Enhanced Sexual Performance: Exploring the Advantages of Yoga Practice
In today's digital world, there's an abundance of wellness blogs peddling the idea that yoga can make you a sexual pirate of sorts, all while sharing personal accounts of heightened sexual experiences attributed to the practice. But does scientific research back up these claims? Let's dive in and take a look.
Modern research has unleashed the holistic health benefits of yoga, including assistance with depression, stress, anxiety, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and thyroid problems, among other benefits.
Recent studies have revealed that yoga reduces the body's inflammatory response, counters stress-inducing genetic expressions, lowers cortisol, and increases a protein crucial for brain growth and health.
So, can yoga's yummilicious poses indeed charge up your sex life? Let's check out the research.
Yoga gets it up for older women
One study that made waves in The Journal of Sexual Medicine analyzed the effects of 12 weeks of yoga on the sexual function of 40 women over the age of 45. Participants self-reported on their sexual function before and after the yoga sessions.
After the 12-week period, the women's sexual function had significantly improved across all sections of the Female Sexual Function Index: desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain.
An impressive 75 percent of the women reported an improvement in their sex lives post-yoga training.
During the study, all women were taught 22 yogic poses aimed at improving core abdominal muscles, digestion, strengthening the pelvic floor, and boosting mood. Some poses included trikonasana (triangle pose), bhujangasana (snake pose), and ardha matsyendra mudra (half spinal twist).
Men, too, can benefit from the yoga massage
In a similar vein, a study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav, a neurologist at the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, India, investigated the impact of a 12-week yoga program on sexual satisfaction in men.
At the study's end, participants reported a significant improvement in their sexual function, as measured by the standard Male Sexual Quotient. The improvements spanned aspects of male sexual satisfaction, including desire, intercourse satisfaction, performance, confidence, partner synchronization, erection, ejaculatory control, and orgasm.
Yogic secrets to better sex
So, how exactly does yoga bring the heat in the bedroom? A review of existing literature by researchers at the University of British Columbia's Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology helps us untangle some of its secret weapons.
Dr. Lori Brotto, a professor in the department, is the first author of the review. Dr. Brotto and colleagues explain that yoga cultivates attention, regulates breathing, lowers anxiety and stress, and boosts the body's parasympathetic nervous system, which triggers relaxation and energy conservation.
"All of these effects are associated with improvements in sexual response," write the reviewers, suggesting that yoga may indeed be associated with improvements in sexual health.
There are also psychological mechanisms at play. "Female practitioners of yoga have been found to be less likely to objectify their bodies," explain Dr. Brotto and her colleagues, "and to be more aware of their physical selves."
"This tendency, in turn, may be associated with increased sexual responsibility, assertiveness, and desire."
The essence of coregasms: Moola Bandha
While tales of shakti energy dancing around like an orgasmic tempest may lack robust scientific evidence, certain yogic concepts whisper sweet nothings to skeptics.
Moola Bandha is one such concept.
"Moola Bandha is a perineal contraction that targets the sensory-motor and the autonomic nervous systems in the pelvic region," write Dr. Brotto and her colleagues in their review, "enforcing parasympathetic activity in the body."
"Moola Bandha is thought to directly innervate the gonads and the perineal body/cervix." The video below integrates the movement into a pelvic floor muscle exercise routine.
Studies cited by the researchers have indicated that practicing Moola Bandha alleviates period and childbirth pain in women and addresses sexual difficulties, as well as controlling testosterone secretion in men.
Honestly, who needs Viagra when you've got Moola Bandha, eh?
Yoga poses to increase sexual stamina
Another yoga pose that strengthens the pelvic floor muscles is bhekasana, or the "frog pose." This stag-leaping dance move may help ease symptoms of vestibulodynia, painful symptoms in the vestibule of the vagina, as well as vaginismus, unwanted contractions of the vaginal muscles.
Take it to the mat: the bottom line
While it's easy to get a stiffy about the potential sexual benefits of yoga, it's important to remember that conflicting evidence abounds. The Internet is teeming with anecdotal evidence, but experimental evidence remains relatively scarce.
Additionally, most studies have small sample sizes and lack control groups. However, more recent studies, focusing on women with sexual dysfunction in conjunction with other conditions, have provided stronger evidence.
For example, a randomized controlled trial that focused on women with metabolic syndrome revealed that a 12-week yoga program led to "significant improvement" in arousal and lubrication for these women, but not for those who did not practice yoga.
Another study, exploring the sexual benefits of yoga for women living with multiple sclerosis, found improvements in both physical ability and sexual function for participants in the yoga group but exacerbated symptoms for participants in the control group.
So, while we need more rigorous scientific evidence to substantiate the claims about yoga-induced orgasms, the spark has definitely been ignited. Stay tuned for future research to illuminate whether the grand rumors about "yogasms" prove to be just a decadent fantasy or a legitimate health and wellness trend!
Modern research has shown that yoga can have a positive impact on mental health, reducing the body's inflammatory response, lowering cortisol, and increasing a protein crucial for brain growth and health.
One study in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found that 12 weeks of yoga improved the sexual function of 40 women over the age of 45, with 75 percent reporting an improvement in their sex lives.
A similar study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav showed significant improvements in sexual function in men after a 12-week yoga program.
The benefits of yoga on sexual health may be due to its ability to cultivate attention, regulate breathing, lower anxiety and stress, and boost the body's parasympathetic nervous system, which triggers relaxation and energy conservation, all of which are associated with improvements in sexual response.
Moola Bandha, a perineal contraction used in yogic practices, is thought to directly innervate the gonads and the perineal body/cervix, and has been shown to alleviate period pain in women and address sexual difficulties. While more rigorous scientific evidence is needed, the positive effects of yoga on sexual health are promising.
