Good Yoga, Sex and Coping

Health Benefits of Yoga

In one of his books, Light on Life, B. S. K Iyengar says health goes beyond the physical to the moral, intellectual and spiritual. That is part of the holistic health idea. Still, health includes the health of the body too. Your body is the child of the soul somehow, and from a healthy person, smiles easily shine forth.

Do not underestimate the value of asana (yoga posture). Even simple asanas are found to be good for body and mind alike, not to mention soul development. And sound bodies make it far easier to go for sound minds. [◦Link]

Keep your yoga injury-free

The health journalist and author Selene Yeager shows that the yoga beginner does well not to go past his or her limits. That's a rule yoga lovers should heed. So, stop stretching as soon as you feel discomfort. Your knees and back are vulnerable spots; bend your knees with care. Simultaneously bending and twisting your knees, as in the lotus pose, can damage cartilage. And don't overwork your back, is her firm counsel.

Source: Prevention, 10 april 2005. Rodale, Inc. [◦Link]

Beginner Yoga Poses

In yoga there are beginner poses and more strenous poses. Further, along with yoga are yogalike takes, like Pilates, stretching, and many other yoga-like approaches. "Yoga is meant to be a nurturing form of exercise, not a rigid imitation of poses," says author Richard Faulds. So it's very possible to stretch and strengthen your body without having to touch your nose to your knees or your feet to your head.

1. Find an experienced yoga instructor who helps you adjust to your physical limitations and who will modify pace or offer alternative yoga poses to meet your needs.
2. Look for styles with gentle yoga poses, not too strenous ones.
3. Ensure that you leave yoga class serene, not sorry!
4. Besides, there are some good reasons that nonstrenuous yoga when you get home can lead into one more savoury or erotic evening. [◦Link]

Yoga and Sex

"I need a sex life before I can improve it." - Anonymous.

Even if you should need a sex life, you may benefit from gentle yoga postures, asanas. Bending, stretching slowly and carefully, perhaps while applying moderate pressure, may be a good health-helping tool. Also, when you feel overstressed, try measured, rhythmic breathing. It may be especially good for insomnia.

Through yoga you can get supple, tone up muscles and feel well. The gynecologist Machelle M. ◦Seibel, M.D., says, There are some simple yoga poses," Dr. Seibel says, "that can help just about everyone." He is referring to PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome) by that.

Some effects of good yoga spill over into the sex life too. Thus, Elizabeth Walling encourages us in Five Reasons You Can Thank Yoga for Better Sex to go for "the latest gadget that will ramp up your sex life: a yoga mat. The exercise we often connect to meditation and inner enlightenment is also linked to improved bedtime fun."

She bases her verdict on a study published in the 3 December 2008 edition of The Journal of Sexual Medicine. The study showed women who were not satisfied with their sex life experienced heightened arousal and better orgasms when they practiced yoga. "Another study published in the same journal in September 2007 showed yoga was the most effective solution for men dealing with premature ejaculation in comparison to Prozac and non-prescription drugs," she summarises.

Details: In the latter study, 68 Indian men who suffered from premature ejaculation were given a choice of yoga-based, non-pharmacological treatment or Prozac. The men who practiced yoga for one hour each day "had both subjective and statistically significant improvements in their intra-ejaculatory latencies, similar to participants in the pharmacologic treatment group," concludes ◦Sally Law in her article "Yogis have better sex, study finds" at LiveScience.com.

Sex is a natural function, also according to Yoga philosophy. Having delicious sex in an affectionate relationship is good for folks. Various steady postures and breathing techniques can help to relieve stress and relax the body and mind deeply. Some benefits reach into one's sexual life and relationship. Here are some benefits Elizabeth Walling suggests that your sex life can take away from yoga:

1. Heightened Awareness and Concentration

Good yoga helps in improving better understanding of self and surrounding. And yoga teaches people to be more aware of their breathing and their bodies while letting go of mental distractions. This translates directly to better sex . . . you can undeniably enjoy sexual activities much more.

2. Greater Flexibility and Strength

Nothing can bring more fun to the bed than a body that's ready to rock. Yoga conditions and strengthens the muscles, and also improves your flexibility range and joint health - and stamina during sex, too.

Sound, delicate yoga may develop your flexibility, coordination, balance and physical strength.

3. A New Kind of Foreplay

If your partner is up to it, add in several minutes of couples yoga before sex as a kind of foreplay. A few yoga moves can relax your nerves and get your circulation going: just what you need to get you in the mood. Plus, practicing yoga together helps you connect in a new way.

4. Acceptance and Confidence

Adequate yoga makes you more graceful and confident in your movements, also while making love - more confident about yourself and your inborn human nature. It tends to promote confidence in your self, for example by being aware of your body and accepting it. It may by degrees gives you the freedom to offer more in the bedroom. Sexual confidence is incredibly freeing.

5. A Majestic Finale

Good yoga helps you to feel really, really all-round good. It all adds up to one thing: better orgasms. And yoga positions that strengthen your pelvic core can give your orgasms a definite "wow" factor.

Yoga for Health and Coping

The health benefits of yoga include keeping healthy people healthy, it hinders the development of diseases, and it aids recovery from ill health. Sound prevention is probably better than attempts at cure. Better than mere prevention is building reserves of health and thriving actively. Yoga can be used for all of it.

If you are short of time, a bundle of simple and yogalike exercises may still ease your day. Here are tips:

• You may do some belly-breathing in the shower, for example three or four times, and even sit down in the shower for it.

• At your desk you may take time to stretch and gently flex your back, lift and lower and rotate your shoulders slowly from time to time, even as frequent as every hour. Add to it: fold your hands behind your back and seek to draw them slowly outwards - one to each side - while they clasped. This is related to isotonic training, but you are not to be unmoving in this:

  While you hold your hands locked and aply this tension, push your chest a bit forward, stretch your neck moderately and turn your head slowly from side to side a few times. No jerky movements, just some steady, careful pressure.

  There is much else you may do on a chair too, by applying some steady pressure and moving slowly and measuredly in some gentle way. Your hands and arms can be used for pressing down, pressing toward the chest, pressing outward, or "lifting" the chair or thighs - all while you move your torso gently to and fro, forward or backward, and so on. Slow, gymnastic motions may be done much like T'ai Chi Chih movements too.

  You may also twist your spine gently to and fro with your hands clasped behind your back. And learn to breathe deeply and gently "all the time" or as often as you remember. It is nice self-help training.

• When the phone rings or the computer boots up or a slow Web site loads, take a deep yoga breath before or along with picking up the phone and the other things.

Anti-Aging Yoga

You may feel younger with a simple yoga regimen.

Marianne McGinnis tells about a woman who, in the hope of finding anti-aging relief, took a yoga class. Already an hour later, she felt more relaxed. She's been doing yoga three times a week since and says, "I have more energy, strength, and flexibility than most women half my age."

Many women try yoga for stress reduction, but they stick with it because it makes them feel--and look--younger, says Larry Payne, PhD. Good yoga blends anti-aging moves that improve circulation, balance, flexibility, and strength with meditative techniques such as deep breathing. "My students call yoga a natural face-lift," he says.

Yoga can reduce stress by nearly a third, reports a German study of 24 women. As a result, clenched jaws and furrowed brows relax, helping to smooth away wrinkles. Yoga may also rejuvenate skin's glow by reducing oxidative stress, which breaks down skin's elasticity. In an Indian study of 104 people, oxidative stress levels dropped by 9% after just 10 days of yoga.

During a 10-year University of Washington study of 15,500 men and women over age 45, those who didn't do yoga gained up to 13.5 pounds. Those who practiced regularly lost up to 5 pounds.

Yoga is twice as effective as stretching at relieving back pain, according to another University of Washington study that had 101 people with lower-back pain do either yoga or stretching once a week for 3 months.

Levels of the brain's natural nighttime sedative, melatonin, decrease with age, but another Indian study found that when 15 men, ages 25 to 35, practiced yoga daily for 3 months, their melatonin levels increased.

Researchers at Jefferson Medical College discovered that just one yoga class helps keep the stress hormone cortisol in line. Elevated amounts may contribute to age-related memory problems.

[◦Source]

Yoga therapy

There's a burgeoning movement called Yoga Therapy, in which teachers "prescribe" different poses, modifications of the standard poses, and customized sequences for clients with specific ailments and injuries. And if it's your psyche rather than your body that needs repair--think anxiety or insomnia--a dose of yoga therapy can help put that right too.

Recent studies have shown that yoga can increase lung capacity and reduce asthma attacks, help manage diabetes, and relieve lower back pain.

Deep, rhythmic breathing is especially good for insomnia.

Going for health benefits

Sound yoga fosters health benefits. You don't have to get overstressed and ill to benefit from yoga and meditation.

So how do you start practicing yoga for better sex or whatever reason? If you're a beginner, find a yoga studio that suits you. It is best to focus on your own practice, building your own comfort level, before inviting your partner along.

You could also buy a DVD on yoga to guide you through yoga moves, counsels Dr. Yvonne Kristin Fulbright in "9 Reasons Yoga Will Rock Your Sex Life". She is a sex educator, relationship expert, and columnist. [◦Link]

There are self-help books on good yoga around too. The Yoga Bible by Christina Brown is a very good one. It is illustrated too.

In the last decades much research has been done into the effects of yoga postures and meditation on various diseases and troubles. A book about yoga postures for various ailments is Yogic Cure for Common Diseases by Dr P. Sinha (below). The doctor suggests program of yoga postures for abdominal disorders, diabetes, asthma, arthritis, obesity, high blood pressure, sinus problems, mental problems, and others. [Touch]

Brown, Christina. The Yoga Bible: The Definitive Guide to Yoga Postures. London: Godsfield Press, 2003.

Sinha, Phulgenda. Yogic Cure for Common Diseases. Rev, enl. ed. Delhi: Orient Paperbacks, 1980.

Touch Research Institute. Yoga Research Abstracts.. On-line.
[www6.miami.edu/touch-research/Yoga.htm]

Walling, Elizabeth. "Five Reasons You Can Thank Yoga for Better Sex". Thursday, April 23, 2009. Natural News.com.
[www.naturalnews.com/026102.html]