Just in time for Valentine’s Day, yoga is a healthy and fun way to celebrate the holiday. In fact, many yoga studios all across the country host yoga for couples classes during the month of February. Yoga for couples attracts not just romantic couples, but friends who share a love of yoga or pals who just want something different to do on the Hallmark holiday.
So exactly what is a yoga for couples class?
Basics
As you probably guessed, the posture work you do involves two people. Each partner should each bring in a yoga mat as the last posture of class, savasana, will be done separately. Typical postures you might do in a yoga for couples class are joint boat pose or side by side triangle pose. Another component of yoga for couples class is providing alignment and structural support to the partner. As long as you’re receiving accurate instruction from your teacher, this allows for more advanced postures like handstands, back bends and drop-backs to be played with and experienced.
Benefits
The advantages of a yoga for couples class are many. First, for practitioners who are there with a partner, spouse or partner-hopeful, the class fosters connection and intimacy. Just as yoga helps to unite the body, mind and spirit within the individual practitioner, it can also generate a feeling of close camaraderie between the two practitioners and throughout the entire class. Some yoga for couples classes might even go as far as to light candles in the room, dim the lights or play yoga music, all with the intention of creating a setting that is calm, peaceful and subtly romantic.
Secondly, yoga for couples is fun and lighthearted way to spend an hour or two. As you bumble through tandem postures, you are likely to laugh at yourself and your partner as you align – or misalign – your balance with their’s. Lastly, yoga for couples can improve your own individual practice. As you work closely with a partner mirroring and providing support to postures, you are made aware of different areas of focus in your body, such as muscle strength and weaknesses, tightness and flexibility.
Before you register for class, find out if it’s OK to bring a yoga beginner, whether it’s only for romantic partners and clarify if the cost of the class is per couple or per person.
Then after yoga for couples class, celebrate that stellar headstand or deep back-bend with a fabulous dinner.