Soft music, gentle movements, scented oils or candles, politely instructing yoga teachers……. yoga studios had been predominantly filled with ladies, but is now redefining masculinity by offering many health benefits of yoga to men also. Apparently, the original roots of yoga are actually much in the male domain. There are several real and powerful benefits of yoga for men that can drive them to the yoga mat, increasing the number of male yogis in the new generation.
From time immortal the field of yoga is mostly dominated by men from several generations with many world-renowned yoga teachers, founders, scholars like BKS Iyengar, Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, K Pattabhi Jois, Paramhansa Yoganand to name a few. The below-mentioned health benefits of yoga for men will further elaborate the significance of yoga in men’s life and compel them to join a nearby yoga class as soon as possible.
Health benefits of yoga for men –
1) Flexibility and mobility
The dynamic movements and stretches in yoga help the body to become more flexible and mobile. This further helps in far-reaching benefits for whatever other physical activities men need in their day-to-day life. From a martial arts enthusiast, a sportsperson or regular player, athlete, or one dreaming to join the forces, or someone looking forward to excelling in art forms like dance for all men out there yoga has several reasons to be part of a men’s life. The gradual practice of yoga eventually loosens the stiffness in the body with toe-touching, forward, and backward bending poses. And seemingly impossible poses become easily accessible with regular practice over a period of time.
2) Body strength and muscle building
Strong muscles have many other benefits apart from just making men stronger. They prevent arthritis, relieve aches, help elderly people in maintaining body balance. With yoga, men not only build muscle strength but also improve the flexibility of muscles. It also increases the speed of healing of internal damage or injury if any. It also helps to heal the joints and the fluid that resides in the joints thus providing the cushioning effect to avoid sudden jerk during the other masculine tasks.
3) Maintains heart health
The heart rate during the yoga session is slightly increased due to the aerobic exercise pattern it provides. You can lower the risk of heart attack, stroke, and can cure depression. Ashtanga Yoga is a vigorous form of yoga that boosts heart rate. Along with yoga, meditation, and pranayama, also improve the cardiovascular health of men. One of the best benefits of yoga is that it is highly beneficial in maintaining the optimum range of blood pressure, which is very common among men nowadays due to the highly stressed work environment.
4) Better sex drive
The High work stress and mental worries about the financial burdens affect the sleep and sex drive of men. Stress most of the time leads to mood swings, high smoking rates, and alcohol consumption, which is the main reason for sexual problems. Regular practice of yoga increases the release of hormones that boost arousal in men and increase blood flow to the genital area, curing the problem related to poor erection.
5) Reduction in substance abuse
Substance abuse, alcoholism, smoking is more common among men than in women. Rehabilitation of people with addictions, drug abuse is very difficult to achieve. It affects mental state and functioning. Yoga plays a vital role in overcoming drug addiction in both pre and post-clinical therapy and reduces drug dependency and other associated problems. Similarly, it shows positive social, psychological, and biochemical changes in alcoholics and tobacco addicts. Refraining from any addiction is one of the best health benefits of yoga for men.
6) Stress relief
Next on our list of health benefits of yoga for men is relief from stress, tension, and anxiety. It has propertied to help men cure the symptoms of depression. As mentioned earlier oxygen levels in the body are boosted with the regular practice of yoga. The healthier and more relaxed one feels the happier one becomes. Yoga also acts as a mood enhancer. One becomes more optimistic and more social. It encourages men to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
7) Keep the belly in
One of the major problem men worries about is the increasing size of their belly. Unhealthy food, lack of exercise, and nature of their work demand them to sit at a place all long day cause the fat saturation in this area. Active yoga forms such as power yoga or ashtanga yoga require rapid transitions from one pose to another, leading to rigorous exercise. Different muscle-building poses, balancing, and body aligning positions help you to tone your body by burning the fat at specific parts of your body. Meditation and pranayama kriyas in yoga help you to have a positive attitude towards your body, thus developing a feel-good approach towards yourself. So, yoga is the perfect cure for men to reduce the size of their bellies.
The health benefits of yoga for men can further extend to correcting body posture, boosting self-esteem, controlling mood swings, enhancing body awareness, improving focus, and increasing productivity. There are many factors for men to consider yoga as their lifelong companion, you can have further discussion about it with us.