Are You Man Enough for Yoga?
By Val Schoger Photography by Michael Booini
No one can easily explain how an ancient Indian philosophy of achieving spiritual and physical goals developed into a mainstream trend with an overwhelming majority of female followers generating billions in revenues in western countries.
14.9 million Americans and half a million Britons are estimated to incorporate some form of yoga practice into their lives. Wikipedia reports, “Yoga came to the attention of an educated western public in the mid 19th century along with other topics of Indian philosophy.”²
Today, the word “yoga” conjures mental images of expressive body postures and exercises practiced by sporty women in trendy outfits. Doubtlessly, this is an image that was nurtured and fostered by the industry that profits from a growing number of yoga enthusiasts. While the mainstream became more superficial and relatively uneducated on the traditional, philosophical, and spiritual teachings, the simplified concept today is that yoga is good for your mind and body and… just do it, anyway.
But men are often not too keen to give yoga a try–unless they practice martial arts, in which case they might touch on some form of yoga sooner or later. It is safe to say that most men would rather do the dishes or the laundry than do yoga. The ancient and contemporary teachers, yogis, and gurus in India were mostly men. Why are western men not too keen on following the trend?
Three yoga teachers based in Panama City and Panama City Beach could not imagine life without yoga–all three started yoga as a solution to and refuge from extreme physical and mental stress. All three describe a version of themselves before yoga that could not be more different than they are today.
Sources (retrieved on February 15, 2018:)
1 Itai Ivtzan* and Sivaja Jegatheeswaran, Department of Psychology, University of East London,
UK “The Yoga Boom in Western Society: Practitioners Spiritual vs. Physical Intentions and Their Impact
on Psychological Wellbeing”
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga