Bad Yogi Blog

Life is wonderful! And it is even more special when you share it with someone. Sunsets are beautiful… and even sweeter when you watch them with a loved one.

Yoga is wonderful too, and it is even more magical when you share the practice with a partner. Yoga works on many levels; it is a journey of discovery, of ourselves and our interdependence. Each one of us is a whole universe to be explored through this practice.

We live in a fast-moving world, so partner yoga is a great way to spend quality time together enjoying a fun and healthy activity. Practicing yoga together helps to strengthen the bonds between a couple while supporting each other and having fun.

In partner yoga we connect to each other in new and fun ways; we touch and are touched. We stretch farther than usual with our partner’s help, balance in ways we could not by ourselves, breathe deeply together and dive into tranquility while we stare into each other’s eyes.

Bringing People Together

Partner yoga is a great way to bring two people together because in relationships everything is reciprocal: the more we respect our partner the more they respect us; the more we give, the more we get; the more we listen, the more we are being listened to. In spending time wholly absorbed in each other, stretching each other, massaging, listening to each other’s movements and giving and receiving, our connections deepen and our hearts heal. Even one or two hours of conscious practice in a partner yoga class can serve as a great bridge over gaps that were created in the past.

Partner yoga provides a rare opportunity for both partners to be truly present with each other (without any other distracting duties, kids or cell phones – pure bliss)!

The Magic of Touch

Babies who don’t receive enough touch in early life do not survive, and children and even adults who don’t receive enough touch might suffer from a variety of emotional or mental challenges as well. Touch is the strongest and simplest way of giving and receiving love, support, warmth and trust and in partner yoga classes we spend most of our time touching each other.

By practicing yoga together, we learn how to touch, how to be gentle, and how to be kind. We learn acceptance and compassion, how to be respectful and trusting, and how to connect, communicate, and cooperate. It’s a great opportunity to open the heart and overcome past conflicts.

Partner Yoga and Tantra

Just to make it clear, in partner yoga classes we learn yoga poses (not sex poses). Nevertheless, the communication, touch and attentiveness skills that participants learn through this experience can definitely lead to a better love life.

Partner Yoga can be used to improve sexuality by:

• Deepening the connection you feel with your partner
• Improving your own understanding of yourself and your partner
• Putting yourself more in harmony with your own body and mind (making you a better lover and partner)
• Helping to cultivate and maintain emotional and physical balance
• Keeping you fit and healthy so that you’re more physically capable ; )
• Allowing you to get into some very interesting positions!

Tantra means expansion through awareness and transformation through pleasure. It really means that your whole being is expanded through awareness of your senses, feelings and energy.

“Traditional” yoga is an individual practice, but this new yoga is a way to expand our hearts and minds to include another person.

If in the “old” yoga we withdrew within ourselves to find inner joy and peace, then in this new yoga we learn to expand ourselves and discover that happiness is not only within but also all around us. Contraction is limiting and narrowing, while expansion is freeing. The more we expand ourselves to include others, the more fun and meditative the feeling is.

But there’s only so much that can be explained with words… hold your partner’s hands, look into their eyes, breath together and with heightened awareness flow as one through beautiful yoga poses. Enjoy!

Download our free yoga form guide — over 50 yoga poses broken down with pictures.