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Once, only men were allowed to practice yoga.
June 16, 2023
Margit Hiebl
Why yoga helps men in particular: less tension, more flexibility, and a more relaxed relationship with their own body.
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Quite an irony of history: Actually, yoga was initially a male affair. The first yogis were concerned with meditation and breath control, philosophy and spirituality, and being closer to the gods. The physical component with the asanas, the yoga poses, was added later. Women had no access to the teachings; they were not allowed to learn and practice yoga.
All the great masters were men who generally refused to accept female students. It was not until the 1930s that a woman, the Lithuanian Eugenie Peterson, known in India as an actress under the name Indra Devi, managed to gain access to instruction.
Later she moved to California and became the Godmother of Yoga – Greta Garbo and Marilyn Monroe were among her enthusiastic students. Thus, the strict Yogi philosophy of the scholars opened up to a Western female world seeking ambitious physical exercises for body optimization.
In the New Age era and the hippie years, more male protagonists on the quest for enlightenment found their way to yoga — often personalities from the music scene, from the Beatles to Yehudi Menuhin. Today, yoga is part of the training for many athletes: Whether NFL quarterback Tom Brady, golfer Martin Kaymer, or the German national soccer team — all practice the sun salutation.
Nevertheless: Yoga has not really arrived in the male world to this day. According to a GfK study, the proportion of men among yogis is just one percent. The inhibition threshold is apparently high. Why is that?
Are men afraid of making a fool of themselves in front of the concentrated female flexibility? Do they shy away from esoteric nonsense with incense stick scent? Is yoga too unathletic for them? Do they not want to venture into unknown territory? Probably a little of everything, confirms Sandra Jahn, a medically certified yoga teacher with her own studio (male share over 50 percent) in Munich.
Men often use the excuse: I'm much too stiff and inflexible to do yoga.
A yoga master once responded to the question of which asana one should practice: You must do what you are least capable of. It’s logical, because if he wasn't stiff and inflexible, he wouldn't need to come.
Men don't like to embarrass themselves, how can they find a safe entry?
Beginners, especially male ones, often feel more comfortable in private lessons or small groups. I'm not usually in favor of gender segregation – but in this case, I also consider an all-male group sensible, where they can find their energy and embrace something new.
Does it make a difference if a man chooses a female or male instructor?
Yes, but I don't want to evaluate this difference as positive or negative. There is simply a different energy, and that's good. Regardless of gender, the person should fit, and also – I experience this time and again – the humor. Because yoga doesn’t have to be too sacred and reduced, it can be worldly at times.
Which yoga path is good for men?
Ideally, one starts with classical Hatha Yoga, focusing on the body, learning alignment, trying to penetrate each posture. This happens by practicing them often and understanding how the foot must be positioned or how to open the chest, how long to stay in the posture to feel something. For some, this happens after eight breaths, for others after thirty.
In my experience, it doesn't help to overload someone spiritually if they don't yet know what an asana looks like. Better to go from the coarse to the fine, that is, train perception through the body, integrate the breath, and then move into softness, for example, with a nice final relaxation.
You can build on that. Most beginners are certainly primarily physically oriented. To what extent a mindful or spiritual path emerges from this is then in everyone's hands. But initially, it's about creating the idea that you spend time with yourself and allow what happens to happen.
What should beginners better avoid at first?
I find flows of any kind problematic, especially for beginners. Because you can't learn the individual posture and the perception of the posture that way.
Can anyone do yoga?
Yoga is like a large toolbox filled with an incredible number of tools. It's the teacher's job to fish the right tool out of the box for their student at the right moment.
What mistakes do men often make?
That they enter a challenge. Yoga is not a competition, especially not against oneself, but rather an integration of strengths and weaknesses. The goal is to perhaps become a little wiser by understanding that one does not exclude the other. Of course, you can set goals, like getting your heels on the ground in the "dog" pose. But: You must always be aware that your own breath and physical ability dictate your pace.
How do athletes benefit from yoga?
By doing something that feels completely different, but they soon realize that it is a good complement. However, they must allow for a certain phase of frustration because they are usually good at things involving the body.
Athletes have trained muscles, but are often not good or mindful in stretching. Golfers benefit from twisting poses, bikers from forward bends and hip-opening exercises, runners also from heel sits. But taken out of context, the poses make little sense. Ideally, after running for an hour, you should do yoga for an hour.
How long does it take to learn yoga?
I still can't do it! (laughs) It's not about mastery, but about being on a path together. Where is the end? You don't know, I don't know. But the more often you have walked the path, the faster you find it again.
If you do only one exercise a day, which should it be?
The 'Dog', because it includes everything: head circulation, core activation, leg stretching, arm strengthening. There's nothing better. You don't have to do the exercise for thirty minutes, as yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar recommended – ten minutes is already challenging.
And in this profane posture, you will go through various phases, from annoyed to strained. But basically, anyone can do the 'Dog', even if you don't get your heel to the ground right away. And you can do the exercise with shoes, in any outfit.
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