Enhancing Sexual Well-being through Yoga: Insights on Its Effects
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Take a deep breath and sustain the pose! Let's examine if the rumors about the ancient practice of yoga enhancing bedroom activities are based in reality or merely hearsay.
The yoga revolution is upon us, hitting the public consciousness with its purported advantages for physical and mental health. But how does this age-old practice stand up when it comes to improving our sex lives?
Legend has it that yoga can aid in everything from vanquishing depression, reducing stress, and quelling anxiety to vanquishing metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and thyroid problems.
New research has attempted to unravel the secret of yoga's multiple benefits. Turns out, yoga reduces the body's inflammatory reaction, thwarts the genetic predisposition to stress, reduces cortisol, and stimulates a protein that aids in brain growth and fosters its longevity. As an added bonus, it all just feels incredible. And, some boast, as the mythical "coregasm" sets in during yoga, it feels downright amazing.
Touching our bodies can bring a sense of replenishment, revitalization, and sheer physical delight. But do yoga's tantalizing poses have the power to boost our sexual prowess? Let us cast a discerning eye upon the scientific evidence.
🧘♀️ Yoga Improves Sexual Function for Women
A well-cited study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine claims that yoga can certainly enhance sexual function… particularly for women aged 45 and up.
The research analyzed the impacts of 12 weeks of yoga on 40 women who shared their self-reported sexual function statistics before and after the yoga sessions.
Following the 12-week period, these women witnessed significant improvements across several aspects of the Female Sexual Function Index: desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain tolerance.
A staggering 75% of the women reported improved sexual experiences after a stint of yoga training.
Throughout the study, all of the women were trained in 22 poses, often referred to as yogasanas, believed to improve core abdominal muscles, boost digestion, strengthen the pelvic floor, and calm the mind. Some common poses included trikonasana (the triangle pose), bhujangasana (the snake), and ardha matsyendra mudra (half spinal twist).
🧘♂️ Yoga Empowers Sexual Function for Men
It's not only the fairer sex that receives benefits from yoga. A companion study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav, a neurologist from Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, India, probed the effects of a 12-week yoga program on male sexual contentment.
At the study's conclusion, the participants reported considerable improvements in their male sexual satisfaction ratings, as measured by the standard Male Sexual Quotient.
The researchers discovered advancements in all areas of male sexual satisfaction: desire, satisfaction, performance, confidence, synchrony with partners, erectile quality, ejaculatory control, and orgasm.
What's more, a comparative trial led by the same research team found that yoga is a viable and medication-free alternative to fluoxetine (Prozac) for treating premature ejaculation.
This study encompassed 15 different poses, including simpler ones (such as Kapalbhati, which requires sitting cross-legged with a straight back, an open chest, closed eyes, hands on knees, and contracted abdominal muscles) and the more complex ones (such as dhanurasana, or the "bow pose").
🧘🍎 Sexual Mechanisms and Yoga
Exactly how does yoga boost one's sex drive, you wonder? A review of existing literature spearheaded by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada, yields insight on some of the mechanisms behind the supposed sexual enhancements.
Dr. Lori Brotto, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at UBC, is the first author of the review. Dr. Brotto and her team lay out that yoga helps regulate attention and breathing, lessens anxiety and stress, and stimulates the part of the nervous system that encourages relaxation, slowing the heart rate, and triggering other metabolic processes that cultivate tranquility.
"All of these effects are associated with improvements in sexual response," they assert, so "it is reasonable that yoga might also be associated with improvements in sexual health."
There are psychological mechanisms at play, too. Female yoga practitioners are found to be less inclined to objectify their bodies, becoming more aware of their physical selves. This increased perception may be linked to heightened sexual accountability and self-assertiveness, arguably fostering increased sexual desires.
🐍 The Power of Moola Bandha
While theories about liberating blocked energy in root chakras and channeling "kundalini energy" up and down the spine to generate ejaculation-free male orgasms remain shrouded in uncertainty, other yogic principles might resonate with the skeptics. Moola bandha is one such concept.
"Moola bandha is a perineal contraction that engages the sensory-motor and autonomic nervous systems in the pelvic region, thereby enforcing parasympathetic activities throughout the body," explain Dr. Brotto and her colleagues in their review.
"Specifically, Moola Bandha is thought to directly affect the gonads and perineal body/cervix." The video below incorporates the movement into a practice for pelvic floor muscles.
Several studies cited by the researchers purport that practicing Moola Bandha alleviates menstrual pain, birth pain, and sexual difficulties in women, as well as addressing premature ejaculation and regulating testosterone secretion in men.
Moola Bandha is similar to a modern, medically recommended technique, which are said to prevent urinary incontinence and enable prolonged sexual pleasure. In fact, many sex therapy centers advocate this yoga practice to help women better comprehend their sensations of arousal in the genital area, thus improving desire and sexual experience.
🐸Frog Pose - another pelvic floor hero
Apart from bolstering sexual pleasure, this pose may help address symptoms of vestibulodynia, or pain in the vestibule of the vagina, as well as vaginismus, characterized by the involuntary contraction of vaginal muscles that obstructs enjoyable penetrative sex for women.
Whether the tantalizing tales of unleashing dormant energy and generating "yogasms" are scientifically sound is still a question hanging in the balance. Nevertheless, the seeds of stronger evidence for yoga's sexual benefits are certainly present. Until future research can definitively determine whether such feats are within arm's reach, we think that experimenting with yoga for ourselves could prove an enriching experience... and our pelvic muscles will certainly appreciate it!
- The scientific evidence supports the claim that yoga can enhance sexual function, particularly for women aged 45 and above, as shown in a study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.
- Yoga also benefits male sexual function, with a study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav showing advancements in all areas of male sexual satisfaction after a 12-week yoga program.
- Yogic practices such as Moola Bandha and the Frog pose are believed to alleviate sexual difficulties in both men and women, and improve sexual health by regulating attention, breathing, and reducing anxiety and stress.
