Are you done with your regular monotonous yoga sessions and want to add some exciting twist to them? If it is resonating with your thoughts that keep on running in your mind distracting you while practicing, then, yoga poses for two people is something you must go for.
Yoga for two people is also known as partner yoga or couple yoga. Hence, you can go for a trusted friend, your partner, or your sibling for improving the flexibility of not only your body but also of the trust and bond that you two share.
Sounds exciting right! So this time, along with hopping on your mat, hold your partner’s hands and get started with these yoga poses for two people.
Benefits of Two People Yoga Poses (Partner Yoga)
Traditionally yoga is an individual’s practice but involving a partner in your poses can give you a new experience, physically as well as mentally. Jointly practicing yoga with another person can ease the advance poses for you and at the same multitude the benefits of yoga.
Some of the benefits of partner yoga are described below that will surely make you try yoga poses for two people.
1. Deepens the relationships
As yoga is a journey of self-exploration and when practiced with a partner, it helps you to know and explore other’s emotions, comfort well. It lets you connect to them on a deeper level.
2. Improves the intimacy between a couple
Yoga poses for two people are especially beneficial for a couple as it deepens the bonds and helps in having open heart-to-heart communication. Hence, it improves both the sexual as well as emotional intimacy between a couple
3. Reduces stress
The stress-relieving benefit of yoga doubles with these yoga poses for two people as it brings relaxation to your sore muscles as well as brings harmony within a relationship. Hence, besides alleviating the mental and physical stress it helps you overcome unnecessary stress that can come between you and your partner.
4. Boosts overall confidence
Couple yoga elevates the confidence of the partners within the practitioners and between the practicing partners. This is so because it improves your personality, tones the muscles, and improves all aspects of your relationship. Therefore, the overall confidence in all aspects of life improves.
Tips for Safe Practice of Partner Yoga
Ensure to keep the following information in your mind before jumping into yoga poses for two people. With these tips, you can make your practice fun, creative, and beneficial along with ensuring the safety of both the practicing partners.
- Have an open and heart-to-heart conversation with your yoga partner discussing your comfort, flexibility, strength as well as weaknesses. It will help you both to create a respectful and safe yoga zone.
- Feel free to try any modification, prop, or support for creating a compatible yet fulfilling experience without compromising your comfort and reach.
- Do not apply any moisturizer or scented product to avoid injury, allergic irritation, or to make things uncomfortable for both of you.
- Stop immediately if you think or see that any of your moves is going against your partner’s will.
- Do not hesitate to try these yoga poses for two people either you are a beginner or an advanced yogi. There is room for everyone to give partner yoga a try.
Yoga Poses for Two People
Even in practicing yoga poses for two people the ground rule of proper warm-up before yoga remains the same.
Keeping your level of practice and pace in mind, there is a compilation of partner yoga poses categorized into Easy, Intermediate, and Advanced levels. Let’s begin with the beginner level easy poses:
Easy Yoga Poses for Two People
Easy partner yoga poses are intended to get used to one another’s body and enhance the compatibility in terms of balancing, supporting, as well using each other’s moves for resistance.
1. Seated spinal stretch pose
Partner version of ‘Sitting hands up pose’, two people can easily practice this ‘seated spinal stretch pose’ to get a gentle spinal elongation with the help of your partner. It is an easy starter pose for beginners who find difficulty in other standing or bending yoga poses for two people.
In a cross-legged posture, stretching hands up with the help of your partner gives you the opportunity to open your chest and sync breath perfectly.
As the name clarifies, this partner pose lengthens the spine of both people and is a gentle way of making the spine supple.
Procedure
- Assume a cross-legged posture easy pose, lotus pose with your back stacked over your partner.
- Keep your hips, shoulders, and head leaning over one another.
- Open the arms out so that one partner holds the wrists of the other.
- From there raise the arms overhead and holding onto your partner’s wrists feel the stretch on the spine elongating it fully.
- Hold it for 10-15 seconds with deep breaths and then switch sides by grabbing other partner’s wrists and stretching similarly.
2. Seated Side Bend
Seated side bend pose is a variation of easy pose in solo practice, however, taking support with your partner to bend sideways while sitting gives you an enhanced stretch.
This partner pose can be performed in sequence with the previous pose. From the seated posture you get stretching benefits in your neck, back, shoulders, and oblique muscles.
This is also a relaxing pose as it helps in relieving stress and anxiety.
Procedure
- From the cross-legged position with back of both the partners leaning over each other, spread your arms holding each others hands or wrists.
- Bend on one side, raising alternate sides arms over head and placing bending side’s hands on the floor.
- Turn your neck to look towards the raised hands and hold the stretch for 10-15 seconds. Then repeat on the other side.
3. Seated Twist Pose
In partner yoga, Seated twist pose is an easy version of Half Lord of the Fishes pose benefitting the spine in the same manner.
It is a basic side twisting posture that enhances the flexibility of the abdominal, lats, and pectoral muscles. In two people yoga poses, it’s an excellent posture to stretch the upper body and relieve any muscular tension.
Procedure
- From a cross-legged pose, both the partners twist the spine to the right.
- While twisting to the right, place your left hand on the right knee and right hand on your partner’s left knee.
- Turn your neck to look over your right shoulder, continue breathing and then twist to the left.
4. Double Tree Pose
This is a beginner-level yoga pose for two people to improve your balance and an opportunity to seek the support of your partner while standing on one leg.
The name of this pose, Double Tree pose clarifies it all for you. It is quite similar to the Tree pose with the only difference of practicing it together dedicating each half of the body. This pose stretches the chest, abdominals, glutes, hamstrings, knees, and quadriceps.
Procedure
- Stand side-by-side with your partner touching the hips and waist.
- Raise your inside arms overhead so that both of your raise palms join.
- Now, both of you lift your outside foot and bending the knee outwards place the foot on the inner thigh.
- Draw your outside arms across the body so that both your palms join in front.
- Hold the pose maintaining the balance for a few breaths.
5. Partner Chair Pose
Holding each other hands both the partners lower their buttocks into a squat getting external support to hold it for longer and stimulating the muscles better.
When this pose is performed as partner yoga, it is more benefitting than a solo chair pose practice. Doing it with a partner lets you squat deeply stimulating the leg muscles. Along with hamstrings, knees, quads, and abdominals, it also tones the lats and biceps.
Procedure
- Stand keeping your feet together facing each other at a two-hand distance.
- Extend your arms to grab each other’s wrists and while exhaling, bend your knees to squat until the thigh becomes parallel to the floor.
- Lean your torso back slightly and hold the pose using your partner as resistance.
Intermediate Yoga Poses For Two People
Taking your partner yoga to a next level with these intermediate level poses is a great idea if you feel ready and compatible enough to practice yoga poses for two people.
These partner yoga poses require more flexibility and strength than the easy level and you can take a leap of faith while synchronizing your yoga journey with your partner.
1. Partner Dancer’s Pose
Partner Dancer’s Pose is a graceful posture held balancing in one leg and bending the other backward. The back foot is grasped by the ankle with one hand and joining the other with your partner as if passing a high five.
Though it’s a bit tricky than the solo dancer pose, still using your flexibility and balance with your partner you can feel it becomes easy to stretch in your hips flexors and quads muscles.
Procedure
- Stand facing your partner keeping a distance of two feet between you.
- Align your right foot with your partner’s right foot.
- Now both the partners raise their right arm overhead and join your right palm with your partner’s palm in the middle.
- Lift your left foot off the floor bending the knees and grabbing the ankle to take the foot towards the hip.
- Begin to lean at the waist towards each other pressing your hands and taking the left foot towards the sky.
- Breathe in and out over here pulling your left foot further up with each exhalation.
2. Partner Boat Pose
Partner Boat Pose is practiced balancing the body on the sit bones and the final posture looks like letter A when practiced extending the legs up and grasping the partner’s wrists.
This is one of the yoga poses for two people that involves a lot more flexibility than other poses you’ve gone through yet so far. It is an intense core and hamstring stretching posture.
Procedure
- Both the partners sit down facing each other and bending knees to place the heels on the floor.
- Keep your toes against each other and extend your arms in front of you and grab each other’s wrists.
- Lift your feet off the floor, one at a time joining your soles with your partner’s.
- Extend your legs fully pointing your toes upwards, the bodies will form a W in the final position.
- Hold the pose breathing deeply without losing the balance and integrity of your back.
3. Double Plank Pose
Double plank top among the yoga poses for two people for enhancing the overall strength of both the partners. One partner assumes plank pose on the floor bearing the weight of the other in the same pose on the ankles and shoulders.
Besides energizing whole body, it targets on the arms, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and core muscles.
Procedure
- First partner comes to his all fours and then extends legs backwards activating the toes to lift the knees assuming the plank pose.
- Second partner begins by holding the base partner’s ankles and places his feet at base partner’s shoulders.
- Activating the core muscles, the second partner assumes plank on top of first partner.
4. Double Warrior 3 pose
Warrior 3 is performed standing on one foot pressing hips into one another to gain stability and flattening the back horizontally parallel to the floor. Hence, this intermediate partner yoga pose also works on improving your balance and coordination.
This pose strengthens your arms, shoulders, and spine. Along with working on the upper body body strength, it stretches the hamstrings, calves, ankles, and tones the abdominals.
Procedure
- Bothe the partners stand facing each other keeping the feet parallel on the floor.
- One partner then moves the torso forward lifting the outside foot off the floor and extending it backward until it becomes parallel to the floor.
- Extend the outer arm forward assuming a T-shape in Warrior 3 pose.
- Once partner 1 finds stability, second partner also assumes Warrior 3 in the same manner.
- Both the practitioners then tangle their inner arm onto the inner thigh of their partner reaching their calf with the hand.
Hard Yoga Poses for Two People
These advanced level yoga poses are vigorous and energetic than any other poses that you have yet read in this article. They also include elements of acrobatics along with yogic moves, hence also referred to as Acro-Yoga.
These yoga moves are practiced lifting or flying one of the partners taking support from the another, hence, needs to be practiced with utmost care and guidance.
1. Double Downward-facing Dog Pose
This yoga posture when performed with a partner also gives benefits of a headstand as one partner assumes an L-shape while the other stretches fully into down-dog pose.
Both the partners switch position one-by-one in this pose and assume almost similar stretch. It benefits abdominal muscles, deltoids, and hamstrings.
Procedure
- Partner 1 assumes down-dog pose bending forward at the waist from standing position to reach the floor with the hands and walking the feet back. The head hangs down between the arms and body assumes an inverted V.
- Partner 2 places the hands two feet ahead of partner one’s hands, bending forward to reach the floor.
- Now the partner two steps one foot up to the first partner’s back followed by the second foot.
- Pressing the feet on to partner 1’s sacrum, partner 2 also lifts the hips up.
- Stay there for couple of breaths and then release in the reverse order.
2. Star Pose
This is an advanced yoga that sets one partner into an upside-down posture while the other partner serves as a firm base lying on the floor and balancing the upper partner on his feet and arms.
It benefits the abdominals, triceps, deltoids, quads, hamstrings, glutes, and pectorals.
Procedure
- Here, one partner lies on his/her back on the floor extending the legs upwards.
- Partner 2 stands near partner 1’s head and both the partners extend arms holding hands.
- Then, partner 2 leans forward stacking the shoulders over partner 1’s feet.
- From there, partner two lifts the feet off the floor and attains an inverted pose and further opens the legs to the sides.
3. Double Wheel Pose
It is a deep backbend posture that helps in improving shoulders and hips flexibility. This challenging partner yoga pose stretches the neck, spine, and legs entirely.
In this posture, both partners assumes a backbend as in wheel pose, hence the name.
Procedure:
- Partner 1 lies down in prone position performing cobra pose slightly bending the head and neck.
- Then raises hand to be prepared for grabbing second partner’s ankles.
- Partner 2 places his/her hands by the first partner’s ankles and pushing them against the floor performs a controlled handstand.
- From there, the partner 2 gradually lowers his legs so that the partner 1 could hold his ankles.
4. Flying Bow Pose
This posture is beneficial for both partners in different ways at the same time. The strength of the lower body improves for the base partner while the upper partner experiences elongation of the spine releasing tension along with opening the chest.
This is a combination posture which lets one of the practitioners gains the benefits of raised legs pose while the other molds the body into a bow pose.
Procedure
- Partner 1 (base partner) lies on his back on the floor raising the legs with soles facing upwards.
- Partner 2 (flyer) stands close to base partner’s legs and soles of the partner 1 rest on second partner’s buttocks.
- Partner 2 grabs partner 1’s ankles with thumbs pointing inwards.
- Base partner lengthens the legs holding the flyer’s arms lifting the flyer off the ground with bent knees.
- The flyer’s head and neck are bent backwards and after finding balance, the flyer leaves base partners ankles.
- Then, finally the flyer extends arms to grab his/her own ankles opening the chest fully performing bow pose.
Conclusion
Practice these yoga poses for two people with your desired partner following your heart to get all their benefits.
Bring the spirituality of yoga within you and your partner practicing the poses together to get health benefits and to reach beyond everyone’s relationship goals.
