From “Om” to “OMG!”

Use these yoga-inspired moves to pleasure-boost your next sex sesh – whether you’re a dedicated yogi or beginner, you’ll soon be going from downward dog to downright hot

- Anka Radakovich

Pay attention to your breath.

This oft-repeated yoga class instruction is worth remembering when you’re in bed too. During foreplay, practise what yogis call “circular breathing” by trying not to pause between inhaling and exhaling. “The key is not to push out on the exhale,” says Joseph Kramer, director of the Orgasmic Yoga Institute. “Totally relax and just slowly let the air slip out.” This is easier to do if you breathe through your mouth instead of your nose.

Paying this much attention to your breath helps you shut out distracting thoughts – like the fact that you’re overdue for an eyebrow wax – and focus on feelings of arousal.

Another breathing trick is what Ava Cadell, a Los Angeles sex counsellor, calls “alternate nostril breathing.” This exercise involves breathing through one nostril at a time and helps you take deeper breaths, which is relaxing and also oxygenates the blood – a process that increases sexual energy and desire. Since syncing your breathing with your partner’s can make you feel more connected, Cadell suggests doing nostril breathing together (she has her patients do this during couples counselling). Here’s how: each of you should block one nostril and draw in air all the way to your pubic bone while looking directly at each other. Repeat this anywhere from five to 10 times.