Yoga Journal Singapore — April-May 2017

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Dear Readers,

Here we are with our very first Men’s Issue

of Yoga Journal Singapore! It has been an

enjoyable, humbling and insightful experience

to speak with men who do yoga, and also

those who don’t. You will enjoy reading our

feature on page 57.

History reveals that yoga was introduced,

designed and practiced mostly by men—from

Patanjali who wrote the Yoga Sutras, to BKS

Iyengar who focused on strength and stability

with props, to Pattabhi Jois who made yoga

more modern by introducing the Ashtanga

flow. These were men who lived and loved

yoga until their last breath. Yet, around the

world, yoga today is practiced mostly by

women.

Traditional yoga acquired a new form as it

spread westward, and the focus shifted from

alignment and meditative postures to high

powered poses that toned the body. Women

soon realized that the practice of yoga was not

only sculpting their bodies, but also rewarding

them with inner peace and calm—which

helped offset the overwhelming madness that

came with multi-tasking at home and work. In

my humble opinion, these modern women

found the secret of the mat faster than men—

yoga strengthens your mind.

It’s only a matter of time before all men

a sport! A big thanks also to his lovely wife,

Andrea, for being his perfect wardrobe assistant

throughout the shoot!

Our next issue will talk more about the

evolution of yoga as teachers think of

innovative and creative ways to attract

students, both women and men. As long as the

core principle remains the mind-body-breath

experience, I’d say go challenge yourself on

the mat. Yoga is liberating, as witnessed by our

writer Grace Lee at the Bali Spirit Festival (Page

18), so why put fear and inhibitions around

it. Don’t be intimidated by weird postures or

mock those who can’t achieve a final pose.

Find yourself on the mat before you find an

excuse.

Accepting without judging, knowing your

limitations and embracing change is what yoga

is all about. Gender has nothing to do with it.

Enjoy the magazine!

Regards,

Kavita Chandran

Editor in Chief

[email protected]

discover the above message and find their

way back to yogic path. The numbers are

already increasing. In Singapore alone, of the

700,000 people who express an interest in

yoga, according to Facebook, 40% are men.

Yoga studios on the island are seeing at least

15% more men sign up for a session compared

to three years ago. In the U.S. too, there’s

been a jump of 18% in the number of male

practitioners since 2012.

“Yoga is more than just a lot of “stretching”—

there are other motivations guys might not

have thought about, like using yoga to stay

sharp in their career,” says Copper Crow, lead

teacher at Pure Yoga in Singapore and our

cover model.

Copper, a former corporate guy who learned

yoga from his Dad, encourages his students to

explore their practice, and reiterates that yoga,

like swimming, is something we can grow with

and continue well into our later years. (Page 41)

The calm yogi in Copper was obvious during

the cover shoot as he went seamlessly

from one pose to another, not hesitating

or disagreeing with any of our peppy and

creative suggestions. He even played along

when we pulled trash cans into the frame

so he could do a split that replicated the Van

Damme commercial for Volvo trucks. What

8 ART DIRECTION : ANUJA BAGADE PHOTO : GARGI MAZUMDAR, MODEL : COPPER CROW, WARDROBE : PURE APPAREL

april / may 2017

yogajournal.com.sg

Sorry Copper, so focused was I on my Namaste that

I didn’t realize you were losing balance! Thank you

for being such a sport!