For some reason, it is believed that yoga is the lot of girls. Especially in our country: most of the instructors are women, go to any class and you will see 10-20 girls on the mats and it’s good if there are a couple of men. However, this distribution exists in other countries.

At the same time, yoga is originally a male practice; for thousands of years, it was mainly men who were engaged in it. Even the terms that practitioners are still called are masculine - yogi or yogi. Only in the 21st century did such words as “yogini” and bisexual “yozhik” appear.

Moreover, the ancient monuments of yoga, dating back to the third or fourth millennium BC, testify to the male dominant in practices. These are figurines of people, Buddha, Shiva and other deities frozen in meditative poses. It is easy to guess that all the sculptures depict men.

This is not surprising: yoga requires great physical (and spiritual) strength, endurance, self-control, calmness, concentration. Let the representatives of feminism forgive us, but it is precisely these qualities that describe ideal men on greeting cards for February 23rd.

It would be strange to say that yoga was invented by men for men. Most likely, this is not the case, since yoga was clearly invented for purposes other than inciting a gender war. It is impossible to say more precisely, for more than five thousand years not a single statement about sexual discrimination in yoga has survived, if there were any (which is unlikely).

However, the fact remains that for a long time it was mainly men who “jogged” in.

So why are women more interested in yoga now? The answer is simple: in countries where yoga was not known for a long time (in the early years of the USSR, it was completely banned for ideological reasons), they still do not fully know about it. Russian men believe that this is a female form of fitness, because it seems to them that it is sitting in the lotus position, meditation (what is it all about?), Talking about some chakras and harmony with the world.

Of course, this kind of yoga looks boring and more like a sorority for those who want to sit cross-legged in silence. A man, on the other hand, needs something more interesting: to jerk the barbell, turn over a hefty tire, in extreme cases, send someone to a knockout. In fact, yoga is a full-fledged workout of the whole body, while it is equally difficult for both men and women.

 

Yoga is an official sport with complex complexes, power loads and various types of practices. For example, ashtanga vinyasa yoga is a tough dynamic strength practice, or a rather young direction of power yoga - as the name implies, this is a power complex that develops muscles.

In the USA, Canada and Australia, yoga among men is much more popular than here. Professional rugby players, football players and hockey players regularly include yoga classes in their training program - this increases endurance, strength, strengthens the core muscles and adds relief to the muscles of the body.

Stereotypes are also fed by women's passion for this type of fitness. Like a vicious circle: "And that I will go to yoga, there are only women there."

Men are also often embarrassed that slender beauties in social networks easily throw their legs over their heads and generally surprise with plasticity and flexibility. At the same time, the representatives of the stronger sex are confused by the fact that they reached the floor with straightened knees at school, and sat on the twine ... they never sat down, in general. They forget the most important thing: to go to yoga, you do not need to reach the floor - to reach the floor, you need to go to yoga.

Stretching, various asanas, balancing, breathing exercises - a real serious workout. The difference from the same crossfit is that there is no powerful adrenaline rush, the need for a high level of testosterone and the ability to explosively mobilize all the strength. Yoga teaches another aspect of physical development: establishing a closer connection between the mind and body, harmony, the ability to better feel every muscle, control yourself.

Without this, it is difficult to develop in other sports. Add in plasticity (stretching) and core strengthening training, and yoga will be a good help for any athlete. In addition, yoga workouts sometimes make you sweat - not all poses are so easy to take, for beginners, it can easily reduce muscles from any lengthy stay in asana.

If your goal in fitness is to achieve good physical shape without fanaticism and dreams of huge biceps, yoga may be enough. You don’t need to look for examples, just look at male instructors on social networks. They have well-drawn muscles, there are cubes on the press, all limbs are developed harmoniously without any days of the legs and days of the back. You will be surprised when you realize how much physical strength is required to hold the correct vertical or inverted asanas, how much energy intensive twisting, balances and headstands and handstands require.

 

To say that yoga is a complete replacement for fitness for people with injuries or at an older age is not even worth it. We are sure you already know that yoga is submissive to all ages and health conditions.

Here are the main positive results of yoga, which can be noticed after the first classes:

• reduces the risk of heart disease by stabilizing blood pressure
• disappear chronic fatigue syndrome, stress
• sleep improves
• lose extra pounds
• muscles become more elastic and enduring due to stretching and static exercises
• reduced pain in joints and ligaments
• the lungs begin to work more efficiently, the muscles receive more oxygen due to breathing exercises

There is another positive “side effect” of yoga. Due to improved blood circulation throughout the body, and hence in the pelvic area, the reproductive system improves. However, this also applies to women. For men, this means an increase in potency, an improvement in the functioning of the prostate gland (at the same time, the prevention of prostatitis). A general increase in libido occurs due to stimulation of nerve endings, the level of vigor and tone increases immediately after exercise. It is unlikely that you will find a special type of yoga to increase potency, but why not use the practice to enhance men's health and prevent age-related troubles.

Contraindications for men

... the same as for women. These are complicated arterial hypertension, serious injuries of the back, spine, limbs, hernia, epilepsy, acute stages of infectious diseases, stay on a course of treatment with psychotropic drugs. In general, everything with which people usually go to the hospital, and not to the gym.

Follow the elementary safety rules: perform balance asanas next to a wall or other support, if you still don’t really trust coordination. If any position causes inconvenience or pain, tell the trainer: they will either help you to perform it correctly, or not to the end, or they will simply give you a small timeout.

A distinctive male trait is to endure pain and be embarrassed to report it, especially if the instructor is a woman, and there are also only women on neighboring rugs. In this case, remember the representatives of a typically male sport - football players. These guys don’t think for a second at all if they are slightly hurt by an opponent, they squirm from the “pain” in front of millions of viewers, and are not shy.

Everyone who comes to yoga comes there with one goal - for self-development.

Same as you. Therefore, even if you find yourself one yogi among 30 yoginis, do not pay attention to those around you just as they will not pay attention to you. Yoga practices are not a dating club, they are serious workouts that require concentration on oneself. So feel free to buy a mat and go ahead, for enlightenment!

 

 

Denis Bets