MEN AND YOGA

Did you know that up until the 1950’s Yoga was for MEN ONLY? It was only after that time that women started to move into the world of yoga and explore its benefits for themselves. Yet now the balance has changed and over 90% of those practicing yoga in Australia are women who just love the benefits it brings.

Why is that you may wonder? Well, women are renowned for taking more time out for exercise, doctors appointments and generally taking care of themselves, while men are more inclined to put their health on ice, so to speak, and only deal with issues as they become a problem. As a result of this men are more likely to develop and sustain back, knee and shoulder injuries, often not until their 40’s and many after spending years playing contact sports, working their bodies hard and perhaps beginning to now put on weight around the waist. Does any of that sound familiar to you or someone you know?

So over the past decade we’ve seen a return in the importance of men looking after their bodies. This is seen by the amount of professional sportsmen and teams now building Yoga and Pilates into their daily or weekly fitness regime. Along with their cardio and weight training, the professionals have now discovered the power of stretching the body properly, maintaining core strength to support their back and an increased value on learning relaxation and meditation techniques to help combat the stress of sporting expectations and general life balance.

Yoga is both preventative and therapeutic to the body and mind as it strengthens, focuses and generates motion through the body without causing strain and imbalance and thus is the perfect compliment to all forms of exercise and sport. Yoga is a whole body work-out that creates strength and flexibility, and through controlled breathing and focus, the mind benefits as well. Yoga isn’t about turning yourself inside out physically, but about developing body awareness, increasing the ability to relax and improve your sleep patterns and really sharpen your focus, and increase endurance. As Joe Barks and EJ Muller explain perfectly “The point is this: Yoga works. It’s also easy to do and simple to incorporate into any kind of workout. Don’t be put off by the chanting triangle image. Real men do yoga. Some of them even admit it!”

Blessings to you,

Kaz