I was talking with a friend of mine, we have dated, and I told her I that i find her very attractive when she teaches yoga. also, she gave me a massage. This type of massage is not the typical lie down massage but more of being put in postures, and some of them is similar to some postures in couples yoga. similar to a shiatsu massage. so anyways, we were talking and she did not think it was normal to be turned on by doing yoga with a woman. she just thinks its typical male horniness. where as for me I find it very sensual and erotic. So I know there is no thing as normal, but do any of you that have partners and do yoga together get highly turned on?
thanks
brother Neil
Interesting that you bring that up. When we are out socially and I’m asked what I do and I say,‘I teach yoga’, all the males turn to my husband and say,‘what a lucky man’. He just smiles as say,‘yes I am!’ What is even more interesting is several of the women in our social group started coming to my class!
But honestly, I can see why it would be sensual. There is nothing more beautiful than a graceful, artistic flow of poses, linked with the breath.
The name ‘Yoga’ is generic and can be attached to anything of one’s choice, couple yoga, dog yoga, power yoga and so on. When you start bottom-up, your understanding of Yoga is poses, and then for some, whole Yoga is poses . One apparently convincing argument is, why not? If we achieve physical well-being through Yoga, why not?
No issues. But I feel sad when the Yoga discussions primarily stay locked up at the physical level and there is not even a hint from the practitioner of a desire to explore what more Yoga is. When you practice poses, it is not an end, but beginning of a process. A process of realization - that the universe as well as each object (including people) is multi-layered from gross (physical) to subtle (spiritual).
It appears from the exchange on this thread that poses stimulate sexually and that is not a hinderance to Yoga but rather Yoga’s precious gift. Again, it is a valid experience. But the response seen here is not of exploring Yoga, it is exploring human vulnerability to arousal, that breaks no new ground.
Everyone is in his/her right to choose a response, I am writing this because it is a Yoga forum. What need not happen is stopping there and getting further engrossed in desire-satiation from which Yoga is trying to show a way out if you are looking for one. Arousal is a great opportunity to explore the subtle world of desire and a spiritual principle of shiv-parvati/ purusha-prakriti. If that doesn’t happen, let it at least be realized that an opportunity is lost.
I’ve only dabbled in Yoga but my wife has been doing it steadily for the past five years or so. She absolutely loves it. I could certainly see how it could attribute to heightened sexuality as you’re stretching and conditioning the body as well as gaining more awareness of your body and mind. All of those things can definitely help impact sex which is equally a body and mind exercise.
Having said all of that, I can’t say I’ve been turned on during Yoga itself. I’m usually too busy trying not to fall on my butt!