5 Reasons Why Partner Yoga Can Transform Your Relationship
Yoga is great right?! Then what about partner yoga? Have you heard of it?
Indeed, most of us would agree that the potential benefits of a consistent yoga practice go way beyond just a healthy, fit body and sharp, attentive mind…
Finding balance in oneself; establishing a healthy communication between mind and body; finding new connections between various joints, limbs and muscle groups; understanding movement and connection on a more ethereal (or even ‘cosmic’) level; and gaining from an experienced and knowledgeable yoga instructor.
But what of being in relationship with another through the yoga journey? What remarkable insights and opportunities might such an activity provide?
Needless to say, relationships can be difficult, and especially intimate ones. And yet couples from all over the world are enjoying both the challenges and profound benefits of partner yoga, and seeing their relationship satisfaction drastically increase naturally as a consequence.
So does it have something to do with ingenius partner yoga poses? Or is it perhaps related to carrying (and trusting) the body weight of another?
Let’s dive in more fully and find out!
Physical And Emotional Support
Imagine relying fully on another’s ability to concentrate and execute a maneuver; and what if your physical body was on the line, staring down at the floor from quite a height?
It requires a remarkable amount of emotional and physical support to cultivate, and develop in, such a practice. Even the most basic partner yoga poses quickly become a sort of ‘couples yoga therapy’ in this sense. Especially if you both have different yoga backgrounds, attention to one’s emotional and physical needs is paramount.
With such challenges comes a remarkable ability to trust, overcome and put one’s life in the others’ hands.
Beautiful Moments with Couples Yoga
Couples, like all relationships, rely on the fostering of special moments; stories to tell the grandkids, to share on Instagram, to enjoy together the day after with a glass of wine…
The (healthy) stress, combination of exercises, stretches and breathing techniques, all brought together, are truly a recipe for magic moments. The intimacy and romantic attraction fostered from spending an hour so physically entwined with your partner, or even the more intangible yoga experience when done in full awareness with a friend, makes for endlessly funny, revealing and holy tales to be told over and over again.
The more one progresses into the different levels of principle-based partner yoga, the more amazing the physical movements (and moments) become!
Surrender
We’re all guilty of taking life pretty damn seriously at times. Yoga can also too easily become rather deep and philosophical.
The prescribed movements in partner yoga are surprisingly playful and creative, however. It is an experimental approach to life, filled with childlike bodily movements and without any unneeded stress. Essentially it’s all about surrendering to the process and enjoying the ride; a valuable lesson that can be carried with us into the rest of daily life, our work, other hobbies and even our sex life also.
Enjoying the process and letting go of the outcome is the best way to approach anything in life, as all the great yogis and mystics have been telling us for centuries…
The Power Of Touch with Partner yoga
Touch another person’s hands, their body, their face. You immediately feel the benefit! The various positions and yoga postures in partner yoga invite a whole universe of opportunities to touch and be touched.
Whether it’s holding up another’s upper body, lifting the soles of feet, or simply aiding another’s amazing stretch, the practice is infused with opportunities for couples to experience, simultaneously, both movement and touch.
Don’t worry… the yoga teacher’s job is to ensure that your breathing and postures allow for a physical touch that is a human touch; one that nourishes and balances the body and mind, without breaking it.
Intimacy
Authentic connection extends far beyond just the physical. Any intimacy practice relies upon mental movement as well as certain levels of trust. Even experienced yogis, and passionate yogi lovers alike, can be surprised (and challenged) by the environment of trust fostered within a partner yoga class, as well as the huge emotional benefits of such a practice.
It could be that intimacy is the best medicine for emotional stress and that which restores a sense of balance within the body more than anything else. There are far-reaching benefits of partner yoga that continue to surprise practicing couples even; such as unexpected improvements in sexual intimacy, happier relationships with friends and colleagues and a better practice of yoga when exercising alone also.
It is as much ‘partner yoga therapy’ as it is a form of yoga!
See any couples yoga poses online and it’s easy to imagine the amount of trust, communication, commitment and awareness required to make them work…
Partner yoga is a revolutionary yoga program in many ways. Perhaps more than any other yoga discipline, it invites us to find those most foundational and important human qualities inside of ourselves and to support others in their search also.
Couples will see benefits at home as well as in the yoga studio. Friends, colleagues, family members will see improved relationship and communication skills as well as physical benefits.
Human beings truly are the best mirrors for ourselves. Nothing else quite does it like a sweaty body balanced finely upon the edges of your hands and feet, and especially if that person is a dear lifelong friend or husband-to-be.
Perhaps it is only when we trust another fully that we can begin to trust ourselves…
So try partner yoga today, for all of the above reasons and more! Both your body and your partners’ will certainly thank you for it after.
