Yoga is a female-dominated practice
In the studios of yoga across the world, you see mostly women. The female-to-male ratio was severely imbalanced 72 % to 28%, this shows that women still dominated the class.
Why is this imbalance? Does yoga benefit women more than men?
Is yoga for the faint heart, not challenging enough that we see more women in the studios than men? The myth that surrounds yoga is it is too soft and the muscle is not exerted enough. There are different forms of yoga with varying levels of hardship from Ashtanga, power, and Iyengar to yin yoga.
The commercials and movies promote a man with a well-chiseled body, six-pack abs, and bulked-up muscle. This image resonates with every young or for that matter older man. The Gym is packed with men who pump up more weights and drink protein shakes to achieve this. There is a high level of testosterone in the air and competition is too high. The myth about yoga is that it is a stretch workout that can only increase flexibility. Yes, you cannot get bulked-up muscles doing yoga, but the flexibility it gives reduces the possibility of injury and faster recovery of the muscles. So it would be ideal to add yoga along with weight training
In the older days up until the early 20th century, Yoga was considered Man’s practice. It was done in the forest by sages whose focus was to attain Nirvana and Yoga was the first thing to master. Yoga was practiced so that you could sit in Padmasana (Lotus pose) and meditate for long hours. To be able to sit in Padmasana, one needed a mastery of other yoga asanas. Constant practice allows a person to meditate without the body coming in the way of meditation. In those days women’s main goal was to nurture the family and few took the path of meditation. Hence men practiced it more.
Krishnamacharya- father of Modern yoga decided to bring yoga to every man, not only to people who seek Nirvana, Indira Devi who was visiting the school begged him to take her as his disciple. Krishnamacharya broke the norms and started teaching her. She then came back to the US and started teaching power yoga to celebrities. It became popular among Hollywood women and had a worldwide reach. Power yoga became popular because it gave toned bodies by using body weight,
The benefits of Yoga are far too many, and it is helpful for both sexes, irrespective of the image created by the marketing companies. It can be a standalone practice or combine it with other practices to get the maximum benefits. There are many forms of yoga that help you gain strength, and flexibility. Choose the form that most suits you and get on to the mat to see your body transform.
