By Chelsea Reil

Relaxation comes with time, but for some yoga enthusiasts, what happens behind closed doors has been given a new twist.

Whether yoga is used to manage stress, improve golfing skills, or fitness, yoga has recently started to influence the bedroom and has spiced up the sex lives of romantic couples, some experts said.

Chandi Devi, a leader in partner yoga, recommended tantric yoga to heat things up in a email to the News. Tantra yoga is a system of Hindu yoga that emphasizes the shakti (which mean sexual energy in yogic terms) associated with the female principle, she said.

“Tantra yoga focuses primarily on the sexual act and promotes a sacred style of sexuality which promotes communication, breath and energy,” she said. “This concentration seeks to enhance the sexual experience through integration of the male and female (shiva/shakti) aspects of each individual, and of the couple together. Yoga poses, meditation, breathing techniques and other techniques such as ejaculation control and female ejaculation are employed to enrich the sexual act. This cultivates sensitivity throughout the body, vastly enriching the sexual experience.”

Even if you are practicing regular asanas (poses) together, partnering up in yoga gets you in better shape, faster, Devi said.

“If you’re stretching with the added weight of your partner, you’ll get flexible twice as fast,” she said. “Partner stretching is so much more fun than doing it alone.”

Stephanie Berenson, a freshman athletic training major and yoga enthusiast who has been practicing for six years and is working on becoming a certified yoga teacher, said yoga is a union that brings together the mind, body and spirit.

“Many people think that yoga is just a bunch of stretches intended to make you more flexible and limber, but it is actually a lot more. Yoga is really about creating balance in the mind and body through developing strength, flexibility, and endurance,” she said.

Berenson also said the benefits of an hour of yoga are endless and should be practiced regularly.

“Some of the more commonly known ones are flexibility, endurance, strength, a good body, the ability to focus and concentrate and stress reduction,” she said. “However, there are others such as pain prevention, disease prevention, muscle tone body awareness, and better breathing that come with the practice.”

In addition to the confidence and contentedness with one’s body that yoga instills, some experts said there are many types of practices that partners can do together to spice things up and strengthen a relationship.

For Boys who find yoga too feminine might want to try Acroyoga with their partners. Acroyoga is a physical practice that blends elements of yoga, acrobatics and Thai massage. Some experts said these three practices form the foundation of a practice that cultivates trust, connection and playfulness between partners. Minimally, this practice includes a base and a flyer; beginners (and those trying out advanced poses for the first time) often use a spotter to ensure the safety of the flyer.

Jason Nemer and Jenny Sauer-Klein are credited with the creation of Acroyoga in 2004 in San Francisco. In an article Nemer and Sauer-Klein wrote in the Yogi Times in 2007, they said Acroyoga involves building trust and connection between two people.

“After building trust with inversions, the session moves on to partner acrobatics, including flying, in which one partner remains on the ground as a base to support the other in an aerial position,” they said in the article.

Devi said she recommended practicing naked with a partner, which increases awareness of one’s body as well as the partner’s body. She also said sensations like your partner’s breath on other’s skin become intensified. She suggested using nude partner yoga as prolonged foreplay.

“If you’re stretching with the added weight of your partner, you’ll get flexible twice as fast,” she said. “Partner stretching is so much more fun than doing it alone.”

There are also benefits for the relationship with partner stretching.

“For the relationship, your partner has to rely on you, and trust you with their body and their mind, which enables a more open and fulfilling relationship,” Berenson said.