The goal of pair yoga is to deepen and expand the practice. When performing exercises, the partner’s job is primarily to add resistance. During exercise, the muscles can relax and stretch, while the resistance of the partner helps the limbs to maintain position. This approach can help find a deeper study of familiar postures. In addition, collaboration leads to rapprochement and a test of trust.
Benefits
Thanks to the help of a partner, pair yoga allows you to perform new, unusual poses and go beyond the limits. In addition, providing and receiving help tends to bring people together. Thanks to pair yoga, you can learn to try something new, trust others with your body and your emotions.
It can be beneficial to everyone when practiced properly. You only need to make sure your teacher knows about the injuries or illnesses of his students.
Most pair yoga poses are available regardless of age or size. Some poses are easier to perform when partners are similar in height. However, do not worry - the bodies can withstand quite a lot of weight during exercise.
The benefits of pair yoga poses are also that the presence of another person can increase stretching and intensity, as well as help beginners learn to balance better by holding certain positions.
Basic principles
Compliance with them is important enough for the successful implementation of exercises (postures) of paired yoga and to achieve the best result.
- Achieving convenience. Working with a partner means having physical activity. In fact, these are physical education classes. In addition, such classes allow you to learn what a person did not know about his abilities before. It is important that the training takes place in a convenient place and at a convenient time, without causing discomfort to any of the partners.
- Traffic. When a partner moves, it is necessary to do the same thing at the same time with him, trying to feel the same as him. You should think about what kind of sensations will be pleasant when performing a pose, and then help each other to stretch as much as possible. All movements must match the rhythm of entry and exhalation. We must strive to bring our breath and partner in line. Inhalation is performed while raising a limb or joint, exhaling while holding a position, lowering limbs, etc.
- Communication. Both verbal and non-verbal, it is very important in partner yoga. If during the exercise there are pleasant or, conversely, negative feelings, you need to talk about them. If there is a need to increase or weaken the effort, this should be reported to your partner. Do not be afraid to ask questions about how he feels.
- The trust. It is of paramount importance. How often do people strive to protect themselves from their surroundings and therefore limit their ability to move on? Do not be afraid to trust your yoga partner, because both have the same aspirations. This is a good opportunity to try something new. Even if both fall suddenly - that's okay. You can start the exercise again. In any case, it’s more fun to fall with someone else. The trust that a person allows himself to feel in such an unusual situation is a sign of emotional health. It takes courage and self-confidence.
Sedentary Meditation (Sukhasana, Siddhasana or Padmasana)
It is recommended to start classes with her. The position of sitting back to back allows partners to feel each other's support, to relax the main postural (postural or tonic) muscles. This provides a calm state from which it will be possible to smoothly go into meditation.
Synchronized breathing allows you to come to a deep kinesthetic communication. Partners can take a double breath while inhaling and exhaling together, or practice yin-yang breathing while breathing in while their partners are exhaling. A strong energy connection between them is formed when the chakras interact and the auras overlap.
This practice is not suitable for introspective meditation, but meditation on mindfulness with a focus on a partner can be very useful. The ego can be reduced when the consciousness recognizes itself in another incarnation. Metta-meditation (the meditation of loving kindness) can also exacerbate empathy and compassion.
A Taoist microcosmic orbit can be performed in tandem, and pranic energy can pass through connected palms. This practice fosters closeness, equality and mutual respect between partners. It should not replace independent meditation as a central practice, but it can be helpful, relaxing and fun.
Initial greeting
Before or after a joint meditation, partners can sit facing each other and perform a simple greeting, such as a namaste gesture (palms folded in front of the chest and a slight tilt of the head. It can be made less formal or more complex. If desired, you can make an entire ritual from it.
Partners can exchange words written or spoken, quoted or original. They can offer gifts and feed each other fruit or chocolate. Sustained eye contact can be practiced, potentially during a trataka (special meditation on candle flame). These more tantric practices are obviously very intimate and not suitable for all partners, but they can add new levels to the communication and communication that occurs during yoga and meditation with a partner.
Parivritta Sukhasana (Twisting)
This technique of paired yoga pose is performed as follows. You have to sit with your legs crossed back to back and stretch your spine up. Turn both shoulders to the right and extend your right hand to the partner’s left knee. Straighten your back while inhaling and exhaling while performing a deep turn, while you can pull the partner's knee.
Allow yourself to relax, be aware of yourself and your partner, and adjust the depth of your posture according to your own level of flexibility. After a few slow and deep breaths, slowly return to the starting position and repeat the exercise, this time turning to the left.
Adho mukha and urdhva mukha sukhasana
To perform this pair yoga pose, you should sit with your legs crossed back to back, stretch your arms above your head and hold on to them. Exhale, leaning forward, carefully pulling the partner's arms forward and up. Repeat by swapping roles.
Parshva Sukhasana
To perform this pair yoga pose, you need to sit cross-legged, back to back. Lightly touch the floor with your right hand (partner makes it left). Extend your left shoulder, stretch up and to the right with your left hand, joining your palms. Do the same in the other direction.
Second twisting option
First you need to sit cross-legged, facing the partner, and the knees should almost touch him. Stretch the left hand to the waist of the partner on the left side and extend the right by your own waist, pulling it to the left. After that, you need to join hands with a partner on both sides. Strengthen the turn. This can be done by pulling the right hand behind the left. Your right shoulder should be kept in a stable position, slightly opposing the attraction of a partner. As with every twisted sitting position, the pelvis and shoulders need to be kept even and parallel. The exercise is also repeated to the left.
Ushtrasana (camel)
To perform this paired yoga pose (photo below) you need to sit with your back to each other, sit on your knees so that the heels of both partners are on the same line. Then you need to slowly lean back, trying to put your head on the partner’s right shoulder. You can strengthen the stretch by pushing the hips forward while lowering the tailbone to protect the lower back.
Pashchimottanasana and Matsyasana
To perform this pair yoga pose, you need to sit back to back, stretching your legs forward and touching your coccyx. Then one partner simply leans forward while the other relaxes and moves with him. Also, before leaning forward, you can raise your hands connected with a partner up, using them as a lever for greater stretching.
Balasana and Matsyasana
One of the partners is resting in the pose of a child (balasana). The other is located in the pelvic area, touching the tailbone. Then he slowly drops down so that his whole back rests on top of his partner. You can extend your arms to the sides or up for a deeper opening of the chest. You can also tighten your legs and slightly raise your knees, if during the exercise you feel too much stretching of the lower back. This pose can be very soothing for both partners. Yin-yang breathing is good for her.
Final relaxation pose
Lying in shavasana (a pose of deep relaxation), you need to put your head on the feet of your partner, almost touching each other with your sides. You can hold each other's hands, combining the centers of the palms. The joint practice of this pair yoga pose can be very intimate and not suitable for all partners. However, if people are in close relationships, this can create a strong energy bond and build a sense of trust.
Some Extra Steam Yoga Poses for Beginners
Pose of a tree (vrikshasana). Its paired version, in fact, includes the same as the original. The one performing it stands and balances on one leg. The second - raised, bent at the knee and turned to the side, her foot abuts against the thigh of the supporting leg.
The only difference is that instead of balancing themselves, holding their palms above themselves, partners (especially beginners) can clasp each other around the waist with one hand and connect their palms with the other above the head. More experienced practitioners in this pair yoga position can stretch the other to the side by joining the palms of one hand.
Pose of traction (uttanasana). For its implementation it is necessary to become a back to each other, legs shoulder-width apart. Performing an inclination forward, you need to keep your legs straight, and stretch back to the partner's hands.
Useful advice for beginners! Bending the body forward, you just need to reach out and grab the partner’s wrists. To strengthen the stretch while doing this easy pair yoga pose, you can move your hands further up the partner's forearms or elbows.