For many years now, ever since it was introduced to the West, yoga has been mostly popular among women. While this is a good state of affairs, the fact that not as many men practice yoga is disappointing, to say the least. Yoga for men, at this point, continues to be an unusual concept of sorts.
There’s a notion that “yoga can’t be for men because it’s not active or challenging enough, as far as physical exertions are concerned.”
Right? Nope. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
Yoga for Men – The Quest for Fitness
Striving to be fit, to attain health and wellness does not always require a certain level of aggressiveness or competitiveness, whether you are competing against others, or yourself.
If you’re male and you’re reading this, understand that you don’t necessarily have to be a grunting, heavily perspiring, excessively muscle flexing real-life version of He-Man, Master of the Universe all the time to prove that you are taking care of your body seriously.
In your quest for fitness, testosterone-driven activities such as competitive swimming, running marathons, weight lifting, and cross county cycling can do you good, no doubt about that. But can those activities also give you inner tranquility and mental acuity or keenness of thought?
That’s very much debatable.
Why Yoga for Men is Recommended
If you work in an office, think of someone who highly irritates you over there. It could be your boss, a co-worker, or even yourself. Maybe you don’t know how to express your dislike for certain systems, procedures or situations that are not conducive to your well-being without coming across as a totally aggressive and unreasonable Neanderthal.
Yoga helps you to focus your negative energy, and convert it to a positive way of thinking and dealing with things, in order to have a favorable outcome for yourself, as well as others around you. And when you are able to use your clear mind and focused logic to easily deal with stressful situations, then you achieve inner peace.
How’s that for a triple home-run?
Mountain biking across the whole country can’t do that for you. Neither can lifting all the weights in the world, but doing yoga for men most certainly can. In the previous article we talked a little bit about doing basic yoga poses. Be sure to subscribe to the MyFitnessNut.com Newsletter to get access to the 70 Hatha Yoga Videos that go with this guide. Next we’ll look at “Yoga for Women” and the development of harmonious and beautiful proportions.