Try This Yoga Pose To Give Your Sex Life A Boost

A good sex life is made up of communication, foreplay, and experimenting with different positions, to name a few. Some say yoga poses combined with meditative breathing are natural ways to boost your sex drive.

Speaking of yoga, one particular pose, commonly referred to as the "happy baby pose," or "Ananda Balasana" in Sanskrit, offers physical, emotional, and mental health benefits that could give your sex life a boost. "Ananda" means "happiness," "bala" means "child," and "asana" means "pose". 

It's commonly thought to unblock or balance out your sacral chakra, the space right below your belly button — the chakra associated with your sexual and creative energy, emotional intelligence, and how you relate to others' emotions. In traditional Indian yoga practice, it is thought that all of us have seven main chakras located at different points of our body, from the root to the tip. The sacral chakra is one of the seven. The happy baby pose helps open up your inner thighs, hips, and groin area. It's meant to release tension in the area and also improve pelvic flexibility. Flexibility in your pelvic area is related to comfortable penetration and better orgasms. In fact, the happy baby pose is even recommended as a sexual pose in a school of thought called "yoga sex," which uses yoga poses for enhanced sexual experience. Let's take a look at how to do it, how not to do it, and how it'll help your sex life. It could be one of the best things you can do before having sex.

While there's a beginner's guide to doing the happy baby pose, yoga practitioners typically also include modified versions of the stretch just so that everyone with varying levels of flexibility can safely practice it. Let's get into the basics.

On a yoga mat on the floor, lie down on your back and gently bring your knees toward your chest. Bring your arms through the insides of your legs and take hold of your big toes with your fingers. Some experts suggest holding on to the soles of your feet instead. Gently open up your hips by widening your legs. Your knees should be wider than your torso with your ankles positioned directly over them at a 90-degree angle. Focus on drawing your knees close to your armpits (this helps with getting the correct posture). Your head, shoulders, and back should be firmly resting on the floor. Some experts recommend rocking from side to side (how you might see a baby doing in a crib) while in this pose, while others advise staying in this stretch while inhaling and exhaling deeply. Most yoga practitioners, however, will tell you to flex your heels and push into your hands while also pulling your hands down to create resistance. You can also create resistance by pushing your lower sacrum into the floor and bringing your knees toward you.

Despite the fact that yoga poses are meant to make you feel relaxed and help you stretch out your muscles, not paying attention to form can put unnecessary tension on certain parts of your body. You don't want cramps after sex or before. 

With the happy baby pose, you want to pay particular attention to your head, neck, and shoulders. They should be comfortably resting on the floor at all times during the practice. Straining to bring them up at any point during the pose can cause pain and discomfort in those areas. If you do feel like you're lifting your neck up, place a folded blanket under your head or use a resistance band of some sort to loop around your feet (instead of using your hands). Try and keep your shoulders and neck relaxed throughout. Also, maintain some space between your chin and chest. 

Modified versions of this pose focus on allowing those who can't get a hold of the soles of their feet to still comfortably open up their inner thighs, hips, and pelvic area. You could either hold on to your ankles or shins while you stretch your legs apart or simply hug your knees to your chest as well. Do this for 30 seconds (or for however long it feels comfortable) before sex, as a regular daily stretch, or even during sex if you want to try a better pose for penetrative sex. If you have a neck, knee, or spinal injury, consult with your physician before trying this pose. It's also not recommended for pregnant women.

If you were to ask yoga practitioners about the sexual health benefits of the happy baby pose, they may not stop at what it does for you physically. While the stretch really does get into the sacroiliac region to relax those joints and muscles, there's a lot more to yoga that focuses on unblocking your sacral chakra. 

As explained by New York-based gynecologist Dr. Alyssa Dweck (via Byrdie), this yoga pose is also about emotional release and stress relief. "Stress can hinder enjoyable sex both physically and emotionally. Imagine stress tensing your muscles in the neck or back. The pelvic floor muscles can also tense up during times of stress and can lead to painful sex and in severe cases vaginismus," explained the doctor. 

Additionally, there's a lesser-discussed benefit through this practice (and yoga as a whole) that experts believe enhances a person's sexual experience. When you do yoga every day, you connect with your inner self better. Plus, yoga teaches you to stay in the present, which is important for enhanced sexual experiences, according to a professor of psychology of human sexuality at the University of Florida, Laurie Mintz (via Women's Health). "[Mindfulness is an] essential component for desire and arousal — you can't orgasm when your brain is thinking about how you look, your 'performance,' or your emails." In addition to sexual health benefits, the happy baby yoga pose can help relieve lower back pain and stretch your spine. 

Yoga aside, pilates can have an unexpected effect on your sex life too. You can click through to learn more.