Read on if you are male, live with someone who is male, who could do with a bit of yoga. My question – why don’t I see more men in the yoga practice?
WanderingYogis have had male yoga teachers from time to time. It is akin to finding the pot of gold on St Patrick’s Day. A complete fluke, and it never lasts.
I thought male teachers might encourage other men, but no.
I thought perhaps it is because at the time, I lived in Singapore, which despite its modern exterior, has some fairly misogynist and christian extreme views about yoga hiding in it.
However, I travel all over the world, and except for Ubud and San Francisco, there are not that many men practicing yoga, either.
I have tried different times, evenings and mornings, weekends, to accommodate the busy man, no cigar.
The only place where I see men outnumber the women are in my private client sessions. Time poor, often but not always, strong armed into it by their wife. And then they stay because they see immediate benefits in their daily life. Which reach beyond staying fit, or being flexible.
You must like insomnia, being stressed, and clearly are not interested in improving your sex life. Why polish perfection?
Now I have your attention, here’s my pitch on why our men should do yoga.
Yoga was made originally by men for men
Yoga is about discipline, concentration, focus and patience. With a large dose of spirituality, even if you don’t ask for it.
Ancient male Hindu gurus and wealthy maharajahs practiced yoga to help them live longer, preserve their energy, improve insight and intuition.
Yoga was initially designed by men for men. Patrilineal, passed down man to man, this yoga was all about brahmacharya. Women were banned from learning it, let alone teaching it until the 1970s, about a thousand years after it started.
Until some bolshy women saw its value beyond channelling one’s sexual energy into more useful power plays. And brought this strange practice of breath work and awkward movements back to their worlds. With rise of the modern industrial economy, it started to lose popularity in India, just as it was taking off in the Western world.
With its headquarter relocation to the west, the practice became more inclusive, so much so that in 2018, it was estimated that women practicing outnumbered men 5:1.
But up until about 1980s, it was not a ‘girlie’ sport, and in my humble opinion, never has been. The asanas were designed with a man’s body in mind.
Yoga improves performance
On a whole range of fronts. I can hear you – all that new age stuff – it’s a little flaky, I am way too cool to be believe my aura needs tuning. So don’t go there. The breath work and the asanas charge the energy body. Men tell my their sex life has improved from introducing regular yoga practice into their fitness regime. Yogic breathing techniques and mantra chanting reduce anxiety, depression, everyday stress, post-traumatic stress, and stress-related medical illnesses. Perhaps you find stress and anxiety makes life much more interesting?
No different to that stretch at the end of my workout surely? Sure, all those football teams, running athletes, do yoga, in addition to their stretches, to waste their time. Yoga is proven to help high performance sports athletes to attain better results with more focus and less injuries.
I guess you can live with all the injuries you are accumulating with your crossfit and boxing, and look forward to a hip and knee replacement in the near future.
You look younger
Yogis (that is people who yoga regularly, not those who wear the outfits while they sip wine), do live longer than those who do not practice yoga. Not to mention look younger, and healthier. It helps early stage prostate cancer patients live longer. But why prolong the inevitable, right?
What I have learnt is that despite the logic, we hold deeper feelings about why we don’t practice yoga. I checked with some of my male clients on some of the more obscure reasons as to why they didn’t get to yoga sooner. There was a common theme.
The poses are too way out
Not because you can’t touch your toes, that is not unique to men. It was code for something more – I don’t like to look incompetent, particularly surrounded by women (psychotherapists please refrain from analysis). Who wear disturbingly tight clothes, while making it look so easy.
You are fond of strong women. You are also fond of women in their underwear. When these ideas coincide in the real world, it gets a bit weird, right?
I refrained from using a picture of beautiful strong women, not wearing much, practicing backbends. There was that option.
You may have wandered into a yoga class, once, maybe with your girlfriend/boyfriend, curious, and you did check out the sights and tights. You may have wandered back out again to your boxing and beer (gross generalisation, but you get the drift).
No one wants to be that creepy dude in the yoga class.
Your Open Invitation
Us strong women would welcome you with open arms. We know you gawk at first, so frankly do we. We also know after a while, you will peek only occasionally, and mostly this will be in admiration. Just like us. You might even get some of the yoga jokes. Maybe make a few yourself.
To be fair, what legitimizes men’s excuses is the cultural archetype of yoga which is now $20 million a year industry. That yoga is practiced by thin, flexible women. Unsurprisingly, our wellness-obsessed culture has come to associate yoga with a certain ideal of western white female perfection. I try to create a welcoming space and role models for men (and women) of all ages, culture and religions, but I will not change the world, and certainly not overnight. Mostly, we see you turning up because your partner does.
I love the yang energy men bring to yoga. We are different for all wonderful reasons. Sharing your energy and soul only adds to the magic of yoga.
Please come to class, because once you get past the sights and tights, you will experience the mentally and physically uplifting workout that strengthens your core, leaves you feeling energized and completely relaxed. This is yoga. You are welcome to join us at any time, drop in or stay for a while…
You can book yoga, meditation or an energy healing session with Lee by clicking here on Book a class
