I
attended a quiet Sunday afternoon
class last week and, to my surprise,
we were six men and one woman.
Up until this point in yoga, I had
always found myself on the lesser-
represented side of the sex dichotomy.
It’s a casual observation, but perhaps one
that’s indicative of a resurgence of male
participants. Are more men finding
their way onto the mat and how will this
impact yoga culture in Europe and in
North America?
And yet, at its inception, yoga was
mostly for men. Gurus accepted boys to
become yogis and thus there were few
opportunities for women to be involved
in the beginnings of modern yoga. This
ancient tradition has now branched out,
taking on new forms around the world, and
still continues to evolve. Glancing back
through the history books, yoga’s North
American debut is usually attached to
Swami Vivekananda’s appearance at the
1893 Parliament of Religions in Chicago.
The rest is history.
Although there were earlier ground-
breakers, women became de facto leaders
of the movement and began teaching
and running their own studios in the early
1900’s. Mollie Stack invented yoga-flow
and Blanche Devries opened the first
female-owned yoga studio in 1945 at the
Living Art Centre in New York City. In 1948,
Indra Devi, ‘the first lady of yoga’ opened a
studio in Hollywood where she became an
icon teaching actors and actresses.
Women now comprise over 80% of yoga
participants in America, as found in 2012
by sports marketing surveys in the USA.
It’s ironic that what was once an almost
completely male tradition by exclusion, has
undergone a near total reversal and is now
practiced by a majority of women.Barriers to entry
We all know the benefits that yoga can
bring into our lives: relaxation, strength,flexibility, concentration and generally
feeling better. Media coverage, new
studios, and endorsements by professional
athletes abound. The message is clear:
yoga is good for us. Men understand this
too and are starting to sign up and yet
more still opt for the gym over the studio.
So what’s the hurdle?
Kelly Lepage is an instructor of Hatha
with Moksha in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
He acknowledges the existing status quo
as contributing to reluctance. “I think
marketing is so successful towards women
that they flock to yoga. I think men seehow dominated the yoga industry is and it
makes it harder for them to join in.”
He notes an influx of male participants
in his classes over the past two years but
still sees barriers. “I think it’s definitely hard
for men. They may be worried about how
they will look to their buddies. [There are]
misconceptions about yoga in general.
Many men see it as girly or touchy feely,
that it’s something for weaker people, when
in all honesty yoga is perfect for everyone.”
That’s just it. Regardless of ethnicity,
age, class, gender, sex and any other
criteria around what makes a viable
participant, yoga holds benefits for
everyone. As participants, teachers and
facilitators, we should consistently strive to
better yoga by inclusivity.Female perspective
So what do the ladies think? Jennifer
Mclennan operates the Yoga Centre
in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica. Here, she
teaches Anusara, and is also versed in
Vinyasa and Kundalini techniques. She
shares a similar sentiment with Lepageregarding the existing status quo of a
feminised yoga.
“I think that stereotypes have a lot to do
with it; that yoga is perceived in western
culture as a largely girl thing to do.”
But she offers a further explanation. “I
think as we go deeper, yoga asks you to
go deeper: the practice asks you to look
inside yourself, to see what’s in there and
to sort through it. I think that this process
is typically more challenging for a male.”
Perhaps, then, our present construction
of yoga is more easily accessed by women.
In a culture with many heavily masculine
realms, having yoga exist as a female
domain isn’t necessarily unhealthy, though
ideally we are striving for a yoga that
shares health and understanding with as
many minds as possible.
If yoga does continue to draw more men,
different yoga styles will diverge. Mclennan
observes that some of her classes already
do draw more men. “I have noticed that
classes on my schedule with names like
‘Power Flow’ or ‘Yoga for Surfers’ tend to
attract more male participants. Maybe
because the intention is very clear, maybe
because it seems more masculine?”
However yoga changes and adapts to
social trends it’s interesting to consider
the evolution and its place in our culture.
Tomorrow’s yoga should be one that
overcomes the history of segregation and
be available to anyone who is interested
in trying - old or young, stretchy or stiff,
spotted or striped, male or female.
Mclennan aptly reflects that, “the more
balance in the energy of a class from
male to female ratios being equal, the
more awesome. I have noticed that when
I have men in my classes, the Om chant
that we make at the end is so beautiful
and harmonious with the different tones
of voices mingling. And I think this reflects
that kind of balance between male
and female that we strive for in a yoga
practice.”“Perhaps our present
construction of yoga
is more easily
accessed by women.”FM