Enhanced Sexual Performance through Yoga: Insights into Its Positive Impacts
The widespread internet advice promoting yoga for improved sexual experiences seems to hold some truth, as research begins to unveil the practice's numerous health benefits, including enhancements in sexual function.
Yoga, an ancient practice with roots dating back thousands of years, has proven to alleviate various health issues such as stress, depression, and anxiety, among others. Recent studies have delved deeper into the mechanisms responsible for these benefits.
It appears that yoga can lower the body's inflammatory response, counteract stress-related genetic expressions, reduce cortisol levels, and boost a protein that promotes brain growth and overall health.
Given the myriad benefits of yoga, it's no wonder that some claim the practice can lead to a surge of pleasure, often referred to as the elusive "coregasm."
Improving sexual function, particularly in women over the age of 45, appears to be one of yoga's less-explored but promising benefits. A study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine investigated the effects of a 12-week yoga regimen on these women. The results showed significant improvements in sexual function across all sections of the Female Sexual Function Index, including desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain. As many as 75 percent of the women reported an improvement in their sexual well-being after yoga training.
The women in the study were taught 22 specific yoga poses, or yogasanas, believed to boost core abdominal muscles, aid digestion, strengthen the pelvic floor, and improve mood. Among these poses were trikonasana, bhujangasana, and ardha matsyendra mudra.
Men also reap the rewards of yoga. A study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav, a neurologist at the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, India, examined the impacts of a 12-week yoga program on male sexual satisfaction. At the study's conclusion, the participants reported significant improvements in their sexual function, as measured by the standard Male Sexual Quotient. Improvements were observed across all aspects of male sexual satisfaction, including desire, intercourse satisfaction, performance, confidence, partner synchronization, erection, ejaculatory control, and orgasm.
Explaining how yoga improves sexual function, a review of existing literature led by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada, offers some insight. Dr. Lori Brotto, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at UBC, was the first author of the review.
The research suggests that yoga regulates attention and breathing, lowers anxiety and stress, and activates the nervous system, inducing relaxation, which is associated with improvements in sexual response. Psychological mechanisms are also at play, with female yoga practitioners less likely to objectify their bodies and more in tune with their physical sensations. This heightened awareness and sense of control may contribute to increased sexual responsibility, assertiveness, and even sexual desires.
One concept within yoga, Moola bandha, is worth noting as it could pique the interest of skeptics. Moola bandha is a contraction of the perineal muscles that stimulates the nervous system in the pelvic region, promoting relaxation and potentially improving sexual health. Some studies have suggested that practicing Moola bandha can alleviate symptoms of period pain, childbirth pain, and sexual difficulties in women, as well as treat premature ejaculation in men.
While the notion of releasing blocked energy and attaining ejaculation-free male orgasms through yoga remains unsubstantiated, Moola bandha and other yogic concepts are grounded in research and offer a more palatable explanation for the practice's sexual benefits.
Incorporating Moola bandha and other yoga poses, such as bhekasana (the frog pose), into a daily routine may help strengthen pelvic floor muscles, improving sexual function and potentially alleviating symptoms of vestibulodynia and vaginismus in women.
As the scientific evidence supporting the sexual benefits of yoga continues to grow, incorporating yoga into one's lifestyle seems a promising approach to enhancing sexual wellness and overall health. The potential rewards, both for sexual satisfaction and pelvic muscle health, could prove tremendously enriching.
- Yoga, with its ability to regulate attention, lower anxiety and stress, and activate the nervous system, inducing relaxation, might contribute to improvements in sexual response, thereby enhancing sexual health.
- A study examining the impacts of a 12-week yoga program on male sexual satisfaction found significant improvements in various aspects of male sexual function, such as desire, performance, and orgasm, suggesting that men also reap the rewards of this ancient practice.
- The practice of Moola bandha, a contraction of the perineal muscles often used in yoga, stimulates the nervous system in the pelvic region and could potentially promote relaxation, improve sexual health, and alleviate symptoms of period pain, childbirth pain, and sexual difficulties in both men and women.
