Picture this: You’re mesmerized by a breathtaking sunset. Seconds pass, then minutes. You’re still staring. Hues of pink, orange and blue all swirl together in the sky. Time means absolutely nothing right now, and even if it did, it’s moving differently.
Chills invade your skin as the person you love most in this world interlaces their fingers with yours. Breaking out of your trance, you turn to face them. They can see it all over your features: You’ve never felt freer in your life.
Plot twist: You suffer from massive anxiety and have a million things on your to-do list.
The pressing question: “How the heck did you get to that point?”
The answer is simple. Partner yoga got you there. It’s a game changer for your health — both physical and mental — as well as your relationships.
What Is Partner Yoga?
Unlike the solitary setup of an individual yoga class, partner yoga (also known as couple yoga or couples yoga) involves the cooperation of two people. If you’re wanting to enhance your romantic relationship, partner yoga has you covered.
This enthralling style of yoga motivates partners to depend on each other for balance and support as they work to achieve intense, eye-catching poses. It also allows both parties to actively stimulate different muscle groups and receive a deeper stretch than they do from traditional yoga positions.
On top of that, partner yoga paves the way for couples to authentically connect by performing challenging moves together and mutually edifying each other in the process.
It’s pretty much a cheaper (and sweatier) form of therapy.
Further, it’s a therapy that’ll let you kill two birds with one stone: You work out your bodies, and you’ll also get to work out your differences.
All you introverts out there are going to benefit from this, too. Partner yoga is a fantastic way for you to bring the person you love into your world, while simultaneously getting out of your head a little bit.
Since partner yoga poses are typically more advanced, here’s something else to look forward to: You’ll be left with an amplified sense of gratification at the end of every class.
Benefits of Partner Yoga
Offering an abundance of benefits, partner yoga has the power to improve relationships, promote physical health, and increase mental well-being. By practicing a variety of Asanas (yoga poses), you and your significant other will tangibly experience just how rewarding partner yoga is.
Consider the following types of benefits you stand to gain:
Relational Benefits
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Invigorates the romance
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Forces you to be better communicators
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Encourages you to be more compassionate and extend grace to each other
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Eradicates uncomfortable tension and helps resolve conflict
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Intensifies your relationship satisfaction
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Magnifies your sexual attraction to each other (you’ll get “the goosies” J Lo always raves about!)
Physical Benefits
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Greater flexibility, as well as delayed loss of flexibility in older yoga participants
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Better core strength
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Significantly improved posture
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Less inflammation, which can fight painful symptoms associated with chronic disease
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Higher immunity against viruses and infections (flu season won’t have nothin’ on you!)
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Excellent heart health
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Improved sleep
Mental Benefits
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Remedies stress and anxiety
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Combats depression
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Provides mental clarity and alertness
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Inspires positive self-talk, both in and out of yoga class
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Boosts your self-esteem
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Supports you in healing from past trauma and developing healthy coping mechanisms
How To Do Yoga Poses With A Partner
Before jumping right into things (however wildly tempting that may be), make sure you’re adequately prepared first. Preparation will allow you and your partner to get the most and the best out of your shared yoga experience.
Preparation Stage
In a yoga class, expect to work with a bunch of words you’ve probably never heard before. Some of you might be familiar with terms like namaste and chakras, but you’ll also be expected to know what drishti (gazing at a focal point), mudra (meditative hand gesture), and savasana (resting pose) mean, amongst several others.
To start off on the right foot, mentally prepare yourself by studying essential yoga terminology. This will help you not only understand the instructor better during a session but also respond to their cues quickly and effectively.
Next, physically brace yourself to slay partner yoga class by practicing the art of individual yoga for at least a few weeks. There are certain skills you can never practice enough, and mastering yoga poses is definitely one of them.
Although this form of yoga only requires one person, you don’t have to go by yourself. Instead, turn this necessary step into a regular date night with your boo by having them tag along with you!
After sufficiently learning the “yoga ropes” together, you’ll be ready to transition to the partner yoga classes you’ve been itching to try!
Execution Stage
At this point, you should have basic yoga vocabulary down to a T and be able to check individual yoga classes with your significant other off your to-do list. The only thing left to focus on is this: Both of you will be sizzling with excitement because you finally get to see what the hype is all about!
Start by pulling up the schedule at your local gym or yoga studio. From there, try to find beginner-level partner yoga classes that enable you both to ease into the flow of things. Your best bet is to take group-style classes until you feel comfortable doing the moves on your own, without professional supervision.
Once you both get the hang of partner yoga poses, feel free to switch up the scenery by locating intimate spots for more of a private yoga experience. Whether you choose to get your namaste on at the beach or a gorgeous park, you’ll bask in the sparks of romance that follow.
Which Type Of Yoga Is Best For Love?
Now, this is the hot topic you’re dying to know! Which type of partner yoga will revitalize the passionate desire you and your partner feel for each other? Which kind will delightfully urge you to connect more intimately than you have in the past?
The answer you’ve been waiting for is tantric yoga. By embracing more of an erotic nature, tantric yoga strengthens the bond between couples in ways that other styles of yoga simply can’t. It’s a less physically demanding yoga, but it contains sequences that are much more emotionally and spiritually stimulating.
What Is Tantric Yoga?
Marked by sensuality and a devotion to personal spirituality, tantric yoga (also known as tantra yoga) activates an intensified sexual energy between partners. Practitioners are encouraged to slow down and soak up the beauty of every moment together, like the incredible way it feels to be touched by the person they love and the scary yet enticing vulnerability each movement demands.
While traditional tantric yoga can certainly spice things up in the bedroom (at a later time), it’s not to be confused with tantric sex, which is an entirely different subject altogether. Tantric yoga simply fulfills a couple’s desire for greater intimacy by allowing them to pursue movements that make them feel good, relaxed, and free.
This exotic style of yoga is primarily rooted in elements of Hatha yoga, but places a much greater emphasis on meditation. It also concentrates on five distinct bodies referred to as pancha kosas: the physical body, the energetic body, the mental and emotional body, the wisdom body — or the “inner teacher” — and the bliss body
According to the Taittiriya Upanishad (basically a yoga bible), each specific body has strengths and weaknesses that are gradually identified through the intentional practice of tantric yoga.
Benefits of Tantric Yoga
On top of the rewards you get from regular partner yoga, tantric yoga offers a variety of additional benefits: It aids in weight loss, improves your quality of life, resolves sexual intimacy issues and boosts performance, helps to shift your perspective, and teaches you patience. Tantric yoga also grants you mental clarity, causes you to acknowledge just how beautiful life is, and makes you appreciate your partner that much more!
Tantric yoga sessions are meant to grant peace, pleasure, and the ability to become more in tune with your body. They teach you how to love yourself on a deeper level and help you evaluate what it would feel like to be loved by, well, you!
What You’ll Need For Tantric Yoga
Since tantric yoga involves a lot of stretching, make sure to wear snug, comfy workout clothes that are easy to move around in. Also, consider bringing a yoga mat to class to make your experience more enjoyable.
What To Expect In a Tantric Yoga Session
During a classic tantric yoga session, you’ll be asked to welcome all of your imperfections and to accept and appreciate them in liberating ways. You’ll also be pushed to let go of any past shame or insecurities.
Likewise, you and your partner will be heavily encouraged to treat your bodies, and each other’s bodies, like a temple: precious and worthy of all the good things your heart desires. Magic happens when you color outside the lines of your comfort zone, and tantric yoga will cultivate the confidence you need to get there.
When exploring your options, remember that all public, group-style tantric yoga classes should satisfy the tantric yoga checklist, follow a similar class structure, employ five basic movements, and focus on white tantra (see more on this below).
Tantric Yoga Checklist
To ensure that a tantric yoga class is safe, legitimate, and ultimately worth your time, identify the following items on this checklist:
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The instructor is certified in tantra yoga, hatha yoga, or kundalini yoga.
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The poses are performed solo in class.
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Chanting and meditation are part of the class structure.
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Only white tantra is practiced.
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The class objectives are self-discovery and personal growth.
Class Structure
Tantric yoga workshops are typically two and a half to three hours long. While this might sound excessive to most people, the class is set up in this way to help everyone practice mindfulness, patience, and self-control. There are five stages that you will move through in class: chanting, breathing exercises, yoga poses, chakra work, and meditation.
To get a better idea of what each stage entails, here’s a more in-depth guide for you to check out!
Basic Movements
There seems to be a “quintuple” pattern going on here. While the flow of a class and the sequences you perform vary depending on the instructor, all tantric yoga sessions incorporate five key movements: inversions, side bends, twists, backbends, and forward folds.
White Tantra vs Red Tantra
There are two types of tantric yoga: white tantra and red tantra. Before thinking about the colors of your workout gear, no: You don’t have to wear white to one and red to the other (unless you really want to).
White tantra is exclusively done solo and focuses on yoga and meditation. Professional yoga studios should only offer this kind for you to practice with your partner side by side.
On the flip side, red tantra is a consensual partner activity that is exercised in private. To increase sexual gratification, it infuses yoga poses into the love-making experience. For those of you who adore physical touch, red tantra might just be your new favorite way to satisfy your love language!
Behind closed doors, you and your partner will gaze deeply into each other’s eyes, flood your senses with the pleasure of touch, and connect in every tangible (and intangible) way possible.
Both types of tantric yoga harness the power of sexual energy, but their end goals are slightly different. White tantra seeks to bring you closer to yourself, while red tantra aims to bring you closer to your partner.
In short, white tantra is designed for the yoga studio, and red tantra is intended for the bedroom. However, everything you learn from tantric yoga class can be taken to a more intimate setting. There are also plenty of online resources, such as tantric yoga videos and online workshop options, that’ll inspire you even further.
3 Beginner Tantric Yoga Poses for Partners
In a private space, feel free to try these arousing tantric yoga poses with your significant other:
Yab Yum
If you enjoy kissing the heck out of your partner, then you’re really going to dig this pose. By the end of it, you’ll be in the perfect position for an amazing makeout sesh.
The stronger person sets up in a cross-legged position. The more petite individual sits on their partner’s thighs and wraps both legs around their waist. After crossing their ankles behind their partner’s back, the person on top leans forward until their forehead gently presses against their partner’s forehead.
This is an opportunity to make powerful eye contact and rest in the comfort of each other’s presence. You two can also choose to close your eyes if you prefer; it could help you to savor the depth of your emotions more.
Hand-On-Heart
For this pose, both partners begin facing each other and sitting down with their legs crossed. Each person then raises their right hand and extends it in front of them until it touches the middle of their partner’s chest, right where the heart lies. Next, both participants take their left hand and place it on top of their partner’s right hand.
Not only will you feel the steady heartbeat of your lover (which is always calming and fascinating), but you’ll also get to physically express your devotion to each other in a way that’s much more intimate than you might initially assume.
Boat Pose
To prepare, both partners start sitting down on the floor. As you face each other, your knees are nearly hugging your chests and your toes are touching. You can grab each other’s hands or firmly clasp your partner’s wrists, whichever makes you both feel the most secure.
Then, starting with the right foot, you press the soles of your feet together and straighten your legs by traveling upward. Once you feel stable, you can repeat this process with the left foot.
Both partners should squeeze both legs together so that you're lightly touching. From here, extend your arms, lift your chests, and relax your shoulders to achieve a satisfying stretch.
How Do I Meditate With A Partner?
Meditation is a magnificent opportunity to foster awareness and compassion. Practicing regularly leads to a plethora of advantages: a rejuvenated mind, body, and spirit, a willingness to tackle the hard conversations with your partner, and a desire to be kinder to yourself and the people around you.
A common misconception is that meditation empties the mind. Instead, it releases tension from the body along with any stored negative emotions disrupting your peace. It also helps you filter out the past and future and tune into the present, seeing your thoughts more clearly than before.
Meditating with your partner is very similar to solo meditation: You’re simply inviting them to heal and to work on habitual mindfulness with you. The act of meditating together is known as dyadic meditation, and you can get started by trying out apps like “Headspace”, “Unplug”, “Calm”, and “Breathwork”.
Find a secluded and quiet space, shut your eyes, silence your thoughts, and focus on your breathing. These apps will guide you and your partner through an array of meditative techniques. Depending on your preference, you can hold hands, hug each other, or merely sit beside each other while you meditate.
For visual guidance, follow along with this online tutorial.
Finals Thoughts on Partner Yoga
Rod Stryker, a renowned yogi, said that partner yoga pushes people “to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” Partner yoga might be challenging, but it’s far from impossible. Even better? It grants you access to so much more than your partner’s body. You get to touch their heart and soul, too.
Whether you decide to try regular partner yoga, tantric yoga, couples meditation, or a bit of all three, here's one thing you can count on: Your romantic relationship will be immensely rewarded.
