Recently, I’ve been reading a lot about Yoga for Men books and articles as to the benefits for men to try yoga. Of course, there’s the physical benefits of complementing their intense sport activities (that usually get them injured) but also an emotional / mental balance where men tend to shy away from and keep to themselves no matter what.
More importantly, from what I’ve discovered over market research, observations and just asking men in general, here’s a list of things I’ve come up with as to why *some* men don’t do yoga:
1) It hurts. Men don’t want to show they’re in pain.. and it is a top priority to avoid pain and gain pleasure.
2) It’s not rough enough – yes, it’s a little contradictory to the previous but it’s not hard core stuff like hockey and ultimate fighting.
3) Men don’t like commitments. In many yoga poses, we commit to a posture and stay there. The C word can be too much for them.
4) Men rather like their scars and bruises. The need to have those injuries where they can tell their friends about it and limp around looking tough is a manly thing to do. So none of that yoga put you back together stuff!
5) Yoga is a process and reaps long-term gains whereas Men thrives on immediate results.
6) Yoga asks students to let go of the ego. That’s just too much for Men to digest.
7) Yoga requires Men to activate a philosophical side of the brain and work up a sweat at the same time. That’s multi-tasking. No can do.
8) Men are intimidated that their Women counterpart look so much more stronger, tougher and flexible in warrior than they do. That’s an insult to my ego so NO WAY!
Alright, I am only commenting on a “few” men out there! 
But seriously, there’s a reason why yoga is so popular these days and even P90x has incorporated yoga in their series. Worth taking a look boys!
Devon MacIntyre said,
April 14, 2010 at 12:08 am
Any guy that says yoga isn’t “tough enough”, clearly has no idea what yoga can feel like.. Even the Yin Yoga makes me feel like I just went through a workout, but at least some of the pain is gone at the end.
Ryan Cousineau said,
April 14, 2010 at 1:07 am
I’ve done a small amount of yoga, and enjoyed it fine for what it was, but I mostly ride a bike and do a bit of weights (and if I ever remember to start it again, core strength via planks and more planks).
It works. Maybe yoga would be a useful complement to that, but it’s a regimen of specificity: bike riding to get places and to train for races, weights to make my upper body not look stupid, and core because you need core.
Yoga is a nice-to-have, and meditation in a physical context seems like a great idea, but I find hard cardio pretty meditative, too (once your lips start going numb due to anoxia on the bike, everything seems fairly profound).
Also, you’re making the silly mistake of assuming men have an interior life. To quote Homer Simpson, “wrong!”