Two Oms Are Better Than One

By Nicole Kwan

If he won't do it at the studio, DO try this at home

After months of sweet invites, a few huffy exits, and reluctantly resorting to begging, pleading, and voodoo, it’s clear he will not do yoga with you in public in this lifetime. Instead of harassing him and creating more tension, bring yoga to him. With the following simple, at-home partnered poses, you don’t even have to call it yoga. Just ask him if you can help stretch out his “guns.” He’ll be hard-pressed to refuse.

As you become physically closer, you will deepen your emotional closeness as well, says Charles Matkin, senior yoga teacher at Yoga Works in New York City.

Here are great stretches with an intimacy-building benefit. Do them in a series or choose the one that is most appealing. Whether or not your at-home sessions are steamy or stretchy is up to you.


Child’s Pose
Benefit: Builds connection and calm

(For this pose, one partner will be on top and the other at the base. Here, we designated the man as the base and the woman on top, but it certainly can be reversed.)

The man sits in Child’s Pose, making sure his thighs are far apart enough to rest his hips on his inner thighs while sitting on his heels. If his hips don’t touch his heels, use a rolled-up blanket, towel, or other prop for support. The woman on top brings her sacrum to meet his, so she sits facing the opposite direction as the man. Then, she begins to lay back on his spine in a backbend. Again, if his head can’t reach the ground, use a pillow beneath his forehead. The woman will feel her spine free in a backbend, while the man will feel his hips gently stretching in Child’s pose. “For both people to get the benefits, both have to be comfortable. If you’re faking comfortability for your partner, neither of you will have a good experience,” Matkin says. The person on the bottom can usually hold the pose longest, so the top person should say “when.”

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