Young Couple Doing YogaIf you’re a yoga lover, why are you hoarding it all to yourself? As they say, the couple that do yoga together, stay together—so take your relationship to the mat and strengthen your relationship with each downward dog you do! Here’s just some of the many benefits that couples yoga will bring to you and yours.

It Brings Additional Support in Your Relationship

If you’ve been a long term yoga devotee, then you know how good just one fifty minute yoga class makes you feel. With each stretch, inhale and deep connection to your body a pose provides, you’re connected with yourself like you have never been.

Bring in your partner to the mix, and you’ll feel a connection—and a form of support, both physically and emotionally. Even if you’re both beginners (or you’re at different stages if one of you is experienced with yoga and the other one is not), taking couples yoga is the perfect platform for supporting one another from pose to pose, improving your communication and sharing the experience, together.

It Builds Trust and Connection

Healthy couple doing yoga and meditatingMany couple’s yoga classes are designed for participation. You’re not just moving independently from child pose to cat pose to downward dog to sun salutation. Instead, you’re working together by supporting one another, looking at each other in the eye (focusing on the moment you’re experiencing together), learning to let go and experience intimacy. 

Many poses you’ll do in couple’s yoga will be designed to do together. Here’s an example of how you can experience and enhance your connection by doing the child pose:

·         One person starts in the child’s pose (as you’d normally do in a traditional yoga class).

·         Her partner (let’s call him ‘active’ partner) stands between her arms which are stretched in front of her, and on either side of the active partner’s stance.

·         The active partner then reaches down on her curved back (she remains in child pose for the entire exercise) until his hands are placed on her lower back. He’s now in the downward dog position.

·         The active partner places his hands even lower on her back, to give her a wonderful back stretch.

·         The active partner then moves back to his starting position, and repeat 3-4 times.

Couples yoga is a great opportunity to experience trust building, increased intimacy and improved communication—all thanks to a few simple but powerful poses and techniques. Who knew that the child pose (or any yoga pose for that matter) could be responsible for greater happiness and satisfaction in your relationship?