HISTORY OF MEN AND YOGA

Yoga in the western world has a reputation of being an activity and lifestyle embraced mostly by women, thanks in part to the success of feminine-focused brands like Athleta and Lululemon. A 2016 “Yoga in America” study by Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance found that 78% of U.S. yogis were women, indicating that the perception was true. A disproportionate number of men did not do yoga regularly.

That hasn’t been the case historically on the other side of the globe. Yoga took root in India and at first was practiced exclusively by Brahmins, the wise priests of the caste system who were revered as men of learning. Later in history, T. Krishnamacharya, deemed “father of modern yoga,” created a combination of traditional asanas, Indian wrestling, and western gymnastics for young Indian males. Female students were not accepted at the time. He later mentored B.K.S. Iyengar, founder of the Iyengar method, and Indra Devi, his first female student, who was instrumental in bringing yoga to Hollywood in the 1940s.

The first written representation of yoga practice and philosophy, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, was created by a man. This collection of 196 Sanskrit sutras, which can be likened to proverbs or adages, was translated into approximately 40 Indian languages plus Old Javanese and Arabic in the medieval era, making it the most-translated Indian text of the time. Swami Vivekananda, an…