Yoga is by no means a sport and therefore does not imply a trainer. There are teachers, instructors who usually conduct classes in groups, but they also have a different purpose, because in yoga neither titles nor qualifications are assigned. There is no such thing as “achievements”. The instructor only guides and explains the performance of asanas, as well as controls their correct implementation. But when the lesson is finished, you are left alone, and it would be of great help if you could practice with a friend in the afternoon.
- Advantages of doing yoga together
Your partner will see from the side whether you perform the asana correctly, they can also help you in mastering difficult poses, for example, those where you need to maintain balance. This applies both to poses performed from a standing position, such as Ardha Chandrasana and Virabhadrasana, and a sitting position, Navasana. Such practice of studying asanas will be very helpful and even save you time for their development.
Secondly, from the point of view of training, it is sometimes very valuable to watch a partner closely, identifying inaccuracies in execution, helping them in some way, for example, during stretching or deflection; this will help you adjust your asana performance as well. The partner is to some extent your reflection. If you see an inaccuracy in performing a pose with them, you will immediately correct this moment in yourself, if, of course, you did something the same incorrect way.
At the same time, the benefit of performing asanas in a pair is by no means reduced to finding errors and correcting them. The further you advance in the development of asanas, the more you will discover the potential for creativity that was originally laid down in them for creating various variations from many asanas, all types of twists and sags, performed symmetrically from different positions.
- The therapeutic aspect of couple yoga
The yoga poses themselves are conceived in such a way that when they are performed, a light, and sometimes quite noticeable massage effect of the internal organs is manifested, which has a good effect both on the figure (reducement of the body fat, including subcutaneous fat), and on the functioning of the internal organs.
Practicing couple yoga, performing correction of partner’s poses, as, for example, in the “Cicada” pose, when one of the partners helps the other to bend back as much as possible, or making an intensive adjustment, in which other parts of the body are used to ensure the result (“Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana”, where the knees of one of the partners rest on the back of the other, thereby facilitating the implementation of the bend back), you not only learn new asanas, but also perform a deep massage of the partner's back.
- Couple yoga promotes an optimistic mood
However, yoga is famous not only for the healing power of the physical body. It is impossible to deny the fact that, performing a complex of asanas regularly, you feel energized, not only well-being improves, but also emotional tone increases. You become more joyful. The positive impact on the practitioner's mental state plays a big role in why so many people include yoga on their weekly schedule.