Yoga for Men

Posts Tagged ‘history of yoga’

Whether it’s something like Yoga or Pilates, your core is vital to maintaining a healthy posture and a strong body. More and more men are taking up yoga as recommended by their physios and GPs as a way to strengthen and tone their bodies. It’s almost becoming a craze and there are many professional male athletes who are turning back to this ancient form of exercise to enhance their physical condition. The likes of Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Georges St. Pierre, and Evander Holyfield spring to mind.

There are numerous famous actors out there who are also improving their bodies through Yoga, proving it’s not just something that women should be doing and in fact, going back through history, it was actually men who were the leaders of yoga. Matthew McConaughey, laballed as a Hollywood Heartthrob swears by yoga and judging by the state of his toned and muscular body, it’s definitely worked for him. OK, so he doesn’t just perform yoga but he claims it has had a major impact on his physique.

It’s not surprising that sportsmen and male Hollywood actors are taking up Yoga more and more. Not only does it have a physical benefit but it also soothes and clams the mind. So, for male athletes it’ll help them focus on their goals and targets, honing their mind to their body and ensuring they are fully committed to the task at hand, whether it’s a Football match, boxing fight or just a daily training session that needs their 100% focus. Actors go through extreme stress, with many continuous days of long hours and a stressful work atmosphere, so ensuring their mind is cleansed is vital to learning lines and performing to the peak of their ability.

Yoga should not be overlooked by men and it’s about time that men stopped believing that it’s meant just for women. Men invented Yoga. Use it for your benefit.

There are a lot of things in this world that are feminine, to the point of being exclusively categorized as associated for women. While many might think that yoga is one, that idea doesn’t hold any water. First, yoga was invented by a man and throughout most of history, men were the main practitioners of yoga. Unfortunately, as yoga transitioned from being an exclusively Eastern art mastered by dedicated male participants, in the West it was heavily marketed as a relaxing, almost easy series of flexibility exercises for women. The sheer thought of a class filled with women posing and stretching has major sexual connotations that don’t carry over well with the opposite sex. For that reason alone, most men wrote off yoga as being something only for women as well as not being a serious sport.

The most ironic part about all this is the fact that yoga had been previously regarded as an exercise that only the most strong and virile of men could be invited to participate in. Simply put, 100 years ago you would not find a room of 100 pound office workers doing yoga, but you would find warriors and athletes sweating it out and defining their physiques. Thankfully, the relatively short period of time that yoga has been geared exclusively towards women is coming to an end. Yoga for men advocates have taken the form of famous athletes and entire male geared exercise programs. Lately, many men have been compelled to at least give yoga a try. All have been surprised to find that they not only enjoy yoga, but notice that their bodies are reaping the rewards of a newly found training program.

Click Here for a Beginners Guide To Yoga And Meditation