If you like sushi and you like burritos, odds are you’ll like sushi burritos. Using similar logic, it’s a good guess that, if you enjoy orgasming and practicing yoga, you’ll like orgasmic yoga.
Yep, orgasmic yoga is a thing. Read on to learn what it is, plus if it actually involves having a big O.
Orgasmic yoga is an explorative practice that uses arousal to help connect people to their inner sexuality through:
- yoga
- breathwork
- pelvic floor contractions
- burlesque
- belly dancing
“The whole thing is a sensual, orgasmic practice that stimulates sexual energy through hip movements and core engagement,” explains Gabriel Isadora, the legacy owner of OYoga, an orgasmic yoga provider.
Orgasmic yoga — sometimes known as orgasm yoga, yogasm, OYoga, and orgasmic meditation — may sound like some new age gimmick. But the practice (primarily) stems from Shakti yoga.
In Hindu, Shakti means power, or feminine energy. Shakti yoga is a practice that revolves around helping you harness inner feminine power, primarily through movement.
According to Isadora, the practice also incorporates some Kundalini yoga.
“Kundalini yoga, like orgasmic yoga, is all about breathwork, activating sexual energy, and connecting with your inner chakras,” he says.
No, but the two practices are similar.
Like orgasmic yoga, tantric yoga combines yoga poses with breathwork, meditation, and occasionally chakra work and chanting.
The main difference is that the goal of orgasmic yoga is (usually) embodiment, empowerment, and orgasm, while the goal of tantric yoga is (usually) embodiment, empowerment, and pleasure.
“When OYoga becomes a partnered experience, you can see more of the connection to tantra because you’ll see positions like Yab Yum incorporated,” says Isadora.
(Yab Yum, if you don’t know, is the iconic tantric position.)
Sometimes the terms “orgasmic yoga” and “orgasmic meditation” are used interchangeably, but they’re two (very!) different practices.
While orgasmic yoga is primarily done as a solo, clothed practice, orgasmic meditation is most commonly done partnered and unclothed.
More specifically, orgasmic meditation usually involves someone receiving direct genital stroking from someone else and orgasmic yoga does not.
“The main goal of orgasmic yoga is to stimulate sexual energy and become sexually empowered,” Isadora says. “People also have had orgasms while doing orgasmic yoga, though that’s not the first goal.”
Yogasm (that’s yoga + orgasm) are just as they sound: orgasms that happen amidst a yoga practice.
And, yes, they’re real.
These are usually the same kind of orgasms as exercise-induced orgasms or coregasms, says Debby Herbenick, PhD, a professor at Indiana University School of Public Health and the author of “The Coregasm Workout: The Revolutionary Method for Better Sex Through Exercise.”
These orgasms, she explains, usually occur in response to core-demanding exercises. That’s because the pelvic floor muscles are part of the core, and some research shows that orgasms are essentially just lots of little pelvic floor contractions.
“We don’t know how exactly coregasm works, but there seems to be something about exhausting the core muscles that heightens chances of coregasm for a subset of people,” she adds.
Because many yoga poses are demanding on the core, it’s possible for someone to orgasm while doing them.
Because people of all genders and genitals have pelvic floor muscles, people of all genders and genitals can have a yogasm, Herbenick says.
If having an orgasm is your goal, Herbenick recommends focusing on core-demanding postures.
For example:
- High Plank Shoulder Taps
- Triangle Pose Crunches
- Cat Pose Crunches
- Downward Dog Knee-to-Elbow
- Glute Bridges
“We don’t really hear from people having coregasms from just one or two crunches or Roman chair leg lifts, but we often do from 50 or 100,” she says. “So one way to increase [your] likelihood of orgasming is by increasing the number of reps.”
Another option is to do more exercises that really use the core, like chin-ups and pull-ups.
“For [these] it may take fewer reps, because they’re so much more demanding on the core, and therefore can more quickly exhaust the muscle,” she says.
It depends.
According to Herbenick, many people who can have coregasms and yogasms don’t actually want to. Why? Because it can be messy! Especially for those who squirt or ejaculate.
“Of course some people do enjoy having them,” she says. “Everyone has to find their own path.”
No worries.
“Exploring how you can maneuver your body in new and pleasurable ways is reward enough,” Herbenick says.
And, of course, if you want to you can always try again.
The best way to find an orgasmic yoga provider near you is by asking Google. Search “Orgasmic yoga near me” or “orgasmic yoga in [insert city here].”
You might also look into some online orgasmic yoga providers. For example:
You can also practice on your own with the help of “Orgasmic Yoga: Masturbation, Meditation, and Everything In Between” by Martha Tara Lee, DHS.
Gabrielle Kassel (she/her) is a queer sex educator and wellness journalist who is committed to helping people feel the best they can in their bodies. In addition to Healthline, her work has appeared in publications such as Shape, Cosmopolitan, Well+Good, Health, Self, Women’s Health, Greatist, and more! In her free time, Gabrielle can be found coaching CrossFit, reviewing pleasure products, hiking with her border collie, or recording episodes of the podcast she co-hosts called Bad In Bed. Follow her on Instagram @Gabriellekassel.