Is stress killing your libido? Do you find yourself bogged down with a busy mind at the end of the day, feeling as though you would rather go to sleep than get down and dirty with your loved one?
Sexual arousal and function is dependent on a healthy cardiovascular system and good overall mental and physical health. When we leave our stress unmanaged, our cortisol and adrenaline levels rise, which in turn can interfere with our sex response hormones.
When we’re relaxed, we free up precious energy for positive, inspiring activities that help us feel light, happy, and better able to take care of ourselves and our loved ones.
How Yoga Can Help
By teaching us to embrace each moment and live life one breath at a time, yoga lets us better connect with ourselves and our partner—spiritually, physically, and sexually. Plenty of research suggests that yoga reduces the stress hormone cortisol, helping us to create that Zen-like state of mind.
Practicing yoga regularly not only keeps our cardiovascular system healthy; it also reduces stress, releases endorphins, keeps our minds calmer and our bodies younger, improves our body confidence, and positively impacts our sexual hormones and libido!
Taking a few minutes every morning to do yoga lets you deflect other people’s negative emotions more easily, rely less on coffee for energy, and see the lighter side of every situation that presents itself to you, even the more challenging ones!
You become an all-around better, calmer, happier, and sexier person with heaps of energy and oomph from morning to bedtime!
Start With Some Alternate Nostril Breathing
In a comfortable seated position, rest your left hand on your lap. Begin by covering your left nostril with the middle finger of your right hand. Take a slow, deep inhale, then release the middle finger and cover the right nostril with your right thumb as you exhale through the left. Continue for 3 to 5 minutes.
Yoga Poses to Banish Stress and Improve Your Libido
These poses are for beginners and experienced yogis alike, and can be used as a gateway into a deeper experience of loving intimacy, increased libido, and total relaxation. They can be done as a short sequence or selected one by one. Hold them anywhere between 10 breaths and several minutes.
1. Child’s Pose
Credit: Christie PitkoCome to this pose at any time for instant calm! Feel your troubles melt away as you rest your forehead on the mat, cushion, or block, and just breathe.
2. Standing Forward Fold
This is an instantly calming pose that relieves stress and fatigue while energizing the body as the blood flows to the head. Hold this pose with a gentle bend in the knees and the shoulders free of tension.
3. Seated Forward Fold
Credit: Julia LeeUse cushions to stay comfortable as you stay here for several minutes. Relax your muscles, release any stress, resting your head onto the cushions and simply coming to your breath.
4. Eagle Pose
This is empowering and energizing pose works the whole body, releasing tension in the shoulders, legs, and back.
While it requires absolute focus to remain balanced, you are literally squeezing the tension out of your body here, and when you release the legs, all the blood comes flowing through the cervix, which is great for increasing your libido for sexy times with your partner at the end of a stressful day!
5. Reclined Hero Pose
This pose releases stored tension in the hips. Make it more restorative and heart opening by bringing a bolster between your shoulder blades, increasing flexibility in the spine and reducing fatigue and stress—absolute bliss!
Modification: For pain in the knees, keep one leg straight and change halfway.
6. Pigeon Pose
This pose releases deep tension in the hips (an area in which we hold a lot of stress), putting the mind in total chill mode. By bringing your attention to your breath, you move away from your thoughts and into the present moment, enhancing your ability to create a sense of sexual intimacy with your partner.
7. Downward-Facing Dog Pose
This pose calms the mind and invigorates the body, both important ingredients in good sex. It not only boosts confidence and muscle tone, but it’s also kind of sexy in itself as your butt is lifting in the air and you’re feeling super strong, long, and relaxed.
You’re also connecting to your hips and groin area visually here, which could be an awesome aphrodisiac.
8. Wide-Leg Straddle
This pose is good for low libido, improving blood flow to the pelvic area and increasing energy and vitality.
9. Legs-Up-the-Wall
An all-time favorite! You can’t fail but feel lighter after holding this pose for several minutes.
10. Savasana
Savasana puts the body completely at ease, emphasizing a state of deep rest that slows the breathing, lowers blood pressure, while quieting the nervous system.
Now try these yoga poses and watch how your sexual appetite comes back with gusto!
