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april / may 2017yogajournal.com.sgART DIRECTION & LLUSTRATION : ANUJA BAGADE
Why More Guys Should Practice Yoga
YOGA & MEN:
It’s a beautiful Saturday morning and I am
in, of all places, a yoga studio. While my
cycling buddies set out for a ride, I waited
by racks of flowery yoga clothes, then
filed in for class. While my pals pedaled
and, no doubt, rapped about racing, I
unrolled my black mat near someone
else’s pink one, beside someone else’s
painted toenails and a pile of voguish flip-
flops. Now, my fellow riders are probably
engaged in some testosterone-fueled
sprint, while I’m grunting loudly to stay
balanced on my forearms. I’m inverted
and self-conscious: In a class filled with
women, I alone am emitting
primal noises.
A world turned upside down—that’s yoga
for most of us men. We still run most
of the government and hit the major
league home runs, but yoga is a woman’s
domain. “What I find myself constantly
contemplating,” says Michael Lechonczak,
a yoga instructor in Manhattan, “is how to
get more guys into class.”
It’s not that we don’t know what we’re
missing. Nowadays, there seems to
be a yoga studio on every corner; our
girlfriends and wives are walking, talking
testimonies to the practice. At home, we
watch them rushing out the front door,
brows furrowed, only to return standingBY ANDREW TILINGuys have the world to gain by practicing yoga. So what’s holding them back?
Explore why men should be getting on their mats as often as women.tall, with big, tranquil smiles on their
faces and compassion in their eyes.
Because my wife Madeleine is a yoga
instructor and an avid student, I witness
this stress-to-bliss transformation several
times a week. When she comes home,
I often mumble to myself, “Don’t I want
to be that happy?” Yet I haven’t practiced
yoga consistently for years.
So I asked highly qualified doctors,
scientists, veteran yoga teachers and
believers, exactly why so many men
stick to yoga’s sidelines. I also polled
members of that rare breed known as
the male practitioner—from pro athletes
to busy investment managers—to find
out how they came to embrace yoga.
In the end, I discovered social, physical,
and emotional realities that discourage
men from practicing. I also heard about
the moments of inspiration that got men
over such barriers—and ideas about
what might help other men make the
leap, too.
If you’re a man who’s hesitated to try
yoga—or you know a man you’d like to
introduce to the practice—read on. Yoga
Journal Singapore spoke to some men,
and the quotes here, in no particular
order, are just a glimpse of varied
personal thoughts and opinions.