I am a sex god, and didn't even know it

I said a few days ago that I wasn't going to blog about this yoga-can wreck-your-body affair again, but things have now taken such a bizarre turn (in a way that actually has something to do with me, as I shall presently explain) that it is just impossible to ignore the whole thing anymore. So yes, my blogging drishti has gone to s%#t yet again... (what's new?)

So here's the deal: I just read Steve's latest post at the Confluence Countdown, where he relates the latest developments in the saga of William Broad and his book, "The Science of Yoga" (hereafter simply "the book").

Many of us are probably familiar by now with Broad's widely-publicized conclusion: Yoga can kill you!

Steve reports that in the last few days, Broad has decided to take a slightly different angle, and has now arrived at another conclusion: Yoga will help your sex life!

I don't watch much TV, but apparently, Broad was featured Thursday night on ABC’s Nightline on a segment called, “Better Sex Through Yoga.”

Here’s the teaser from the show’s blog (thank you for bringing this to my attention, Steve :-)):

          '"The latest way to improve your love life doesn’t involve a slick how-to guide. It doesn’t  involve Big Pharma, either.

          It’s yoga.

According to William Broad, author of “The Science of Yoga,” which came out Feb. 7, there is real evidence yoga helps sex.  For example, the cobra pose boosts blood flow to the pelvis.

“Why spend millions on those little blue pills, right?” Broad said in an interview with ABC News’ Dan Harris.

          Broad, a science writer for The New York Times, spent years combing through the scientific     literature on yoga.

“I can cite you study after study after study,” Broad said. “We can go through hormones, brain waves, vaginal blood flow…”

           Broad said yoga started in medieval India as a sex cult, a series of practices that used our sexual    energies as the fast track to enlightenment."'

Ignoring Broad's claim about yoga originally being a sex cult (what do I, a yogic prude, know about sex cults, anyway?), let us just take a step back, and consider the two claims that Broad has made so far since publishing his book:

(1) Yoga can kill you!

(2) Yoga will help your sex life!

Put (1) and (2) together, and what do we get? Yes, we get:

(3) Yoga will kill you by improving your sex life!

Hmm... No wonder yoga is so dangerous. It turns you into a sex dynamo, and causes you to have so much sex that you just roll over like a depleted energizer bunny and die!

This is your body on yoga (scary, no?)

[Image taken from here]

So if Broad is right, all yoga studios should now have a Surgeon-General's Warning posted on their front doors that says, "May cause death through too much sex. Practice at your own risk."

But what has all of this to do with me? Well, Broad said in the above excerpt that backbends in general (and cobra pose in particular) boost blood flow to the pelvis and thus increase sex prowess. This, by the way, is old news: I'm quite sure B.K.S. Iyengar made the same observation in Light on Yoga. Yeah, maybe Mr. Iyengar should sue Broad's pants off (no pun intended) for plagiarism. Now that would be something to watch. But Mr. Iyengar is probably too busy enjoying his practice in Pune (especially his famous backbends) to give two hoots about this Broad fellow...

Anyway, I still haven't answered the question: What has all of this to do with me? Well, I don't like to brag about my asana prowess, but if you have been reading this blog for a while, you probably know that I can do a pretty deep kapotasana: In fact, you can find a picture of me in this pose if you search "backbends" or "Kapotasana" on this blog. Anyway, if cobra pose can increase sexual prowess by boosting pelvic blood flow, imagine what a regular practice of Kapotasana can do: I must be a sex god by now! And I didn't even know that! Well, thank you for bringing this useful piece of information to my attention, Mr Broad :-) I can't tell you how much I owe you for this.  

I guess I should sign off now. After all, sex gods are not supposed to spend their Saturday afternoons in front of computers. They should be doing more adventurous things, don't you think? :-)