Before we get started, we want to make something crystal clear: Sex can feel great no matter how flexible you are.
As clinical sex counselor Eric M. Garrison, author of Mastering Multiple Position Sex, puts it, “You don’t need to be a yogi, yoga teacher, gold medal gymnast, or Cirque du Soleil athlete to get off.”
That being said, some benefits of yoga could totally carry over into your sex life, especially reduced stress (aka libido killer No. 1) and improved strength and mobility.
“Get rid of stress and you may find yourself actually wanting to be sexually active again,” says Garrison.
As for the yoga poses themselves, there are a handful that look pretttttty tempting (and safe) to try out with a partner. So sit back and enjoy as vibrancy mentor and pleasure expert Martha Langer, author of Embrace Your Vibrance: Practices for Vibrancy Activation, talks about the 11 best yoga moves for sex.
How to use it during sex: According to Langer, this position is great for oral-anal, P-in-V, pegging, and strap-on play. “When you bend forward, your pelvis opens up behind you,” she explains, which gives your partner better access to your holes.
Modifications: Hold on to a counter or table for support. Or you can wrap a sex strap around the receiver’s hips to give the giver’s thrusts a little extra oomph.
Basically the Standing Forward Fold but (you guessed it!) wider, the Wide-Legged Standing Forward Fold is an A+ hammie opener. And as we said before, it’s important to give extra love to your hamstrings if you sit all day.
How to use it during sex: It’s a great way to get comfy during oral sex.
Modifications: If your hips are v tight, prop them up on a block, cushion, or folded blanket, suggests Langer. This will allow you to sink deeper.
Butterfly is one of the best positions for stretching your hips. “The more open our hips are, the more positions we’re able to try, which brings more creativity and variety to our sex life,” says Langer.
How to do this pose
In a sitting position, press the bottoms of your feet together so that your knees fall open wide. Move your heels as close to your grain as feels good.
How to use it during sex: It allows for deep vaginal and anal penetration.
Modifications: If you can’t reach your toes or find it taxing on your muscles to do so, use a yoga strap across the bottoms of your feet to get more reach.
“Happy Baby is a great stretch for your inner thighs,” says Langer. “[It] can help us become more comfortable lifting our legs in a similar fashion during Missionary position.”
How to use it during sex: For kinksters and those into BDSM, it’s a good position for receiving impact play (i.e., spanking, caning, whipping).
Modifications: Can’t comfortably touch the floor? No big. Just place a yoga block under your hands to take off some strain.
According to Langer, Standing Forward Fold helps stretch and strengthen muscles that you call on during standing sex positions — mainly, your hamstrings. “It’s no fun to be engaging in sex and suddenly get a hamstring cramp,” she says. True.
How to do this pose
Standing with your feet hips-width apart, bend over at the waist and stretch your hands towards the floor. Bend your knees as much as you need to keep a straight spine.
How to use it during sex: This belly-down position is great for being penetrated from behind — whether in your booty or vagina — or for receiving anilingus.
Modifications: Put a pillow or rolled-up towel under the receiving partner’s hips to prop their bits up.
If your upper body is sore AF after a day hunched over the computer, this pose is also for you — especially if you enjoy giving or receiving cunnilingus and/or anilingus.
Low Cobra both strengthens and stretches your shoulder and chest muscles. It can help counteract the muscle aches associated with desk work so you can comfortably taste or be tasted while on your tummy.
How to use it during sex: It’s good for P-spot or G-spot are stimulation, because when the receiving partner is penetrated in this position, their pelvic floor muscles naturally contract.
Modifications: If your glutes get tired, place a couple firm pillows underneath.
“Bridge Pose will strengthen your glutes and hamstrings, which will allow you to sustain certain sex positions for longer,” adds Langer.
How to do this pose
Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor. Bend your knees so that you can touch your heels with the tips of you fingers. Rest your lower back and tailbone on a yoga block or a stack of books.
How to use it during sex: A variation on Doggy-Style, this position allows for deep vaginal and anal penetration.
Modifications: If you have tight hamstrings, put a deep bend in your knees, says Langer.
Downward Dog is a great pre-sex warmup move, according to Langer. When you sit all day (basically all of us), it tightens your hamstrings. “Downward Dog can undo some of the sitting we do by opening our inner thighs,” Langer says.
How to use it during sex: If you’re into anal play, Child’s Pose is your friend, since it opens that booty hole right up.
Modification: Bring your knees out wide and sink your belly to the floor.
If you practice yoga, you know Child’s Pose is a resting posture. It’s where you go to get your breath back when you’re winded. It’s also a great stretch for your hips and can ease a sore lower back — two areas of your body that do a lot of work during some types of sex.
How to do this pose
Kneel with your knees a good deal wider than your hips and your butt resting on your heels. Fold over at the waist and extend your arms out in front of you.
How to use it during sex: This can be a great position for fingering the receiving partner’s vagina while touching their clit at the same time.
Modifications: Wrap a sex strap around the receiving partner’s hips to get more leverage.
Three cheers for another chest opener! The love child of Downward Dog and Child’s Pose, this hamstring-stretching, pec-loosening move can be used to prep your bod for a rumble in the hay. Or, the receiving partner can get into this position to make penetration (*Kanye voice*) stronger, better, faster, deeper.
How to do this pose
Start on hands and knees and then walk your hands out a foot in front of you. Keep a 90 degree angle in your knees and sink your chest and head to the ground so that your booty is up in the air.
How to use it during sex: Since it enhances pelvic mobility, Cat-Cow is great for anal or vaginal penetration.
Modifications: Holding your body in Cat-Cow can be rough on your wrists and arm muscles. So consider leaning over a sex wedge, which will keep your hips in the same position while giving your upper body a break.
Say goodbye to movement restrictions and hello to newfound mobility with this pose.
“Most people are walking around with a sacrum [tailbone] that is not particularly open or aligned,” says Langer. Cat-Cow helps the sacrum open and settle into a good place, “which gives us the ability to position our pelvis in a variety of positions during sex.”
How to use it during sex: With your whole back body resting easily on the floor, your partner can lie on top of you or next to you, so you can get cuddly and intimate together.
Modifications: Plop a folded blanket under your thighs to help your back flatten against the floor.
Langer says Corpse Pose, also known as Savasana, wins gold for THE best yoga position for sex.
“Corpse Pose teaches us to surrender,” she says. It encourages our bodies to release remaining physical and mental tension (read: brain chatter and muscle tightness).
“After Corpse Pose we are primed to have great, fully present sex,” she says. In other words: Corpse now, come later!
How to do this pose
Lie flat on your back and with your arms resting alongside your body. Let your feet flop open.
Playing around with yoga and sex can be fun! But please listen to your body. Yoga positions weren’t designed with sex in mind, so many of them simply don’t accommodate thrusting, pressure, weight, or vigor. If it starts to feel uncomfortable, abandon the position.
