Enhanced Sexual Wellbeing through Yoga Practice: Insights into its Potential Advantages
Yo, question is about yoga and its potential benefits on sexual function. Here's the lowdown!
Yoga, the ancient practice that originated thousands of years ago, is gaining attention for more than just its health benefits. There's been some research suggesting that it can get your libido going as well.
From lowering stress and improving mood, to boosting blood flow and strengthening muscles, yoga offers a myriad of benefits that could have a positive impact on your sexual well-being. But what exactly does the science say?
Let's dive in and find out!
Powering Up Your Mojo: The Female Perspective
Researchers have found that a regular yoga practice might just be the secret sauce that women over 45 need to rev up their sex life. According to a study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, participating in a 12-week yoga program showed improved sexual function across the board for these ladies.
The researchers trained 40 women on 22 different yoga poses, or yogasanas, and found that their sexual function significantly improved on all sections of the Female Sexual Function Index, including desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain.
75 percent of the women reported an improvement in their sex life after yoga training. Paying attention to the poses, activities like trikonasana (the triangle pose), the snake (bhujangasana), and half spinal twist (ardha matsyendra mudra) were among those that were found to have the most impact.
Sticking the Landing: The Male Perspective
It's not just the ladies who reap the rewards of a regular yoga practice. A study by Dr. Vikas Dhikav, a neurologist at the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, India, found that a 12-week yoga program significantly improved sexual satisfaction for men.
At the study's conclusion, the participants showed improvements in all aspects of their sexual satisfaction as evaluated by the standard Male Sexual Quotient, including desire, intercourse satisfaction, performance, confidence, partner synchronization, erection, ejaculatory control, and orgasm.
In a comparative trial led by the same team of researchers, yoga was found to be a viable and non-pharmacological alternative to fluoxetine (Prozac) for treating premature ejaculation. The yoga practice included poses ranging from the simple Kapalbhati, to the more challenging dhanurasana (the bow pose).
Sealing the Deal: The Mechanics of Sexual Enhancement
Now that we have a glimpse of the promising results, let's explore how yoga improves your sex life. According to a review led by researchers at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, yoga helps regulate attention, lowers anxiety, reduces stress, and increases mindfulness and sexual awareness.
By doing so, it can help you relax, reduce the negative effects of stress on your body and mind, and improve your sexual response. Moola bandha, a yogic concept that involves a contraction in the pelvic area, can help enhance blood flow to the pelvic region, reduce tension and treat sexual difficulties in women, and manage premature ejaculation and control testosterone secretion in men.
While the concept of blocked energy and kundalini energy moving up the spine to produce orgasm sans ejaculation might sound far-fetched, there's no denying that practices like these have the potential to make a significant difference in the sexual health of both men and women.
Moola bandha, similar to Kegel exercises recommended by sex therapists, can help women become more aware of their sensations of arousal in the genital area, enhancing desire and sexual satisfaction. Another pose that focuses on the pelvic floor, the frog pose (bhekasana), can relieve symptoms of vestibulodynia, a condition causing pain in the vestibule of the vagina, and vaginismus, an involuntary contraction of vaginal muscles that can make penetrative sex painful.
The Nitty-Gritty: The Reliability of the Evidence
Although the initial findings on yoga's impact on sexual health can be rather intriguing, it's important to remember that there's a significant difference between empirical evidence and anecdotal evidence.
While the web is flooded with personal stories about the sexual benefits of yoga, the well-designed studies investigating these effects are still few and far between. Most of the studies mentioned above were relatively small in scale and didn't include control groups for comparison.
However, newer research focusing on women with conditions such as metabolic syndrome and multiple sclerosis has demonstrated stronger evidence to support yoga's benefits for sexual function and overall health.
While it may take further research to fully unravel the potential sexual benefits of yoga, the early studies certainly suggest that there's enough reason to give it a shot and see what it can do for you!
So, grab your mat, put on your favorite playlist, and see what this ancient practice can do for your modern love life. You might find yourself thanking your lucky stars that you gave it a try!
- Yoga, with its potential to reduce stress, improve mood, boost blood flow, and strengthen muscles, could have a positive impact on a person's sexual well-being, according to research.
- In a study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, women over 45 who participated in a 12-week yoga program showed improved sexual function across multiple categories, including desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain.
- A 12-week yoga program led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav also showed significant improvements in sexual satisfaction for men, as evaluated by the Male Sexual Quotient, including desire, intercourse satisfaction, performance, confidence, partner synchronization, erection, ejaculatory control, and orgasm.
