Who said yoga isn't just for girls!?

[Spartan]

In an earlier thread on yoga I was told that yoga classes have a fairly even ratio of girls to boys.

However, when I went to a yoga class for the first time today, there was only one other male there, and I think he was only there becuase his girlfriend dragged him down.

What are other people's experiences? Do most males think yoga is too boring?

I must admit it was enjoyable, but the way the instructor was talking about chakras left me a bit skeptical. I think it's a nice change though from the other more strenuous activities I do.

[Dave Kaminski]

I do yoga almost daily. I do DVDs though; I'm not sure my form is perfect but it feels great!

[babuji]

I'm Male.. and I teach/practice yoga. From my experience, I've noticed that the more rigorous classes tend to have a balanced number of male students.. meanwhile, the more gentler classes will almost always have a majority of women in the group.

My guess is that men really only care about their physique and muscle mass. I don't blame them as it's quite sensationalized in mass media. Nevertheless, that's why you mostly see them in the yoga classes that work on strength and power.

As for your yoga class, I'd be a bit skeptical too if someone was overloading you on chakras. Only in the higher stages of yoga should one be concerned with chakras. For someone starting out.. chakras shouldn't even be mentioned.

Sadly, most instructors, don't even have any experience with working on their chakras, but they use the terms haphazardly and just to sound cool I suppose.

Aside from that, Yoga is definitely a method to change one's whole life around. Personally, my perspective on life has gone 180 degrees. Not to mention the physical benefits along with that.

I encourage everyone in these forums to try Yoga.. especially the men.. as Spartan indicated, these classes are full of women.. How can you go wrong?

[Spartan]

I did Hatha Yoga I think. Are there more physical forms of yoga then?

[babuji]

Ashtanga Yoga is one form that's quite physical and demanding. And in the US, there's something called Power Yoga, which is a bit more physical as well.

I personally prefer Hatha Yoga and more "meditation in motion" styles of Yoga, but for those looking for physically demanding styles, Ashtanga and Power Yoga are the way to go.

[Spartan]

Originally Posted by babuji

Ashtanga Yoga is one form that's quite physical and demanding. And in the US, there's something called Power Yoga, which is a bit more physical as well.

I personally prefer Hatha Yoga and more "meditation in motion" styles of Yoga, but for those looking for physically demanding styles, Ashtanga and Power Yoga are the way to go.

Unfortunately, around my area there are no classes teaching those forms.

edit: There is a class called Dynamic Yoga - that might be the same as Power Yoga? It says it involves a sequence of sun salutations followed by posture work on the floor - what are sun salutations? Unfortunately there is no evening class for it.

[Spartan]

Would you recommend I do the Hatha Yoga class for now, so I can get a taste of what yoga's about, even though I don't find it that physically challenging? Or will it get more physically challenging as I progress?

[mercuryrising]

I think martial arts is the male equivalent to yoga (they have the same origin).

Men (generally) like to have clear objectives, order of rank and competition along with their spiritual development. You would find more guys than girls at the local dojo than at the local sangha. But, obviously, we're all individuals and it really doesn't matter.

I like doing yoga on my own or with like-minded friends, but I hated 'real' classes. I checked out a DVD from the library not long ago to give me some fresh ideas and motivation. I would do the same with classes. "Take what I want and leave the rest" sort of philosophy.

[Barcs]

I don't see any reason for Yoga to be targetted towards male or female. Overall it's great for you. I just started about a month ago and I'm loving it so far. I'm still pretty much a beginner though. I have the beginner's DVD set at home that I'm following at the moment. After that I want to start going to some of the classes that they do in the hot room. I'm not sure what kind of yoga that is, but it's supposed to be very good.

[PianoManGidley]

I think part of the reason why more men go for martial arts and more women go for yoga is that even though they are both very beneficial to at least your physical health, the Western world filters these two practices through their own lenses. So most guys here in America see martial arts as being about violence and being able to kick someone's butt and therefore more "cool" for guys to do, whereas yoga is just a bunch of stretching and contortion and holding weird poses and is somehow connected to hippie flower-power that's apparently emasculating. And since our society is still very much shaped around what men perceive more than what women perceive, this causes the gender split between martial arts and yoga. What so many don't realize is that both martial arts AND yoga are used for physical health, for mental and spiritual development, and for self defense.

[Jennihul]

My friend Trevor goes to meet women and for the view...

Jennifer

[Plato]

I've started to do yoga/pilates at home as part of a monthly challenge and I don't know why I ever stopped. I used to do yoga when I was about 15/16 but my only motivation for it back then was to hit a golf ball further.

Since I like it I might as well go to classes for the advantages that apparently brings... and some tips on yoga would be nice too.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Jennihul

My friend Trevor goes to meet women and for the view...

Jennifer

Thought of that myself in the past, lol

However after watching a Billy Connolly video, he tells us (in his hillarious way) that yoga unfortunately releases trapped gas - the stuff that has been there for a good while, lol..............

nO ThAnKS

[Freelancer]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Thought of that myself in the past, lol

However after watching a Billy Connolly video, he tells us (in his hillarious way) that yoga unfortunately releases trapped gas - the stuff that has been there for a good while, lol..............

nO ThAnKS

lol, doing a split next to a hot woman. You just get ready to say a world, she looks tempting into your eyes and right that moment a gas explosion. haha awesome.

Thats should give some good stories.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Freelancer

lol, doing a split next to a hot woman. You just get ready to say a world, she looks tempting into your eyes and right that moment a gas explosion. haha awesome.

Thats should give some good stories.

HE smell and HE fell.

[sheffy4]

Lately I've been attending classes for Tibetan Heart Yoga, which focuses on quick-moving series that can be really physically demanding. This class usually has about half males, while the basic yoga class I was taking before was mostly females. So I agree with babuji that the more "difficult" classes tend to have more males.
If you still don't know what a sun salutation is, I would say keep going to the more basic classes before advancing to the more difficult. Although, yoga poses are easy to modify to make them either more or less difficult, but it's crucial to have a good teacher who will let you know what the modifications are and when to use them!

[borntosucceed]

I am doing Bikrams yoga and in some classes we have more guys than girls. Most of the times you have slightly more females than males.
It's a great workout and very challenging for most to stay focused for 1.5 hours.