Is Yoga For Men?
The short answer; yes! Yoga is for every body.
Despite the fact that men are usually outnumbered in most yoga classes, yoga was once practiced exclusively and designed by men!
The exact timeline of when yoga was first discovered is unclear, however, practices of yoga originally came about thousands of years ago in Northern India.
At this time, yoga was primarily used for religious purposes and connections to our emotional and spiritual self.
As Yoga practice began to travel to the West, it evolved into more physical-spiritual practices and gained a lot of attention for self-healing, recovery and connectedness with the body & mind.
At present day, it seems more women are drawn to practice yoga than men. I can only speculate about the reasons for this:
Lack of Male Presence
Yoga classes tend to be filled with women! Some men might see a yoga class or attend one and see that very few men attend, therefore, coming to the conclusion that yoga is only for women. Unfortunately, this lack of presence can deter men from wanting to join or try out a yoga class.
Lack of Knowledge on the Practice
Men may think yoga is all about meditation and sitting around talking about your feelings. Unless the yoga instructor is a trained psychotherapist, yoga classes generally focus on breathing and poses. Certainly one of the benefits of a regular yoga practice is calmness of mind and reduced stress and anxiety. However not all yoga classes focus on the meditation or spiritual aspect of the practice.
“YoU NeeD tO Be fLExibLE To dO YoGA”
There’s a tendency to think you have to flexible to do yoga. No! That’s a bit like saying you have to be fit to workout.
Doesn’t make sense, right?
Yoga is not just about bending and stretching, it’s about the whole person. The truth is we become more flexible, and stronger, by practicing yoga regularly.
It Doesn’t Seem Challenging Enough
If you’ve been used to working out in a gym or attending boot camp type fitness classes, you might feel a yoga class won’t be enough. That’s simply not true as yoga helps to develop strength, flexibility and concentration and works toward an alignment of the whole body.
Typical gym workouts and boot camp classes are aimed to challenge your fast-twitch muscle fibers, whereas, yoga presents a different challenge working on strength in your slow-twitch muscle fibers with holding poses, improving balance and building inner core strength.
Depending on your fitness level and the type of yoga class it is, you will feel challenged. Yoga works out specific muscle groups in direct ways while also focusing on the whole person.
Some of the physical benefits:
Musculoskeletal functioning
Neuromuscular functioning
Cardiovascular functioning
Neuroendocrine functioning
Respiratory functioning
Balance and coordination
Improved sleep
Better sports performance
If you are looking for a full body workout, a way to build strength, flexibility and endurance, and a way to relieve stress, check out our new class Yoga for Men.
