Enhanced Sexual Performance through Yoga Practices: Exploring its Advantages
The internet is brimming with wellness blogs advocating yoga for a more satisfying sex life, accompanied by personal testimonials of its transformative effects. But does the scientific evidence support these claims? Let's explore.
Yoga, an ancient practice, has only recently begun to reveal its numerous health advantages, including alleviating depression, stress, anxiety, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and thyroid issues. Recognizing the intricate mechanics underlying these benefits, researchers have delved deeper.
It has been discovered that yoga reduces the body's inflammatory response, inhibits genetic expressions associated with stress, lowers cortisol, and increases a protein that supports brain growth and health.
Moreover, yoga provides an undeniably enjoyable physical experience. Reports of a so-called "coregasm" during yoga—an allegedly intense feeling of pleasure—have added to the hype.
Connecting with one's body can offer a rejuvenating, restorative, and pleasurable experience. But can yoga's poses truly contribute to a better sex life? Let's examine the research.
Women's Sexual Function Improvement
A study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found that yoga may indeed improve sexual function, particularly for women aged 45 and older. After 12 weeks of yoga sessions, participants self-reported notable improvements across all sections of the Female Sexual Function Index, including desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain. As many as 75% of the women reported an improvement in their sexual lives after completing yoga training.
Men's Sexual Function Improvement
Not just for women, yoga brings benefits to men as well. A study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav, a neurologist at the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, India, revealed a 12-week yoga program significantly improved male sexual satisfaction, as assessed by the standard Male Sexual Health Quotient. Improvements were seen in every aspect of male sexual satisfaction, including desire, intercourse satisfaction, performance, confidence, partner synchronization, erection, ejaculatory control, and orgasm.
Furthermore, a comparison study conducted by the same research team found that yoga can be an effective and non-pharmacological alternative to fluoxetine (Prozac) for treating premature ejaculation. The study comprised 15 yoga poses, ranging from simpler poses like Kapalbhati to more complex ones like dhanurasana (the bow pose).
Yoga's Mechanisms for Better Sex
Explaining exactly how yoga improves one's sex life is not straightforward. A literature review led by researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, offers some insights.
Dr. Lori Brotto, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at UBC, and her team explain that yoga regulates attention, breathing, and lowers anxiety and stress. Additionally, yoga stimulates the nervous system, activating processes that induce relaxation, lower the heart rate, and promote blood flow—influencing sexual response.
There are also psychological factors at play, as female yoga practitioners are less likely to objectify their bodies and more aware of their physical selves, potentially leading to increased sexual assertiveness and desires.
The Moola Bandha Effect
While stories of blocked energy release in root chakras and kundalini energy movement may lack rigorous scientific evidence, concepts such as Moola Bandha could appeal to skeptics. Moola Bandha, a perineal contraction, stimulates the nervous system in the pelvic region and directly innervates the gonads and perineal body/cervix. Studies have suggested that Moola Bandha can alleviate period pain, childbirth pain, and sexual difficulties in women, as well as treat premature ejaculation and control testosterone secretion in men.
In essence, Moola Bandha mimics the modern, medically recommended Kegel exercises, thought to prevent urinary incontinence and help both men and women enjoy sex for longer. Sex therapy centers often recommend this yoga practice for women to boost their awareness of genital arousal sensations, thereby improving desire and sexual satisfaction.
While more experimental evidence is needed to affirm the long-rumored "yogasm" phenomena, studies have shown enough promise for us to consider incorporating yoga into our daily lives. Doing so may prove incredibly rewarding, especially our pelvic muscles.
- The study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine suggests that yoga might improve sexual function, particularly in women aged 45 and above, as participants reported significant improvements in all sections of the Female Sexual Function Index after 12 weeks of sessions.
- In a separate study, a 12-week yoga program led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav was found to significantly improve male sexual satisfaction by enhancing aspects like desire, intercourse satisfaction, performance, and orgasm.
- A literature review by researchers at the University of British Columbia offers insights into how yoga might contribute to a better sex life. Theseinclude the regulation of attention, breathing, decreasing anxiety and stress, stimulating the nervous system, and promoting blood flow, all of which influence sexual response.
