Can yoga help strengthen your relationship?
Any time is a good time to consider our relationships and how our connections to other people influence our lives.
If you have a loved one in your world at the moment, you may be searching for ways to strengthen your relationship with trust, love and physical connections.
The good news is that yoga could help. If practicing your favourite asana is an important pastime in your life, chances are you hope your partner shares your enthusiasm for yoga. If they do, here are four key ways yoga can be used to deepen your relationships.
Practicing mindfulness
One of the greatest benefits of yoga is the improved mental state that can be achieved with the right attitude and mindfulness.
By centering yourself and turning your thoughts inwards, you can shed the stress of the outside world and focus on the things that really matter. Namely, you can leave aside all other influences and deepen your connection with your loved one.
If you choose to practice yoga and meditation together, your joined states can strengthen during periods of looking inwards. This is a good way to discover what is truly important to each other, and highlight the importance of your relationship once all other influences have been stripped away.
Promoting physical connections
Whether you are performing asana specifically designed for couples or simply stretching your limbs in proximity to each other, the act of transforming your bodies into certain poses can highlight an important physical connection.
Relationships of love are often inspired by and built on physical foundations, so any practice that encourages body positivity and tangible connections between partners can be incredibly beneficial.
Become intimate in all aspects of life by bringing physical closeness outside of the bedroom.
Influencing positivity
Yoga can be incredibly beneficial for mental wellbeing, decreasing stress and encouraging positivity.
This is a huge bonus for couples who practice yoga together, as the individual and connected mindset can become increasingly positive and bring a little extra happiness into your home. Yoga, just like any other exercise, releases endorphins, which are chemicals in the brain that produce good feelings. This, and the decrease of stress, can influence your moods long after classes have finished.
Not only will your immediate moods likely continue, but your overall positivity towards your life, relationship and self could improve. If one or both of you are happier people in your day-to-day life, chances are your relationship should benefit in kind.
Being trusting
Trust is perhaps one of the most important factors in a relationship. Knowing that your partner will be there for you through thick and the thin is crucial for feeling secure together.
Yoga is a good way to encourage trust between people, particularly when performing couples asana that require significant levels of physical support. The act of holding each other up and helping each other achieve the more difficult poses can help encourage a spiritual trust. If they are there for you physically, you may feel more comfortable leaning on them emotionally as well.