As you know, exercising with a friend or loved one can make it more fun, so there is more chance that you will not give up training. However, “partner yoga” promises other bonuses. This is the practice of interacting with a partner who will even more bring you together and help to open up. In the process of performing asanas, you seem to become one, learn to listen to each other, trust, hedge. Different poses of yoga (asanas) will help increase the rate of metabolic processes in the body. And classes with your loved one will make the relationship even more solid, as during the training you will learn to feel each other and try to do everything together. If you decide to arrange a pair training in the evening, it will help to relax after a long and difficult day.
1.Padmasana
Sitting back-to-back lets partners offer each other support, so their core postural muscles can relax. This enables calmer bodies that can go more smoothly into meditation. Synchronized breathing can lead to a deep kinesthetic communication. Partners can try a double breath, inhaling and exhaling together, or practice a yin-yang breath by inhaling as their partners exhale. A strong energetic connection will form as chakras interact and auras overlap.
- Parivritta Sukhasana
Sit cross-legged back-to-back and lengthen your spine upward. Turn both your shoulders to the right and reach your right hand to your partner’s left knee. Straighten your back as you inhale, and exhale into a deeper twist, perhaps pulling on your partner’s knee for leverage. Allow yourself to relax, be aware of yourself and your partner, and adjust the depth of the pose to suit your flexibility. After several slow and deep breaths, slowly return to the center and repeat, this time twisting to the left.
- Adho Mukha Svanasana & Adho Mukha Vrikshasana
Have your partner come into downward dog. Plant your hands in front of hers as shown, and lift one leg over her so you’re in a forward bend straddling her arms. Bring one foot onto her sacrum, placing it carefully to avoid the movable vertebrae of her lower back. Shift your weight to your arms to keep your legs light, and slowly lift your other foot onto her sacrum as well. Now open your shoulders and walk your hands closer if necessary to align your arms into a handstand. You can also push with your forefeet to bring your partner’s front hipbones closer to her knees, thereby deepening her hamstring stretch. For a fun variation, walk closer to your partner and anchor your chest between their shoulder blades. Then lift your legs up and over your head, so you’re in handstand scorpion with your partner giving you balance.
- Navasana
Sit facing your partner about three feet away. Touch your toes and forefeet to your partner’s, as shown at the top left. Reach forward and grip your partner’s forearms, sync yourselves up and lift all four of your feet off the ground. Raise your shins to be level for a half-boat, or point them upward for a full boat. Keep bringing your navels forward and upward, to stretch your hamstrings and protectyour lower backs. This one’s good for communication and plenty of fun.
