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Breath into your toes, puff up your kidneys, align your chakras.  We hear lots of claims and comments in our yoga classes that we may find confounding.  Where are my kidneys?  My sacrum?  My mula bandha?  Have you heard the one about yoga and your sex life?  I'm not referring to Sting's tantric yoga claims.(1)  I'm speaking (again) about restorative yoga. 

As we all strive for the big "B"--balance--in our lives it seems the pendulum is alwaysbe swinging too far to the "too busy" side.  With stress and relaxation at opposite ends of the spectrum, we try to get the slider a bit closer to neutral and "regulate" the two.  We know there's going to be stress.  Stress is good in moderation, when necessary.  But, after a stressful event, we need the skills to reset the system back to neutral.  Restorative yoga gives us the tools to set the conditions to bring the body into a state of relaxation. 

This relaxed state, brought on by the parasympathetic nervous system, feels mighty good.  The physical body can let go of its habitual holding patterns and the mental and emotional body can do the same.  It's like flopping on a down-filled pillow after running a marathon.  The body just goes "aaaah, finally". 

But, what's this got to do with sex, you say?  I do not know of studies relating to the effects of restorative yoga and sex, but I do know what I've been told.  Michelle, a very smart woman/Mom in her mid-30's decided to have a party for 16 of her girlfriends.  They were all meeting the demands of motherhood, job losses and keeping up with the Joneses.  This was not a "lets go out and get drunk" party, she threw a Restorative Yoga Party.  Instead of getting together for cocktails, she rented me and a yoga studio for an evening of rest and rejuvenation. How brilliant!  After class, they all socialized with champagne and munchies. 

So, where's the sex, Cheryl?  Here it is.  She called me the next day to thank me for the class and reported that her girlfriends had happily reported that their husbands loved restorative yoga.  Yep.  More sex was had after their evening out.  Was it the restorative yoga?  Yep, I do believe it was.  When the body is under stress (as if it were going to fight or flee) the last thing it is thinking about is sex.  When it is relaxed....well, you get the picture.

(1)    Sting has confessed his famous tantric sex claims were a drunken joke.