Yoga For Lovers
Posted February 14, 2011 @ 2:41 PM | by Marianne Wells
A Valentine's Day Message from Marianne Wells Yoga School
Without a doubt the most successful yoga workshops that I have conducted over the years have been couples workshops, followed closely by partner workshops. Too often the demands of our daily lives cause us to put on the back burner what should be at the core of every relationship. Being present - truly present - and aware of our partners in life is at the core of every healthy relationship. Oftentimes, it is one of the couple who is a yoga practitioner that signs up for the event. This is a great way for you to introduce your partner to the benefits of yoga...which are many.
Yoga provides a stillness to the mind. Breath control, or pranayama, provides a connection between the physical body and the mind. Breath can be both actively and passively controlled. Pranayama can help provide the link to the subtle nervous system that is so important to regulating our bodies during periods of sleep. This stillness in the mind allows one to be more present, to focus on people and activities around you. Men's Health magazine mentions that research reveals that yoga can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and boost levels of mood enhancing neurotransmitter GABA. Without GABA your muscles would constantly tense up, your mind would race constantly, and you would have difficulty sleeping. None of these conditions is good for a healthy relationship.
Through yoga practice, one becomes very aware of the body and how it moves, how it feels, and how to best nourish the body through proper diet, exercise, and rest. Through a dedicated yoga practice you develop an awareness of how energy moves through the body, and can begin to control this energy - conserving it for your most important activities. From a physical perspective, the goal of yoga is not to become more powerful in poses, but to begin to understand how you can become more and more subtle in them while conserving your energy. Awareness of the various muscles, their actions on moving the limbs, and reducing the limitations of muscle tightness, joint mobility, muscles strength and confidence are key parts of the process. Yoga moves the body in ways that are not common in modern life. This awakens nerve pathways that lie dormant, and recruits muscles that are not normally used in day to day activities primarily involving walking forward, standing, and sitting for long periods of time.
My partner workshops have been so successful because women (especially) want intimacy on various levels that don't involve intercourse. Just the act of physically touching another person provides sensations due to the energies that are exchanged between two bodies. Partner yoga allows for you to use the support and weight of another person while moving into and out of asanas. Partner workshops encourage open communication and build trust between the partners - important aspects of any healthy relationship. In Tantra Yoga, partners align their respective chakras, or energy centers to share what can be a very powerful energetic exchange to also connect emotionally and spiritually. At a workshop on sexuality that I attended a few years back, a Jamaican woman wisely told the men in the audience, "You gotta go uptown before you can go downtown!".
One of the keys to a healthy and lasting relationship is to have a healthy and lasting sex life. Here yoga trumps everything in my opinion. Most of my students are women, and they have figured it out from the energetic and physical perspectives. Yoga provides incredible toning of the diaphragm, the accessory muscles of breathing, abdominal muscles, the pelvic girdle and pelvic floor muscles - all important for childbirth, elimination, and yes sexual intercourse. Women's Health Magazine crystallized it in an article titled. "Have Better Sex with Yoga".
Men's Health Magazine cites that the emphasis on breathing helps you stay in the moment, which is a great skill to develop to intensify sex. They cite a study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine that men who practiced yoga an hour a day for 12 weeks had erections that remained harder for longer periods of time, had better staying power in the sack, and an overall 25 percent increase in sexual satisfaction. I'm surprised that more men don't practice yoga!
The goal of yoga is not to have a toned body and great sex life - these are merely benefits of a regular yoga practice. But the union of mind, body and spirit does liberate the practitioner to enjoy their lives with much deeper meaning and connection to their relationships, and the world as a whole. For once we understand the divine that exists within each of us, our relationships with the world will be divine as well.
Love and light to each of you.
Happy Valentine's Day
Marianne
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About the Author
Marianne Wells has been inspiring and influencing others throughout the world for many years. A leader in the yoga community, Marianne is committed to handing down the lineage of health and happiness through her methodology based on traditional teachings adapted for today's world. Marianne is committed to not brand her "style," preferring to teach the heritage of the tree of yoga in her comprehensive curriculum. Marianne Wells - E500 RYT, is also a member of IAYT - International Association of Yoga Therapists.
If you are ready to explore the depths and history of yoga, develop skills that will change your life and those you teach, and become certified as a yoga instructor, please register now. Marianne Wells Yoga School - a Yoga Alliance Registered School - offers yoga teacher training that has helped launch successful yoga careers and studios globally. Currently accepting enrollment for 200 RYT teacher trainings December 2011 and 2012 at The Goddess Garden in Cahuita,Costa RIca; in January 2012 at Costa Rica Yoga Spa located in Nosara on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, and 300 hour Yoga Therapy Training February 4 -25 , 2012 at Haramara Retreat in Sayulita, Mexico. Haramara Retreat, featured in the November 2010 issue of Yoga Journal magazine (page 81) as one of the 5 posh yoga destinations worth the splurge, is located about 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta. Sayulita is a popular destination for tourists, snow birds and surfers all looking to enjoy the Pacific surf in warm weather in a safe place.
Register now at Marianne Wells Yoga School Calendar and Registration.
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