Yin Yoga and the Prostate and Premature Ejaculation

Check out this topic for women who are pregnant, trying to get pregnant or who just had a baby or for any other issues related to sexuality for men or women.
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Bernie
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Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

Yin Yoga and the Prostate and Premature Ejaculation

Post by Bernie »

I recently received two interesting questions: "Are there yin yoga postures that can help with this premature ejaculation? Also are there good postures to help the prostate gland?" Intimate questions to be sure, but yoga definitely can help. First, lets start with the easy question: are there any good poses to help the prostate gland? Yes there certainly are.

Like all glands the prostate benefits from massage and energy flow. There are several Yin Yoga poses that can help stimulate the flow of blood to the prostate, including poses like Half Butterfly, where the heel of one foot is tucked in to the perineum. Some students actually sit on the heel to directly massage the prostate. Most of the sitting postures can provide similar benefits, such as Butterfly, Caterpillar and Straddle. Reclining Twist, especially the Twisted Roots variation can also improve blood flow. From the Daoist perspective, we are trying to press the Jen-mo acupressure point, which is halfway between the anus and the genitals, which is right beneath the prostate. This is on the Conception meridian and can help with sexual function.

B.K.S. Iyengar has suggested that inversions, such as shoulderstand and headstand can help the prostate (due to reversing the pressure of gravity there.) In Yin Yoga, we do not do these inversions, however, Snail pose may be just as beneficial. Nadi Shodhana is recommended for prostate issues and any postures that stimulate the Kidneys and Urinary Bladder meridians will also improve energy flow to this region. You can check out all these postures by visiting the link to Asanas on the top left of this page.

Just a caution: you can do too much of anything. If a doctor suggests you take two aspirin, he doesn't mean for you to take the whole bottle. If you overdo the massage/pressure in the perineum area, you can actually bruise the prostate and rupture some of the small blood vessels in there. If you ever notice pinkish or red ejaculate, you may have bruised your prostate! (Of course if you do notice such coloration, check with your health care professional to make sure that is all that you did.)

One final note on the prostate: there has been several good scientific studies that show Saw Palmetto is effective at improving prostate performance. This is not without some controversy, as some more recent studies have found no benefit, but like with all things in life, check it out for yourself. It may be good for you.

Premature ejaculation (p.e.) can also be helped with yoga, and many of the same poses described above can be useful. There are a wide divergence of opinion on this topic, but generally poses that improve blood and energy flow to the sex organs and the prostate assist in reducing p.e. Also often recommended are inversions like Shoulderstand (so, in the Yin world, do Snail) and backbends (think Sphinx, Seal, Camel and Saddle). However a lot of the therapeutic uses of yoga for p.e. focus on the mental aspects and here is where I believe it can be very useful. The idea is to hone your ability to notice sensations, to be with what is happening and knowing when it is appropriate to back off. Yin Yoga provides us a lot of sensations and practice with staying with them. Working with the breath can help us play the edges of our sensations, and this technique is also used in controlling ejaculation. If you would like to learn more about this mental aspect, check out this article in Psychology Today.

Outside of the Yin Yoga world, there are a plethora of teaching on this topic in the Tantric traditions. You may want to do some research into this yoga as well. Finally, please do not just rely on advice from a web site: if you are truly concerned, seek individual counselling from your health care team.

Cheers
Bernie
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