Yoga for Great Sex

No wonder yoga devotees always seem so blissed-out. According to Jacquie Greaux, author of the new book, Better Sex Through Yoga: Easy Routines to Boost Your Sex Drive, Enhance Physical Pleasure, and Spice Up Your Bedroom Life (Doubleday), “Yoga increases your flexibility and circulation—and therefore your sensation.” Do these moves a few times a week to help prep you for creative maneuvering in the sack. 

Pose: Locust
Position it’s best for: Satisfying Side (facing each other, on your sides)—a way to make love that allows you to relax and enjoy.

Why it helps: Strengthens abs and back; stimulates the pelvis by squeezing glutes and perineum.

How to do it: Lie on your stomach with chin resting on floor, arms at your sides (palms down), and legs together; point toes. Inhale and raise torso, arms, and legs as high as you can. Hold for 3 breaths.

Pose: Killer Hip Opener
Position it’s best for: Splitting Bamboo (him on top, you on bottom with one leg over his shoulder), which allows for deep penetration. Once you start feeling more flexible, try putting both legs over his shoulders for an even more intense experience.

Why it helps: Stretches hips, glutes, and hamstrings; relieves sore or tight pelvis for increased arousal and sensitivity.

How to do it: Sit on floor with your legs together and extended. Bend right knee and place calf on top of left thigh, with right ankle resting just outside left knee. Flex both feet, exhale, and bend forward from waist. Hold for 5 breaths; repeat on opposite side.

Pose: In the Saddle
Position it’s best for: Rock Steady (sitting face-to-face, legs wrapped around each other’s waists), a position that means less work for you so you can concentrate on other things. You’ll love the stimulating entry angle, too.

Why it helps: Opens hips and stretches legs, back, and shoulders; stimulates key acupressure point for sexual energy, located in the middle of your lower back.

How to do it: Sit with outstretched legs opened wide and feet pointed out. Place hands behind butt and push up onto fingers, lengthening and straightening your back while pulling shoulders back and down. Hold for 5 breaths.

Pose: Hello
Position it’s best for: Doggie Style, just the thing when you want deep penetration—and to let your partner control the rhythm.

Why it helps: Stretches backs of legs; increases strength in the pelvis.

How to do it: Stand with legs about 3 feet apart. Bend at waist and touch hands to floor or a block, then move them forward so your back is straight. Place right hand directly under chin and swing left arm up. Hold for 4 breaths; repeat on opposite side.

By Su Reid-St. John

Related Links (Please Search):
3 Lifestyle Habits That Can Boost Your Sex Drive
All About Yoga
Health’s Sexiest Sex Survey EVER!

Last Updated: July 30, 2008
Filed Under: Sex and Relationships

Get the Body of Your Dreams: Karen Clark

Karen Clark, 49
Knoxville, Tennessee
Loves: Rowing

Sports were never Karen Clark’s thing as a kid. But when, in her early 40s, she couldn’t budge a large flowerpot, the computer consultant and married mom of two started to long for muscles. Clark hired a personal trainer and enjoyed the workouts, but was looking for more. Then he had her try a rowing machine, and she liked it enough to sign up for a three-day workshop on the Tennessee River. She came home a changed woman.

“You’re working with a team, and everyone’s focused on the same goal. The sun’s coming up over the water. And I’m thinking, ‘I want to do this as often as I can,’” she says.

Clark now rows three times a week, typically in a shell with eight other women. “When a row goes well, you’ve pushed yourself beyond what you thought you could do. That is exhilarating,” she says.

Now, not only is Clark able to move her own flowerpots, but she’s gone from a size 12 to a size 8. The sport has also brought Clark closer to her daughters, Isabel, 20, and Olivia, 17, who delight in cheering her on. “When your children tell you they’re proud of you, that’s great stuff,” she says.

Last Updated: July 23, 2008
Filed Under: Fitness

Get the Body of Your Dreams: Pamela Brown

Pamela C. Brown, 30
Indianapolis, Indiana
Loves: Kickboxing

Pamela Brown’s worst high school grade wasn’t in some brainiac subject like trigonometry or physics. It was in PE. The now-30-year-old, single college administrator barely passed the class after refusing to suit up. “I didn’t like to sweat,” she says.

Brown started running during her college years to lose weight (prompted by a remark from a tactless ex-boyfriend), but gave it up when she moved to Indianapolis in 2001 and experienced her first brutally cold winter. It wasn’t until three years ago, when she walked into a kickboxing class on a whim, that she found a workout she actually looks forward to. The class—turbo kickboxing, a tough, dancelike workout to a hip-hop beat—is a physical escape from day-to-day stresses. “You’re completely in the moment,” she says. “You can’t think about your next move. You just do it.”

Now 20 pounds lighter, Brown says her muscles aren’t her only reward. She hasn’t had a cold in years and has loads of energy. “I’m more upbeat and confident,” she says. “I can do a lot more than I ever imagined.”

Last Updated: July 23, 2008
Filed Under: Fitness

How to (Finally) Get the Body of Your Dreams

There are plenty of us who don’t think of ourselves as sporty types. Maybe you don’t like to sweat, or maybe you’ve gotten real cozy with your couch. That was the story for these five women until each stumbled onto an unexpected surprise: a new kind of workout that not only got her body in motion but was actually fun, too. Find out how they discovered their fitness passions—and get inspired to explore your own. You just might be a late bloomer, too.

Last Updated: July 23, 2008
Filed Under: Fitness