Archives 2014

Eating Right to Get the Most Benefits From Your Yoga Routine

To get the most benefits from yoga, poses should be done on an empty stomach.

Not only do poses work the outside of your body, but certain ones also work the inside, and if you are full or still trying to digest a big meal, you can’t do many of the poses properly.

What to Eat in Regards to Yoga

The Yoga diet is different from other types of diets in that it is not centered on counting calories or quantity of food. Instead, it relies heavily on the quality of certain types of food in their natural form, such as:

• whole grains
• seasonal fruits
• vegetables
• milk
• honey
• dried fruits

As you look at the list, notice nothing on it is processed or refined. Everything is just as nature provides it. Also, the diets of yogis stress balance and to achieve that goal in their eating, they eat select items from each food listed.

When to Eat in Regards to Yoga

As noted, yoga is best performed on an empty stomach. If you eat a meal from the recommended items, make sure you do not eat later than 1 hour prior to your practice. That way what you ate has time to digest and will not interfere with your yoga experience. If you are eating a meal heavily laden with meats or other processed and refined foods (which you shouldn’t be in the first place), allow 3 to 4 hours before doing your workout routine.

Eating Before Yoga

While not recommended, sometimes you have to have a little something to eat to carry you through the workout – especially if you are just coming from work and have not eaten in a while. A small serving of yogurt along with some fruits or vegetables a ½ hour to an hour before class would give you the energy and stamina you need to get through your poses.

Eating After Yoga

If it takes you a while to drive home after your yoga class, bring some unsalted almonds and dried fruit with you to eat on the way home. For your evening meal, concentrate on eating healthy protein like eggs or fish along with some whole grains and vegetables.

Hydration is important. Keep yourself hydrated by drinking water throughout the day and after your yoga class, but try to avoid drinking water just prior to your class. Doing yoga immediately after drinking 8 ounces of water can produce nausea in some students while others experience stomach cramps. Some yogis benefit from drinking a glass of organic juice after class to help replenish nutrients and electrolytes lost during the practice.

By eating smart and adhering to the timelines in this article, you can get the most benefit and fulfilling experience from each of your yoga classes.

There’s Many Choice for Yoga Clothes

What to wear? When you are deciding what you should wear while practicing yoga, you have entirely too many choices. Should you wear loose fitting yoga clothes, or tight ones? Are flashy, bright colors acceptable at class? Or are you expected to be muted and conservative in your clothing color choices?

These are all great questions that deserve consideration when you decide what you should wear while performing yoga asanas, poses and sequences, but there are a few simple rules you should definitely follow.

Opt for Comfort With Your Yoga Clothes

Remember, as with any physical exercise, your goal with yoga should be to dress for comfort and fit. You should be able to move easily from one pose to another without having to fuss with your outfit. If you are attending yoga class for the first time, you are already experiencing enough anxiety. No need to add to that by wearing ill-fitting clothing.

The focus of yoga is calmness and serenity, so choose clothing in colors that promote peace and tranquility in yourself and others is a good idea. One of the most popular brands of clothing many women really like is Kate Hudson’s Fabletics line. Fabletics is comfortable, stylish and affordable.

Beware of Wardrobe Malfunctions with Your Choice of Yoga Clothes

Light and loose-fitting clothing made of cotton or linen is fine for yoga. What may seem obvious may not be, so leave the leather, synthetic rubber and denim for other activities. And men, make sure that your clothing is loose, but not overly so. No need for an accidental exposure which might embarrass you as well as your fellow yoga classmates.

For women, you need to ensure that there is not an accidental wardrobe malfunction. Test out potential yoga outfits at home in front of a mirror, or simply ask your instructor for some guidelines in this area.

The Right Yoga Clothes Helps Your Instructor Help You Better

Remember, you are simply trying to cover your body, not hide it. You are aiming for function over fashion. If you are bathed in voluminous folds of fabric, your instructor may not be able to correctly see your alignment or body posture. To give you proper insight and guidance, your teacher needs to be able to see your body parts move.

And when choosing one fabric over another, this is generally personal choice. Don’t forget, however, that cotton absorbs sweat very efficiently, and retains it. If you know that you sweat heavily, you may want to choose quick-dry clothing materials that wick the sweat away from your skin. This lets your body breathe more easily.

Layer Your Yoga Clothes in Colder Weather

Many established yoga clothing companies have developed a layering method which offers many benefits. The lightweight jackets with zippers, long-sleeved hoodies and other products they make are excellent for colder weather.

These are also great to bring to a yoga class that is being held in a cold or cool room. And by wearing layers you raise your core temperature, which loosens muscles and allows your body to cool down slowly.

When wearing layers of clothing as you practice yoga, you can simply remove a layer at a time if you start getting too warm. Follow these simple clothing tips and you will maximize your physical and spiritual experience, while minimizing embarrassing or uncomfortable yoga sessions.

When you perform your yoga routines is individualistic and should be done when it best fits in with your daily schedule, lifestyle and body signals. Some yogis champion for morning workouts; others prefer to practice yoga mid-day; still others swear evening is the best time.

Your Daily Schedule When You Practice Yoga

If you have the time in the morning or can make the time, right after you get up is a good time to practice. Because yoga is best practiced on an empty stomach, first thing in the morning is a good time to run through your yoga routine. With an early morning routine, when you ate last is not an issue, as it can be at other times of the day. Because you are fresh, you can practice a variety of active energizing poses and perform a full workout, but realize the downside is your muscles may be stiff during the first few poses.

If midday is your best time of day for yoga, you may prefer to concentrate your practice on seated bends and twist poses. It can drain away the stress from the morning and prepare you for the afternoon.

For many yogis, the best time of day is in the evening. The workday is over, you most likely have not eaten since lunch (outside of a small mid-afternoon healthy snack) and your muscles are loose from the daily grind. It can be the perfect time of day to practice calming and relaxing poses.

Split yoga practices are also popular. Some yogis do a short routine in the morning to get them ready for the day and a longer routine of different poses in the evening to relax them. Regardless when you practice, finish with the Corpse Pose.

Your Lifestyle When You Practice Yoga

You may be one where the time of day does not drive your yoga practices, but instead your lifestyle. These people fit in yoga practices where it best fits in with their daily schedule. If you take yoga classes, most studios offer several classes throughout the day, so finding one that fits your schedule shouldn’t be too difficult. You may start out with some energizing poses and wind down at the end with calming and relaxing ones.

Listen to Your Body Signals When You Practice Yoga

Once you have been doing yoga for a while, you will find yourself in better tune with your body. If you listen to what it has to say, you may find out that you are practicing too often.

Our bodies are sensitive also to the change in seasons. You may find a select group of poses work well in summer, but not in the winter. However you may also find that certain poses work well both in the spring and fall because of the likeness in temperature during those two times of year.

You will find some great yoga demonstration to help you get started right here http://myfitnessnut.com/hatha-yoga-poses but regardless of which poses you do or when you practice yoga, the important part is reaping the benefits of doing yoga to improve your health and well-being.

Learning Yoga at Home or in a Class is a Matter of Personal Preference and Convenience

Yoga has been proven to reduce stress, help relieve lower back pain, increase longevity and deliver a host of other positive and beneficial health attributes. And you may want to get started practicing yoga at home, versus in an organized class. There could be many reasons for this.

The available yoga classes offered in your town may be far away from your home, or you might have young ones to tend to. Maybe you just prefer to exercise alone, or feel sensitive about your body weight or shape, and would like to get started on your own at first. Whatever your reasons for learning and practicing yoga at home, there are a few things you need to know.

Practicing Yoga at Home is a Low Cost Option

First off, practicing yoga at home as opposed to some other exercise has never been easier. A home practice of yoga requires a sticky mat and you as a basic beginning. You can always purchase two blocks and a strap for modifications, and perhaps in the future purchase a yoga blanket.

Even if you buy all of those items, as well as a meditation cushion, the physical space you need and the financial outlay you incur to practice yoga at home are both minimal. And classes offered outside your home can be costly.

Remember that when learning yoga at home, you will have to be your own strict teacher. Regular classes are attended at a particular time, and you should probably set up a space and time which is dedicated to yoga in your home. Make sure your yoga space is uncluttered and serene, and one tip here is to add images and objects that create a sense of peace and tranquillity.

Since there are literally hundreds of forms and modifications of this ancient spiritual practice, choose a yoga style which fits you best, and stick to it. Beginners can start off with forms like Iyengar or Kripalu yoga, which help you learn proper positioning.

A Yoga Instructor Can Show You How to Do Yoga at Home

While learning yoga at home can save on financial and time investments, you can get great training in a class. That means that if you want to practice at home you may want to contact a yoga teacher or instructor to ensure your efforts are correct, so that you can receive maximum benefits.

After a time you can then begin to develop your own personal practice privately at home. And if no instructor is available, the beauty of the Internet provides helpful yoga DVD courses, books and even yoga flash cards which you can purchase and have delivered to your front door.

What if you find certain aspects of both home practice and out-of-the-home structured classes attractive? Then you may want to look into joining an online yoga club. This gives you access to podcasts, user guides and video direction from trained yoga masters, available in your particular time frame, and in the privacy of your home. And there are smart-phone applications which allow you to complement your at-home yoga practice with on the go, anywhere availability.

Whether learning yoga at home versus in a structured class setting, you can access the many mind and body benefits this simple, spiritual and physical exercise delivers.

Practicing Yoga is Designed to Work with All Religions

In researching the origins of yoga leads us to understand that it was created as a spiritual practice with the goal of achieving a “union with the absolute.”

But since the early 1960s in the US and other countries of the Western world, when yoga started to be practiced for health benefits, the lines have been blurred between the religious and physical aspects of this ancient mystic practice. And in the 1980s, Hatha yoga became exponentially popular in the United States, practiced in YMCAs, Christian churches, physical therapy clinics and nonreligious yoga-specific training centers.

The fact that yoga was first created as an Eastern form of thought and philosophy in no way detracts from the physical benefits it delivers. Many Western proponents of yoga will argue that it is not religious. And in the bestselling “Meditations from the Mat” the author claims that there is nothing in the ancient yoga texts that eliminates the practice by any particular religion.

As a how-to guide for right living with a goal of spiritual and physical conditioning, practicing yoga can benefit you regardless of your spiritual or religious beliefs.

Is Practicing Yoga Religious? It’s a Matter of Perception…

The difference is in your perception. In the Western world it is seen primarily as a physical exercise regimen. In the Eastern world yoga is regarded as a spiritual life practice.

But since the human mind and body benefit so wonderfully from the regular practice of yoga, it really doesn’t matter how you view this simple but powerful activity. Healthy weight loss, reduction of stress, improved concentration and memory and even a reduction in your risks of contracting heart disease are all healthy benefits that yoga delivers.

Then there are those yogis in the Western world, like David Life and Sharon Gannon, who have developed their own yoga methods. Their Jivamukti version is based on yoga as an adaptation of practical philosophy and not religion, according to its creators.

However, both Gannon and Life openly attest that yoga is definitely linked to Hinduism and philosophical schools which also include Vedanta, Samkhya, Jainism, and Buddhism. First beginning to appear in the Upanishads as early as 1,000 BC, yoga was without a doubt created as a more spiritual practice than a physical one.

And since the very tenets of this ancient spirit and health enhancement point to each individual’s path of development, there is not any simple religious or nonreligious adaptation that we can point to and identify as yoga. There are several schools of thought and practice, both religious and physical, which dictate different forms of yoga.

Kundalini focuses on strenuous exercise and deep breathing. Hatha postures and continual movement are the basis for Astanga yoga. And there are more yoga asanas, sequences and methods which focus on sexual energy, body sensation, mental enlightenment and other immediate goals.

There is no doubt that yoga has its origins in the ancient spiritual and religious Eastern world, but today’s yoga practitioners are as diverse in their religious beliefs as are the many forms of this beneficial mental and physical exercise.

End the Confusion by Starting with These Top Yoga Poses

If you are considering taking up yoga, you are no doubt confused which poses to begin with as there are well over 100 different ones to choose from. When you are ready to begin, these 5 top yoga poses will give you a good feel for yoga. Hold each pose for 15-30 seconds before returning to its starting position.

Top Yoga Pose #1: Downward-Facing Dog

The starting position is on your hands and knees with your knees slightly behind your hips, feet shoulder-width apart and your hands slightly forward of your shoulders. Start walking your hands back toward you while raising your body. At the peak of the exercise, your hands and heels of your feet will be on the floor; your body should look like an inverted “V”. The first few times you try this pose, you may not be able to fully do it. Do the best you can and continue to work toward the desired end state.

Top Yoga Pose #2: Upward-Facing Dog

For this pose, you’ll start by lying on your stomach. Place your hands at your sides as if you were going to do push-ups. Now extend your arms and push your upper body up; your knees and feet should still be on the floor. Tilt your head back so you are looking up at the ceiling.

Top Yoga Pose #3: Child’s Pose

Start by kneeling on the floor. Drop your buttocks down toward your heels as you stretch the rest of your body down and forward, extending your arms in front of you. Relax your butt back onto your toes, trying to push your butt into the ground. Simultaneously, extend your arms out as far in front of you as far as you can.

Top Yoga Pose #4: Warrior II

Starting position is standing with feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Now lift and rotate one leg 90 degrees while keeping your other leg at the starting position. Lean forward on the leg you rotated until the shin of that foot is perpendicular with the floor. At the same time, straighten your leg that is still in the starting position and raise your arms until they are parallel to the floor. You should now have one arm pointing directly in front of you, and the other directly behind you. Continue to look straight forward and hold this pose for the required time. Repeat on the opposite side.

Top Yoga Pose #5: Tree

From the standing straight position with your shoulders back, slowly lift up one foot and place it on the inside of your other leg about knee-high. At the same time, place your hands together in front of you and slowly raise them above your head. Hold this pose for the required time and repeat using the opposite leg.

Rotate though these five poses two to three times without rest for three to four days per week. Focus on building the amount of time you can hold each pose until you can hold each one for 60 seconds. As you can see by reading through each pose, focusing on the task is essential to doing it right.

You can find more yoga poses for beginners on video right here http://myfitnessnut.com/hatha-yoga-poses . Those yoga videos will help you learn how to do many popular yoga postures.

Certain functions that we do a lot, like a long-drive commute or sitting in front a computer for extended periods of time, can raise havoc with our posture over time but there are ways to improve your posture. If you find your posture has deteriorated and you tend to slouch when standing upright, certain yoga poses can get you standing tall again.

Here are 6 Yoga Poses That Help Improve Your Posture:

Mountain Pose

The purpose of the mountain pose is to get your body to realize when your back is in perfect alignment with your head, neck and shoulders. This is called the neutral position. If you have difficulty with this pose when first trying it, doing it with your back against a flat vertical wall can help you find your neutral position. Once you know what neutral feels like, you can then do it without using the wall as a prop.

Boat Pose

This pose, called Navasana, strengthens your lower abdominal muscles, which support your lower back and pelvis. While breathing deep, hold the pose for at least 30 seconds.

Locust Pose

Salabhasana is an upper body pose that focuses on strengthening the muscles that hold the shoulder blades in alignment. As the muscles become stronger, they shorten thus pulling your shoulder blades down and back, increasing your vertical posture and alignment.

Bridge Pose

This is one of the best poses to correct for poor posture. It works by strengthening your spine and increasing its flexibility. This pose along with 69 others can be found on these online yoga videos.

Standing Forward Bend

With your hands interlaced behind your back, this pose stretches out the shoulders and hamstrings. To get the maximum benefit from doing this pose, pull your shoulders up by tightening up your shoulder blades as you bend over in half. Once in the bent position, release the pressure on your shoulder blades letting them slide back into place.

Cat-Cow Stretch Pose

While most of the other poses have been done from the standing position, the starting position for this pose is on all fours. By moving your spine through flexion (back down/head up) and extension (back up/head down) you’ll find the ideal neutral position of your spine.

Doing Desk Yoga to Improve Your Posture

Yoga doesn’t have to be done in a studio or at home; there are some modified poses that you can do to improve your posture while seated at your desk:

• Seated Forward Bend – Push your chair back from your desk. While still seated, place both feet flat on the floor. Now interlace your fingers behind your back. Straighten your arms back while folding at the waist, bringing your interlaced hands up and over your back. Rest your chest on your thighs and release your neck. Hold for 15-20 seconds.
• Seated Cat-Cow Stretch – While seated, start by placing both feet flat on the floor. Place your hands on your knees. Now the breathing; on the inhale, arch your back and look up toward the ceiling; on the exhale, round your spine and look down. Repeat for 3-5 breaths.

While yoga doesn’t make you taller, it appears that you are taller by you finding your spine’s neutral position and making you stand more erect. Plus as a side benefit, it can help alleviate neck and lower back pain. So if you find yourself with a poor posture, try doing yoga to improve your posture and your overall health.

5 Tips to Help Prevent Yoga Injuries

Many people having never done yoga tend to think “How hard can it be to do a bunch of stretching exercises?” In reality, yoga is a sport, and like in any sport, injuries can occur. These 5 tips will help you to better prevent yoga injuries during your routine:

1) Do it Right

If you are just starting yoga, join a class so you can learn how to do the poses the correct way. Once you know how, then you can do a yoga routine off of a DVD or a YouTube video. Because many of the poses rely on balance and technique, if done wrong, injuries can occur.

2) Warm Up to Help Prevent Yoga Injuries

Doing yoga involves stretching muscles to increase flexibility. However, if you try doing many of the poses with cold muscles, you run the risk of a tear or pull. Almost every yoga routine is done in a sequence. A part of that sequence is moves or poses that warm-up the muscles in preparation for more strenuous postures. If at home, warm-up by walking in place or do a few sun salutation poses to get stretched out.

3) Prevent Yoga Injuries by Listening to Your Body

Yoga should be challenging, otherwise you would not get much out of it, however, it should not hurt. If when doing a pose you feel a twinge or pain, stop and rest. Once when ready, slowly try the pose again. If it still hurts, then try using a prop with that pose. If that did not help, then you may want to eliminate or substitute a similar pose that does not hurt in its place.

4) Focus on Yourself

The only one that matters in a yoga class is you. However, if you are focused on trying to keep up with your classmate to the side or in front of you, you run the risk on injuring yourself because the focus was not on you. Yoga is non-competitive, so keep your focus on doing the pose correctly or at least doing the best you can and don’t worry how some else is doing it. With the focus on you, you’ll notice when a pose doesn’t feel right and you can stop before suffering an injury. See how yoga poses are done correctly here: http://myfitnessnut.com/hatha-yoga-poses

5) Bring Your Own Yoga Mat and Props

This last tip is not about injury as much as it is about disease and illnesses. Because many people may use the same studio mat and props within a single day, let alone in a week, the cleanliness of the items could be in question.

To prevent yourself from picking up something as simple as athlete’s foot, or more dangerous such as a virus, bring your own mat and props. That way you know when (and how) they were last cleaned. Besides, it is nice to have your own equipment and it is not that expensive to buy.

By using these 5 tips when doing yoga, you reduce the risk of getting hurt or sick. Now get out there and have fun!

Guide to the Yoga Sun Salutation and Corpse Pose

Surya Namaskara, the original Sun Salutation name, is one of the most popular yoga styles in the Western world. It derives its popularity from the flexibility of its three routines – A, B and C – which can range from poses suitable for a beginner to the more advanced.

Due to the simplicity of the Sun Salutation postures, called asanas, many people use this style of yoga when learning the breathing routines of Hatha, while many instructors use some Sun Salutation Poses as a warm-up to other yoga routines.

Differences Between the Sun Salutation Routines

Many of the poses are the same in each of the Sun Salutations routines. Here are the poses included in Sun A:

• Standing Mountain Pose
• Upward Salute
• Standing Forward Fold
• Half Standing Forward Fold
• Four-Limbed Staff Pose
• Upward-Facing Dog Pose
• Downward-Facing Dog Pose
• Half Standing Forward Fold
• Standing Forward Fold
• Mountain Pose

Sun B however generally substitutes the Warrior and Chair poses for the Upward Salute, whereas Sun C includes the Plank, Lunge and Cobra postures in its routine instead of the Four-Limbed Staff Pose.

Each of the routines are laid out in a sequence that allows the student to move from one pose to the next with minimal movement or lost time. Breathe in on the portion of the pose involving a stretch or extend; breathe out on the portion where you bend or contract.

Back to the Basics

In its basic form, its poses concentrate on stretching the whole body along with deep breathing to warm up core muscles. Warmed muscles are more pliable and flexible, thus reacting better to the moves within the postures. This also reduces the risk of injuring a muscle by stretching further than you could if not warmed. And because each pose can be done in a variety of ways, advanced students can do variations of a pose for more stretching and strength building or even a different routine.

Since the normal Sun Salutation poses are very basic, they are a great routine to do by themselves or to incorporate more advanced poses into them. For example, the Triangle Pose can be added to the Lunge to expand the flexibility of the hips, shoulders and abdominal core. The more advanced Standing Splits pose can follow the Mountain pose for an even deeper workout.

Unlike many other types of yoga, Sun Salutation can be practiced every day. Do one of the Sun routines daily and soon you’ll notice a difference both mentally and physically.

A Guide to the Yoga Corpse Pose

The Corpse Pose is usually the final pose in a yoga class. Also known as the Final Relaxation Pose, its purpose is to take you deep inside yourself through total relaxation and concentration. Because this pose is more mental than physical, it is often the hardest pose for beginner yogis to achieve.

In this pose, you lie completely still and concentrate on the awareness of your deepest and innermost state of consciousness, thus releasing the emotions and ideas that unconsciously guide your life – sometimes down the wrong path. It is here in this state that you find your true self.

Corpse Pose Benefits

Besides the physical benefits of the Corpse Pose, such as a decrease in heart rate, muscle tension and metabolic rate; lower blood pressure; a slowed rate of breathing, you’ll also experience a deeper calmness between your mind, body and soul. It is this awareness between all three that helps you focus, stay calm and experience less stress throughout the rest of your chaotic and hectic day. And we all know that having less stress, both mentally and physically has many health benefits of its own.

Doing the Corpse Pose

Start by lying on your back with your legs straight and arms at your sides with your hands about six inches away from your body, palms up. Let your feet naturally rotate outward. And close your eyes.

• Breathe in and out naturally.
• Relax and allow your body to feel as if it were sinking into the floor.
• Starting at the soles of your feet and working up to the top of your head, concentrate on releasing every part of your body.
• When you get to your head, concentrate on relaxing your face; let your eyes fall deep in their sockets. Peace and silence should permeate throughout your mind, body, and soul.
• Dedicate five minutes to this pose for each 30 minutes of yoga practice.
• To end the pose, begin to deepen your breath. Slowly, and through gentle movement, bring the physical awareness back to your body, by starting at the far end of your extremities and wiggling your fingers and toes. Now roll to your left or right side; lay there and rest for a moment. When ready, deeply inhale while bringing yourself up to a comfortable seated position.
• Finish bringing yourself back to the present and carry the peace and stillness derived from the pose with you throughout the rest of your day.

Start with Sun Salutation – End with the Corpse Pose

If you have to leave class early, be sure to warm-up with the Sun Salutation, forgo doing another pose or two if necessary, but do not forgo doing the Corpse Pose because no yoga practice is complete without this final relaxation pose.

Men in India Originally Developed Yoga

While that may seem like a weird question at first, it is not. Think about it, even though the majority of photos we see today are of women doing yoga, or modelling yoga clothes and accessories in commercials, yoga was developed by men in ancient India. So we know that men can do yoga, and at one time not too long ago, dominated the yoga field.

So the better question frequently asked is “Why don’t more men do yoga?” The real answer is the perception of it in the male mind. Men are wired differently than women; most male sports are based on competiveness. Because yoga is non-competitive, many males view it as something not worth doing and therefore a “girly” sport.

In reality, their skewed perception couldn’t be further from the truth. For example, being the whole LA Laker basketball team does yoga, it must be something worth doing.

But in general, the real question remains: “Do men do yoga?”, especially in a mixed-gender setting.

Two misconceptions exist that prevent many men from participating in mixed gender yoga classes:

• First would they be welcome in a yoga class dominated by females?
• Second, are they flexible enough to participate in yoga?

Can Men Do Yoga in a Female Dominated Yoga Class?

With 77% of yogis being female, it can be overwhelming at first walking into a co-ed yoga class, especially if you are only one of a few, or even the only male in the whole class. But in most cases, it is not the women that is the problem – it is you.

Just remember all of you are there for the same reason – to improve both your physical and mental well-being. In most cases, gender is immaterial; the women will put out the welcome mat; you just have to graciously walk across it.

While still in the minority, male-practiced yoga is catching on; according to Yoga Journal’s own research, the number of males practicing yoga is increasing at the rate of 5% per year.

If for some reason you are uncomfortable practising in a female dominated class, search out a studio that offers all-male classes. Many of them now do.

Men Do Yoga But Flexibility is the Real Question

Because the postures or asanas were developed by men, many of them are more suited to men than women because of the upper strength needed to complete the pose; something most women lack in the beginning. But the flexibility question is real – women by nature are more flexible than men. Researchers aren’t sure why, but it is true. Also, men differ from women in that they tend to develop more muscles in some areas of their body while not in others – depending on which sports they practice. This muscle development can actually reduce flexibility.

Yoga not only loosens up developed muscles thus making them more flexible, men can increase their overall flexibility through yoga. And that is only one benefit; others include:

• Increased mental sharpness
• Less stress
• Increased blood flow
• Detoxification of the body, just to name a few

So the answer is yes, men can and should do yoga for a number of reasons. Check out a studio near you and join a class. Your body will thank you for it!