Couples Yoga: The ‘Why’ & ‘How’ On Yoga With Your Partner

Every year, over a million individuals across the world, say “om” to each other after their yoga practice, and for good reason: the relaxing, toning exercise can be a fantastic retreat from the stresses of daily life, while also developing flexibility and strength.

The advantages go well beyond having chiseled arms and powerful glutes. According to research, practising yoga can assist with everything from curing sleeplessness to avoiding illnesses like diabetes.

Yoga has always been a solitary pursuit. It’s a chance to stretch, breathe, and concentrate on your mat for the moment. However, practising yoga with another person, whether a friend, partner or significant other, may offer its own set of advantages.

This practice, often known as couples yoga or partner yoga, allows two people to bond to one another through supported postures. Practising couple yoga poses may have a far-reaching positive impact on your relationship, from expanding your levels of trust to improving your communication.

Doing yoga with someone you trust and are intimate with is an entirely different experience, and it may help your relationship. This is why, in this blog, we’ll go over some yoga postures that you should practices with your spouse to not only feel closer but to also rediscover the passion and intimacy in your relationship. 

However, before we delve into the popular couples yoga poses, let’s first understand the purpose of couples yoga and its benefits. 

Purpose Of Partner Yoga

Couples yoga positions are designed to help you deepen and broaden your yoga practice (in more ways than one!). While practising couple yoga poses, your muscles relax and stretch, your partner’s resistance keeps your limbs in place. You’ll be able to explore new poses and find deeper expressions of old ones thanks to your partner’s assistance. Putting your body in the hands of another person will push you both physically and emotionally. Working together fosters connection and puts your trustworthiness to the test.

5 Benefits of Couples Yoga

1. Enhance Your Relationship Satisfaction

Even just thinking about going to a couples yoga class with your partner can make you feel better about your relationship. 

According to studies, couples who participate in new and demanding activities together see an increase in the quality of their relationship as well as romantic attraction. Couples yoga positions can also help to refresh and restore a relationship because of the intimacy and collaborative posing. Couples can have fun while slowing down, spending quality time, and sharing a meaningful experience by learning new skills together. 

Yoga also cultivates mindfulness, which has been related to happier relationships in various research and studies. For example, increased mindfulness, described as “an open attention to and awareness of the present moment,” was linked to improved relationship satisfaction in a 2016 study published in the Journal of Human Sciences and Extension. 

Being present in the moment while breathing and posing with your partner can renew your relationship and make you both happier.

2. Pump Up The Intimacy & Sex Life

Yoga for couples can help with both arousal and sexual satisfaction. Partner yoga, according to a Loyola University Health System research, can benefit couples who are experiencing sexual dysfunction. 

Couples yoga isn’t sexual in nature, so keep that in mind. It’s a type of yoga in which two people work together to coordinate their breathing, postures, and movements. However, because it necessitates new degrees of trust, communication, and connection, this can deepen intimacy.

Increased communication through touch and movement is one reason yoga may improve your sex life. Couples that are out of sync, distant, or disengaged, for example, can have conflict in their relationships. The act of moving together in couples yoga might help couples feel more in sync. 

Yoga has been proved to increase sex drive, and some couples’ therapists are now including partner yoga in their counselling sessions to assist couples to enhance their sex lives and build healthier relationships.

3. Build Trust & Improve Communication

To create the poses in a couples yoga session, you must rely on and lean on your partner the entire time (both literally and metaphorically! ), as well as communicate verbally and nonverbally. This necessitates trust, support, and, above all, vulnerability. 

Physical touch may be a language unto itself, a method to express deep feelings and convey a sense of nurture without using words. Human contact can communicate to another person that they are noticed, appreciated, cared for, loved, welcomed, valued, deserving, and safe.

Moreover, according to a study published by the British Psychological Society, synchronised nonverbal movement, such as that found in couples yoga’s rhythmic breathing and posture, can help couples feel more successfully attuned to one other.

According to the study, mirroring (matching your partner’s movements) can aid to improve empathy and intimacy. Since partners must rely on one another to stay balanced and strong in postures, communication can improve. Moreover, as participants must be totally involved in the present and in the motions, the flowing postures, the push and pull, and the reliance on someone else builds a deep connection.

4. Decrease The Negative Impact of Anxiety & Stress

While most yoga practises can help you relax and de-stress, couples yoga has an added benefits thanks to the power of your partner’s touch. According to a study published in Psychological Science, married couples who hold hands experience immediate stress alleviation. Hand-holding by a spouse elicited a higher brain reaction than hand-holding by a stranger. As a result, simply touching your partner can assist to relieve anxiety by reducing the brain reactions to stress.

Backbends like Camel Pose, for example, are designed to assist open up specific parts of the body in couples yoga. This can help to make room for new energy while also reducing physical and emotional stress, tension, and discomfort. 

5. Bring Some Playfulness & Fun Into Your Relationship 

Partner yoga is a lively and enjoyable activity. Partner yoga allows people to let go and not take themselves too seriously, allowing them to enjoy themselves despite the hurdles. In a couple of yoga practices, cultivating play and fun lays the groundwork for sharing the same joy with your partner in other pursuits.

Things To Consider Before Starting Your Couples Yoga Poses

1. Prepare Yourself To Get Comfortable 

Working with a partner entails getting really close to one another physically. While this should not be a problem for couples who have been intimate together, it may mean becoming closer to someone you haven’t had the pleasure of knowing in that way in some situations. Prepare to get close by loosening your boundaries and getting comfortable with each other. 

2. Try To Be In Sync With Your Partner 

When your partner moves, try to move with them and feel what they feel. Consider what would feel good to you in a pose, and then assist them in stretching deeper in that way. Try to move in sync with your breath. Try to match their breath with yours. Lift the leg or joint with your inhale, then exhale to lengthen and go deeper.

3. Don’t Forget To Keep Communicating 

In partner yoga, both verbal and nonverbal communication is essential. Speak out if anything feels nice, or if something doesn’t work for you! Let them know if you need them to use gravity to go deeper. Don’t be scared to inquire about what is working for them.

4. Maintain Trust Throughout The Session

The significance of trust cannot be overstated. How often do we raise our guard, limiting our ability to move further? Don’t be frightened to place your faith in your yoga partner. They want the same things you do: a good stretch, to try something new, and to push themselves to their limits. The trust you allow yourself to feel when being hung in the air by someone, or pulling away so far that if you let go, you will fall backwards, is a sign of emotional wellness. This requires bravery as well as a little faith in yourself.

Best Couple Yoga Poses

Now that you know why you should practice couples yoga and what to keep in mind, here are a few easy couple yoga poses that you can follow at your house. 

1. Adho Mukha Vrikasana 

This pose is usually practised for enhancing the strength in your chest, shoulders and arms. It’s also highly effective when it comes to stretching your abdominal muscles.

How To Do It: 

• Stand straight with your partner, then bend forward and place your hands your the floor. 
• Take a deep breath, bend one leg on the floor and swing both your legs, wherein your partner needs to support your body to stay in that position. 
• Take a deep breath in that position and slowly release your body 
• Switch with your partner and follow the same steps. 

2. Baddha Konasana 

One of the more popular beginner couple yoga poses, the Baddha Konasana yoga pose is highly effective when it comes to activating your sexual drive and bringing you back in touch with your sexuality, which makes it a perfect couples yoga pose.

How To Do It:

• Sit with your partner back-to-back in a comfortable position. Ensure the soles of your feet are together. 
• Your partner needs to bend down towards their toes, as far as they can reach 
• Then, you need to release your head and shoulders onto your partner’s back 
• Stay in this position for a couple of breaths, release, and then switch positions and repeat. 

3. Urdhva Dhanurasana 

This couples yoga pose is highly regarded among yoga enthusiasts as it’s known for improving flexibility and leaving you extremely rejuvenated. It’s also known as the Flying Bow or the Wheel pose.

How To Do It:

• Lie back and place your legs on your partner’s lower back, while your heels rest on their buttocks. 
• Your partner needs to bend back and try to grab onto your shoulders. 
• If you’re flexible enough, try to raise your partner off the ground using your legs. But, if you’re looking for couples yoga for beginners, skip this step. 
• Stay in the pose for a couple of seconds, slowly release the pose, reverse the position and repeat the process. 

4. Adho Mukha Svānāsana

The Adho Mukha Svānāsana, also known as the Downward Double Dog pose is great if you want to strengthen your bones and muscles.

How To Do It:

• Both you and your partner need to go into the downward dog position, with you in front of your partner. 
• Slowly move back with your hands and feet, while climbing on top of your partner, till you reach their lower back. 
• Ask your partner to keep guiding you with directions to ensure you don’t miss a step that can cause an unfortunate accident. 
• Wait in the pose for a couple of seconds and slowly release, switch positions and repeat the steps. 

5. Ardha Uttanasana

If you want to strengthen your pelvic area or groin regions, this pose is perfect for you and your partner to try together. It’s also known as the Partner Forward Fold and is one of the easy couples yoga poses.

How To Do It:

• Sit in front of your partner in a wide-legged position, and ensure the soles of your feet and your partner’s feet are together. 
• Extend your hands towards each other and hold your partner’s forearm in your arm, while they hold your forearm in theirs. 
• Take a deep breath and bend backwards while pulling your partner forward from the hips. Make sure your spine and arms are straight at all times. 
• Stay in that position for a few moments and then switch the same for the other side.

6. Dvi Vrksasana 

The Dvi Vrksasana pose, also known as the Partner Double Tree, is extremely beneficial if you’re looking to improve your posture and balance.

How To Do It:

• Your partner and you need to stand straight next to each other with your arms touching. 
• Lean on your partner gently, while both of you place your arms around each other’s waist and press the other palm against your partner. 
• Take a deep break and try to replicate the form of the double tree 

Partner Yoga Tips

Clearly Communicate Your Boundaries Before You Begin 

Before you begin the practice, determine your boundaries and convey them to your partner. If you have specific intents or goals for your session, you should think about sharing and discussing them with your partner. Inform your companion if there are any sensitive muscles or body regions that must be approached with caution and consent.

Use Verbal & Non-Verbal Means of Communication 

Couples yoga is an excellent technique to practise interpersonal communication. It’s ideal to keep words to a minimum, so consider utilising sounds like “mmmm” or “ah” (or grunting sounds if things don’t feel right) and paying attention to how tense or relaxed your partner’s body is throughout the session.

Remember That It Isn’t A Competition 

It’s possible that your partner’s body can certainly be stronger and more flexible than yours. Instead of being locked in a mentality of judgement and criticism, try to welcome and accept these distinctions. You can undoubtedly aim to equal your partner’s ability, but be careful not to introduce a competitive element into the exercise. Instead, change your thinking so that you can be helpful and supportive to your partner.

Stay Focused 

Partner yoga positions can be tough, unfamiliar, and unpleasant. To do them with grace and ease, a great deal of focus and concentration is necessary. You’ll also want to stay fully immersed in the encounter to strengthen your bond with your partner.

Be Aware of Your Body & Surroundings 

You need to pay attention to your mind, body, and breath throughout a normal yoga practice. Focus on expanding your awareness of your partner’s body and breath in partner yoga. You will want to make physical changes not only for your own body but also to help your partner’s alignment.

Don’t Forget To Have Fun 

It is critical to approach couples yoga with a playful attitude. You’ll be shaky and awkward at first, so make it enjoyable and happy rather than serious, stressful, or judgmental.

FAQs 

Conclusion 

Partner yoga is an excellent approach to advance your asana practice while also connecting with others. 

Share the gift of yoga by doing deeper stretches with your partner, both giving and receiving the benefits. Have fun experimenting with different postures and methods to modify them to feel the best for you by chatting with your yoga partner. If you’re looking for more information related to Yoga sessions or other healthy ways to improve your lifestyle, keep reading Seema!