yourself down gently to the starting position.

Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining Bound Angle Pose): To Relax Pelvic Floor Muscles And Give You Energy

The supta baddha konasana gives your groin, inner thighs and hips a thorough stretch and improves flexibility. It also helps relax your pelvic floor muscles. Plus, it relieves tension in your lower back, improves breathing, and opens up the chest. This boosts your stamina and eases fatigue as well.⁴ Your blood flow to the pelvic area also improves – and with it comes added energy when you’re having sex.⁵:

• Lie down on your back, knees bent, and feet together.
• Breathe in, relaxing the pelvic floor. Feel your hip and abdominal muscle (transversus abdominis) relax. Allow your knees to drop open at the sides of your body.
• Breathe out as you bring your knees back to the start position, pulling your abdominal muscle in and lifting your pelvic floor. Accentuate that muscle contraction toward the end of your exhaling.

Upavistha Konasana (Sitting Wide-Legged Straddle Pose): For Better Flexibility And Strength

This pose is designed to stretch the back and inside of your legs, improving flexibility, strengthening the spine, and releasing the groin area.⁶

• Begin seated in dandasana or staff pose, with your legs stretched out in front of you and your arms extended by the side of your torso so your palms are flat on the floor.
• Now lean your torso back a little so you shift your weight a bit on your hands. Now gently open and lift your legs to form a 90-degree angle, your pubis being the apex. Widen another 10 to 20 degrees as you press your hands into the floor and slightly slide your buttocks forward.
• Rotate the thighs out so that your outer thighs are pinned to the floor and your knee caps point to the ceiling. Feel the stretch right to your heels and soles.
• Walk your hands ahead so they are between your legs, keeping them extended. Keep your front torso nice and long and ensure you do not bend at the waist. The movement must come from your hip joints.
• Each time you exhale, try and increase the forward bend a little so you feel a good stretch at the back of your leg. Hold for a minute or longer if you can.
• Inhale, releasing the pose and coming back up.

Balasana (Child’s Pose): To Ease Fatigue And Stress

This is a gentle stretch for your lower body and also relieves fatigue and stress.⁷ This is how you do the asana⁸:

• Kneel down, keeping knees hip-width apart. Let your big toes touch as you rest on your heels.
• Leave your hands, palms facing up, on either side of your torso.
• Inhale as you raise your arms upward.
• Exhale as you bring them down, ending with them resting in front of your body, your eyes lingering on the floor.
• Do this inhalation and exhalation movement five times.

Padmasana (Lotus Pose): To Reduce Tension And Increase Stamina

The lotus pose opens up your hips, calms your mind, aligns the spine, and eases muscular tension and fatigue. It can also help keep your joints and muscles supple.⁹

• Sit on the ground on a mat with your legs stretched ahead of you, your spine erect.
• Bend your right leg at the knee, placing that leg onto your left thigh so that the soles of your feet point up and your heel is as close to your abdomen as you can manage.
• Bend your left leg at the knee, bringing it onto your right thigh in the same manner.
• Now put your hands into a mudra of your choice. Try the classic chin mudra, where you bring the index finger and thumb together to form a circle, touching them together lightly. Extended the rest of your fingers. Ensure your spine is erect throughout.
• Inhale and exhale deeply with long breaths.

Urdhva Mukha Svansana (Upward Facing Dog): So You Don’t Tire Quickly

Boost blood flow to your pelvic region and strengthen your arms, wrists, and spine with this energizing asana. It can also relieve a backache that is tiring you out quickly in bed.¹⁰Here’s how it is done¹¹:

• Lie face down on your yoga mat, so your legs are fully extended and the tops of your feet touch the floor. Place your palms in line with and below the shoulders, letting your elbows bend.
• Breathe in, pressing the palms of your hand into the floor, letting your arms extend, and raising your torso and thighs off the ground at the same time.
• Your hips should soften a bit downward even as you lift up through to your sternum.
• Your shoulders should be pulled gently back away from the ears. Ensure that your neck has a neutral alignment.
• Let your gaze drift up but don’t tilt your head or neck.
• Hold, inhaling and exhaling for about 3 to 5 breath cycles.

Marjaryasana/Bitilasana (Cat/Cow Pose): For Circulation, Strength, And Relaxation

When you do the cow pose, you give your back and internal organs a massage and strengthen the spine, giving you ample support as you maintain a position in bed.¹²The cat movement helps relax your mind and also boosts circulation. Both of these can help you last longer in bed.¹³ Here’s how you can do this flow¹⁴:

• Go down on all fours on a mat or the floor
• From a kneeling on all fours position, line your hips up so they are above your knees and your shoulders are aligned above your wrists.
• Breathe in as you arch your back and raise your chest and sitting bones up toward the ceiling for the cow pose.
• Exhale, rounding your back, tucking in your chin and the pelvis to achieve the cat pose.

3/1/2018 | | Permalink