Why Men Should Do Yoga
Yoga can be intimidating, it’s very different from what most guys are typically used to for their taste in fitness. Going to a yoga studio has a different vibe than the gym and it may be hard to believe that a yoga class could be more beneficial for us than our typical gym workout. But it wasn’t until I developed a yoga practice that I realized my own true strength, both mentally and physically. I don’t expect a CrossFit athlete, runner, or weightlifter to change sports and start doing yoga 5 days a week, and I don’t expect everyone to have the same transformation experience as I did, but I am certain that doing yoga a couple of times a week can provide a lot of men out there with tremendous benefits that can be game changers for their everyday life and even sport of choice.
History of men in yoga
Before getting into some benefits of yoga I would like to give some insight on the influence men had throughout the history of yoga. The development of yoga has been dated back over 5,000 years and arguably even as much as 10,000 years ago. Even though it is hard to say who actually invented yoga, the first systematic presentation of yoga was Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, known as the classical period. This was a collection of 196 Indian sutras on the theory of yoga. Patanjali can be considered the father of yoga even though many facts about his life remain unknown.
Tirumalai Krishnamacharya also had a huge influence on many forms of yoga, he was born in a small South Indian village more than one hundred years ago. He has actually been referred to as the ‘Founding Father of Yoga’. His practice began when he was 16 and he continued his studies in Banaras India at the age of 18. Krishnamacharya studied under some of the greatest Sanskrit grammarians at the Banaras Hindu University. He continued his education for over a decade and eventually mastered the Bihar school of Yoga. He went on to study under several scholars and gurus and in the 1930’s he was very active in yoga lectures and demonstrations which played a huge role in the revival of yoga. His yoga spread through Europe, Asia, and the Americas. To this day many styles of yoga are inspired or influenced by Krishnamacharaya. It’s also worth noting that Krishnamacharaya was very progressive for his time as he encouraged yoga training for girls in the 1930’s
There are many more men throughout the history of yoga who have had heavy influences on practices all over the world but I wanted to touch on just a couple to give you an idea of the involvement men used to have in this culture. I could probably write a blog every day for weeks just about the individual men who have played an important role in yoga being a global practice so I wonder where the disconnect started between men and yoga. Yoga has turned in to a female dominated industry and there’s nothing wrong with that, but this is a practice that can most certainly be taken advantage of by more men and I would love to see it moving in that direction in the coming years. If you are a guy reading this, I hope the following sections of the benefits of yoga encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and creating a new one on the mat. I always say that I’m not trying to get men to stop bodybuilding and do yoga seven days a week, but I am trying to get you to understand that doing yoga once in a while will greatly benefit your everyday training.
Mental benefits of yoga
When I first started yoga I had absolutely no clue that it would benefit my mind so much, honestly I started doing yoga because I was interested in handstands. Little did I know that while I was pursuing a physical transformation to a handstand a mental transformation was taking place as well. I did yoga for at least two years before realizing the shift that my mind went through. I started working out about six years ago to take my mind off things, which included lifting heavy weights at a pretty quick tempo without much thought going in to it. I was sort of like a robot going through the motions at the gym. The start to my yoga practice was very much like this. But over time things started to slow down.
When I was bothered by something I would no longer go to the gym to load up some weight on a machine and mindlessly pump through my reps with the sole intention of lifting and lowering the them from one position to the other. I would roll out my yoga mat, move my body through space with a conscious acknowledgement of my mind, body, breath, and how they all work together. This was a huge breakthrough for me, it changed the way I trained myself and my clients. It was so eye opening to me that it made me realize how much control I could have over myself and this feeling wasn’t just restricted to my yoga mat. It’s a hectic world out there and it’s easy to get overwhelmed with daily responsibilities and things that are out of our control and sometimes all it takes is a few minutes on your mat to remember how much control you actually have. To me this transformation is much more beneficial than my physical practice but it is easily overlooked. Your mental transformation has no aesthetics, you won’t get credit for it because there’s a good chance it’s not the first thing people will notice about you. But it will always be the first thing you notice about yourself.
Physical benefits of yoga
Maybe you’ve heard this before, you don’t do yoga because you are flexible, you do it to become more flexible. This couldn’t be truer, especially if you are a guy and lack flexibility naturally. You may also have a repetitive movement or position that your day job requires which results in tension in certain areas of your body. Or maybe you strength train and notice your range of motion in certain areas isn’t what it used to be. Yoga’s emphasis on flexibility and mobility is a great way to start removing tension and developing more range of motion. Most teachers have a general idea of some common problem areas for a lot of people so chances are you will find some relief for your tight spots in most yoga classes.
One of the biggest things I stress to people who are new to yoga is that it doesn’t matter what it looks like, it matters what it feels like. So if you are worried about going to a yoga class and your stretch position not looking like the teachers or other students, don’t be. As an instructor and a practitioner I can confidently tell you that no one looks the same way, but we all feel the same thing. It’s about sensation, not aesthetics. If you do yoga for a couple of weeks based off of how you feel, you’ll notice your body opening up in new ways. You’ll have more range of motion and better posture. You will develop an understanding of what makes your body feel tight and how to make it feel better. And that’s what it comes down to, feeling better. Yoga is the best way I have found to be able to do the things I love to do (handstands, back flips, pushups, and pullups) and still continue to feel good. Flexibility isn’t the only physical benefit of yoga but for men it’s something that we often lack so I think it’s important.
Balance and strength building are also very much a part of a yoga practice. Yoga is known for developing small twitch muscles which functions are extremely beneficial in everyday life and all sports. As we get older we tend to lose balance and coordination but a solid yoga practice a couple of times a week goes a long way in developing proprioception for long term body awareness. When it comes to strength, I believe that yoga should be the foundational program for all athletes and the general public alike. It helps develop strength in the muscles and joints all the way from your wrists to your ankles. You develop core strength as you hold different positions and move through different flows.
And last but not least, yoga is perfect for building ground level strength when it comes to push movements. Two of the most known exercises in all of fitness are the push up and the bench press, they are the same push movement but one of them puts much more stress on the muscles and joints than the other. A lot of people will dive right in to the bench press with weights before even having a proper push on the floor with their own bod weight. In my opinion this is backwards, especially considering that humans have been working out well before there were weights and machines so it’s quite obvious that push ups came before bench pressing. The yoga pose most closely related to a push up is called chataranga. Chataranga will develop your push strength in a beneficial manner that will translate to anything you do off the mat, especially when it comes to lifting weights. It will develop wrist strength, shoulder strength, tricep strength, and much more.
Anyone who begins their strength training with the foundations of yoga will always have one up on the competition. Pro teams and universities all over the country are implementing yoga in to their athletes training, if you pay attention to the training programs of some of the top athletes in the world you can count on them having some sort of yoga involved. Men all over the world are reaping the benefits of yoga, feeling better and moving better than they ever have, including myself. I recently turned 35 and I can confidently say I feel much better than I did when I was 28 and even 25, and I have yoga to thank for that.
If you end up feeling like the time is right for you to try a yoga class I encourage you to do so with an open mind, without expectations and without judgement, judgement of yourself that is. And don’t be afraid to try a couple of different classes, if the first one doesn’t do it for you do some research until you find one that may better fit what you are looking for. A lot of teachers have different styles and some work better for different people. If you ever want to reach out to me for a recommendation on which class to look out for, or if you have any yoga questions in general, feel free to do so. I hope that I was able to shine some light on why I think yoga is such a beneficial practice and I hope that you find the urge to step out of your comfort zone and on the mat so you can start enjoying the fruits of your labor in a whole new way.
Namaste,
Patrick
