Is yoga for women only? This question reflects the image of western yoga today.
20% of Gotta Joga users are men. The same amount of yoga practitioners around the world are men. We received a question from one of our male users, Pascal:
“Your application is the first one that I use to try out yoga. After a week, I’d like to continue seriously but I have a doubt about a specific point: I feel that you are talking exclusively to women. Are some poses different for men and women? What about advice and difficulties?”
Our yoga teacher Anu Visuri answers:
“Dear Pascal,
thank you for your thoughts and questions.
A little about the history of yoga. In the old days in India yoga was almost only for men. Yoga then was meditation, controlling the body and the mind, performing rituals that would bring the yogis closer to the gods and give super powers to gain immortality. Women were not allowed to practise yoga. Or, only very rarely. Later, also asana practice, which became popular in the Middle Ages, was almost only practised by a militarized yogic order, Nath yogis, who were mostly men. Almost all the great teachers were men and many refused to have women as their students. About at the same time as yoga became popular in the west, indian women started to practise and some even teach yoga.
When yoga was introduced to us here in the western part of the world in the late 1890s and when it really started to bloom in the 1950s and 1970s, somehow women found it appealing. There are many theories why. One is, that at that time women were mostly house wives who had time. Another theory is that meditating, turning inside and practising self-reflection was something, that was considered too feminine for western men to practise, since men were taught to focus their energies outwards. Hence, asana practice, which sadly in the West has become the Yoga, even though it is only a small part of the whole philosophy, was not considered a real work-out. We have to remember that there is also a cultural difference going on here: West vs. East.
It is true that even today, when you go to a modern yoga class, the majority of students are women. Also, the majority of yoga teachers are women. But, the poses are not made for women only. Some poses are easier for women, especially poses which demand flexibility, since women tend to be more flexible than men, but not always! Some poses are easier for men, like arm balances, since men often are stronger than women, but not always! Then again, you practise the poses that are a challenge for you, to become more flexible or/and stronger and at the same time to get to know, what are you really made of and who you really are.
So, you don’t need to modify a pose, because you are a man, but because your hamstrings are tight or just to get a better feeling in the pose. If you really feel uncomfortable practising with a woman and you live in an area, where there are yoga studios, find a public class, which is taught by a male teacher. There are also yoga classes specifically only for men. Also, you can find classes by male teachers online, if you just want to see how a yoga class by a man is like.
We hope, you keep on practising, especially if it makes you feel good! Yoga truly is for every one and for every body: for women, for men, for children, for young people, for old people…
Thank you for practising with Gotta Joga!
-Anu & the Gotta Joga Team
Growing up, the only person I knew was doing yoga was my dad. He has some very old yoga books, depicting only men in their pages. So, as a child I thought yoga was practiced mainly by men. I have no idea if this was true in Greece during the 90s, but now it’s the other way around for sure.