Practicing Yoga With Or Without Your Partner Can Bring You Closer Together.
I love yoga. My boyfriend: not so much. He’s more into surfing and running. …Surfing the web and making beer runs, that is. But after some lengthy negotiations, he finally decided to come to try a yoga class with me. And much to both of our surprise – he liked it!
Yoga isn’t just great for your personal health – practicing yoga with a significant other can be incredibly beneficial to the health of your romantic relationship.
Here’s why:
1. Control
As anyone who has ever struggled in a class knows, yoga can be pretty strenuous – not just on your body, but on your mind, too. Plenty of mental energy is required to hold particularly difficult yoga poses, but as you gain experience you’ll learn to breathe through the pain, rather than succumb to it and release the pose.
Such therapeutic breathing can be used to communicate more effectively in your relationship: whereas you might normally fly off the handle when your partner does something that really ticks you off, yoga will teach you to stop, breathe, and gather your thoughts before expressing yourself. Through breath control, you can calm your body and mind, and express your feelings more thoughtfully and considerately.
2. Focus
One of the most important elements of yoga is the practice of meditation, which can help you calm your mind and refocus your energy. It will permit you to sort out the stress caused by work, relationships, or financial issues, rather than allowing all of the anxiety to pile up into one giant mess.
By practicing meditation, you’ll learn how to better compartmentalize and not carry over frustrations from the rest of your day to your relationship, which can prevent unnecessary fights. Meditation will help you be more in touch with tension brought on by environmental stressors, friends, or family, so that you won’t take those frustrations out on your romantic partner.
3. Endorphins
Yoga is great for increased awareness and relaxation, but it can also be an excellent cardio workout. Staying fit and keeping your body physically tuned-up is crucial for a person’s general well-being – and you’ll have a lot of difficulty taking care of a partner if you aren’t taking care of your own physical health to begin with.
Plus, working out in any capacity produces endorphins, which will make you feel happier! Your relationship will benefit directly from the positive energy that comes with feeling good.
4. A Common Interest
Couples certainly don’t need to share all of the same interests – in fact, it’s important to maintain your individuality and continue to partake in all of the things that make you happy once a relationship begins. With that being said, sharing a common interest is a great way to create a deeper connection with your partner.
Yoga, in particular, is great for a couple to enjoy together whether in a class, or privately at home. Depending on your experience levels, you can enjoy many different aspects of the practice – whether you want to lead a session for your partner, follow his or her lead, or work alongside him or her as an equal.
5. Better Sex
Yoga puts you in touch with your body, mind, and breath. Through mindfulness, you can learn to focus on any area of your body, including your erogenous zones. Rather than merely going through the motions of sex (i.e. gyrating while thinking about all of the laundry that needs to be done), yoga can teach you how to stay in the moment and concentrate on every little physical sensation, leading to a more heightened sexual experience.
If you’re still having trouble selling yoga to your partner, remind him or her that it’s a gateway to better sex. Who’d ever turn down that offer?!
