Contact Yoga

What is contact yoga?

Contact yoga is a form of body therapy in which two people perform yoga poses and stretches together. Unlike yogassage, where there is technically a patient and a practitioner, both people use, benefit, and assist each other in contact yoga. Based on the belief that human touch helps heal the body, mind and spirit, contact yoga has many benefits to both partners.

What are the benefits of contact yoga?

Contact yoga offers many benefits for both partners, including the following:

• Increased strength—contact yoga offers increased strength in two different ways: when offering support to your partner, you must use many muscles and hold many poses that you normally don’t, which will increase your strength, and as the recipient of support, you are using a variety of different muscles to hold the opposite end of those poses. This enables you to use twice the muscles for twice the amount of time as regular yoga, as well as more resistance (your partner’s weight added to your own is increased resistance).
• Healing—contact yoga is based on the belief that the physical touch from another person can bring about healing in the entire body (body, mind and spirit) that can never be achieved with just solo yoga. This means that the body’s natural ability to heal itself of illnesses and injuries is increased.
• Pain relief—any form of yoga is excellent for pain relief from stiff joints or tense muscles, and contact yoga is no different. Maintaining stretches and poses for long periods allows the body to open up and release the tension and pain that may be trapped inside.
• Flexibility—this is another benefit that can be achieved with any form of yoga, but with contact yoga, flexibility increases even more.
• Overall well-being—since contact yoga combines traditional yoga with the physical touch from your partner, and since it is focused on mind, body and spirit, patients walk away with better overall health and a sense of well-being.

What happens during contact yoga?

During contact yoga there will be many poses similar to those in traditional yoga, the main difference being that you have a partner. There are also many poses in contact yoga that are not used in traditional yoga.
Some of these poses will allow one person to support the other person, thus creating a sense of trust between the two partners. There must be open communication for the times when one partner can no longer support the other, or one wants to be released. This closeness between partners makes contact yoga one of the best forms of therapy for the mind.

As you can see, there are many benefits that can be achieved with contact yoga. Find a class near you and experience a healthier mind, body and spirit by scheduling an appointment today.