Men and Yoga
Article By J Lamb
Yoga doesn't present a sufficient challenge for blokes. Well, that’s what I used to think. Then just over a year ago, needing something to chill me out, I went to my first yoga class. An hour and a half later, I came away feeling beautifully relaxed, as if I’d drunk half a bottle of wine. But I’d also stretched parts of my body that hadn’t been stretched since… well, never. This was real exercise after all.
And I kept going to weekly classes. Within three or four months people were commenting that I looked taller. All that stretching had improved my posture. I now stood up straight instead of slouching. I also felt more relaxed. On packed tube trains in the middle of July I didn’t get that tight-chested, breathless feeling because yoga helped me breathe correctly. But most of all I felt stronger, fitter. Men feel that yoga doesn’t present a sufficiently macho challenge – it’s for girls. But if you stick with it, the positions become more challenging. The repetitions more intense. You will be exercised. The body is stretched and strengthened, particularly the legs. And it’s an ideal basis for other exercise or sports because it improves flexibility. Which is why a footballer like Ryan Giggs – still twisting and turning at 32 - practices yoga.
And if a Premiership footballer can’t convince blokes to take up yoga, here’s the clincher – you don’t have to wear a leotard. Now that is for girls.
Article on Men and Yoga by J Lamb, Yoga Harmony student.
And I kept going to weekly classes. Within three or four months people were commenting that I looked taller. All that stretching had improved my posture. I now stood up straight instead of slouching. I also felt more relaxed. On packed tube trains in the middle of July I didn’t get that tight-chested, breathless feeling because yoga helped me breathe correctly. But most of all I felt stronger, fitter. Men feel that yoga doesn’t present a sufficiently macho challenge – it’s for girls. But if you stick with it, the positions become more challenging. The repetitions more intense. You will be exercised. The body is stretched and strengthened, particularly the legs. And it’s an ideal basis for other exercise or sports because it improves flexibility. Which is why a footballer like Ryan Giggs – still twisting and turning at 32 - practices yoga.
And if a Premiership footballer can’t convince blokes to take up yoga, here’s the clincher – you don’t have to wear a leotard. Now that is for girls.
Article on Men and Yoga by J Lamb, Yoga Harmony student.
