Enhanced Sexual Performance through Yoga: Unveiling Its Promising Effects
Enhanced sexual experiences through yoga are a topic that has gained traction with wellness blogs and anecdotal accounts. However, is scientific research affirming these claims? We delve into the matter.
In recent years, scientific research has explored the numerous health advantages of the ancient practice of yoga.
Conditions that yoga allegedly assists with include depression, stress, and anxiety, as well as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and thyroid issues. Research has further unfolded the complex mechanisms behind these benefits.
It has been discovered that yoga can lower the body's inflammatory response, counter the genetic expressions that predispose people to stress, lower cortisol, and boost a neuroprotein that aids the brain's growth and maintenance.
In addition to its health benefits, practicing yoga feels pleasant and, according to popular belief, can bring about intense feelings of pleasure - even the elusive coregasm during yoga. Connecting with one's body can be replenishing, restorative, and physically gratifying. But can yoga's yummy poses truly better our sex lives? Let's examine the research.
Enhanced Sexual Function in Women
One influential study, published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, found that yoga could indeed improve sexual function - particularly in women aged 45 and over. The study evaluated the effects of a 12-week yoga session on 40 women who reported on their sexual function before and after the sessions.
By the conclusion of the 12-week period, the women's sexual function showed remarkable improvement across all aspects of the Female Sexual Function Index: "desire", "arousal", "lubrication", "orgasm", "satisfaction", and "pain". As many as 75 percent of the women reported an improvement in their sex lives after yoga training.
The women were trained on 22 specific poses, or yogasanas, which include trikonasana (also known as the triangle pose), bhujangasana (the snake), and ardha matsyendra mudra (half spinal twist). The comprehensive list of asanas can be accessed here.
Enhanced Sexual Function in Men
Yoga extends its 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, explored the impact of a 12-week yoga program on the sexual satisfaction of men.
At the completion of the study period, the participants reported a substantial improvement in their sexual function, as assessed by the standard Male Sexual Quotient. The researchers found improvements across all aspects of male sexual satisfaction: "desire", "intercourse satisfaction", "performance", "confidence", "partner synchronization", "erection", "ejaculatory control", and "orgasm".
Another comparative trial by the same research team found that yoga is a viable and nonpharmacological alternative to fluoxetine (brand name Prozac) for treating premature ejaculation.
It included 15 yoga poses, varying from simpler ones like Kapalbhati, which involves sitting with a straight back, crossed legs, open chest, closed eyes, hands on knees, and contracted abdominal muscles, to more complex ones like dhanurasana, or the "bow pose".
Yogic Mechanisms for Better Sex
But how exactly does yoga enhance one's sex life? Researchers at the University of British Columbia's Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology have endeavored to elucidate some of its sex-enhancing mechanisms.
Dr. Lori Brotto, a professor in the department, is the first author of a recent review.
Dr. Brotto and her colleagues explain that yoga regulates attention and breathing, lowers anxiety and stress, and manages - in other words, it stimulates the part of the nervous system that commands the body to stop, relax, rest, digest, slow the heart rate, and triggers various metabolic processes that induce relaxation.
"These effects are associated with improvements in sexual response," write the reviewers, implying that yoga might be linked to improved sexual health.
Psychological factors are also in play. "Female practitioners of yoga have been found to be less inclined to objectify their bodies," note Dr. Brotto and her team, "and more attentive to their physical selves."
"This inclination, in turn, may be linked to increased sexual responsibility, assertiveness, and potentially, desires."
The Power of the Moola Bandha
While claims about releasing blocked energy in root chakras and moving kundalini energy up and down the spine to produce ejaculation-free male orgasms remain absent rigorous scientific evidence, other yogic concepts may embrace skeptics.
Moola bandha is one such concept.
"Moola bandha is a perineal contraction that stimulates the sensory-motor and the autonomic nervous system in the pelvic region, thereby enforcing parasympathetic activity in the body," write Dr. Brotto and her colleagues in their review.
"Specifically, moola bandha is thought to directly innervate the gonads and perineal body/cervix." The video below incorporates the movement into a practice for pelvic floor muscles.
Some studies cited by the researchers suggest that practicing moola bandha relieves period pain, childbirth pain, and sexual difficulties in women, as well as treating premature ejaculation and controlling testosterone secretion in men.
Moola bandha resembles the modern, medically recommended Kegel exercises, which are believed to prevent urinary incontinence and help women (and men) enjoy sex for longer. In fact, many sex therapy centers recommend this yoga practice to help women become more aware of their sensations of arousal in the genital area, thus improving desire and sexual experience.
Another yoga pose that strengthens the pelvic floor muscles is bhekasana, or the "frog pose".
Apart from improving the sexual experience, this pose may alleviate symptoms of vestibulodynia, or pain in the vestibule of the vagina, as well as vaginismus - the involuntary contraction of vaginal muscles that prevents women from enjoying penetrative sex.
Reliability of the Evidence
While it is tempting to get, ahem, excited by the potential sexual benefits of yoga, it is essential to consider the vast disparity between the amount of empirical, or experimental, evidence and that of non-empirical, or anecdotal, evidence.
The Internet brims with the latter, but the studies that have trialed the benefits of yoga for sexual function remain scarce. Furthermore, the majority of the studies mentioned above - which found improvements in sexual satisfaction and function for both men and women - have a relatively small sample size and did not benefit from a control group.
However, more recent studies - which focused on women who have sexual dysfunction in addition to other conditions - have yielded stronger evidence.
For example, a randomized controlled trial evaluated the effects of yoga in women with metabolic syndrome, a group with a higher risk of sexual dysfunction overall.
For these women, a 12-week yoga program led to "significant improvement" in arousal and lubrication, whereas such improvements were not observed in the women who did not practice yoga.
Improvements were also found in blood pressure, prompting the researchers to conclude that "yoga may be an effective treatment for sexual dysfunction in women with metabolic syndrome, as well as for metabolic risk factors."
Another randomized controlled trial investigated the sexual benefits of yoga for women living with multiple sclerosis (MS). The participants underwent 3 months of yoga training, consisting of eight weekly sessions.
Importantly, women in the yoga group "showed improvement in physical ability" and sexual function, "while women in [the] control group manifested exacerbated symptoms."
"Yoga techniques may improve physical activities and sexual satisfaction function of women with MS," concluded the study paper.
Though solid, large-scale evidence that directly declares "yoga improves sexual function" in both sexes is still sparse, the research points to indirect but significant improvements in sexual health through yoga.
Until future research can support whether "yogasms" are indeed a viable, achievable reality, we believe there is ample reason to incorporate yoga into our daily routines. Experimenting with it ourselves could prove immensely enriching, and our pelvic muscles will certainly appreciate the practice.
Scientific research has demonstrated that yoga can improve various aspects of health, including sexual health. For instance, a study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found that yoga could enhance sexual function in older women, with 75% reporting improved sex lives after a 12-week session. Another study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav found similar benefits for men, with improvements in aspects like desire, erection, and orgasm. Researchers attribute these benefits to yoga's ability to regulate attention, lower anxiety, and stimulate the nervous system, which can lead to improved sexual response. However, it is essential to note that while the evidence is promising, more extensive, empirical studies are needed to definitively confirm the impact of yoga on sexual health. Incorporating yoga into our daily routine could potentially improve our sexual health, although further research is required to fully understand its effects.
