Is yoga a woman’s world? According to a 2005 Yoga Journal market study, 77 percent of the yoga practitioners in America are female. Anecdotally, longtime teachers like Anusara Yoga founder John Friend and Power Yoga instructor Baron Baptiste, who both regularly crisscross the nation hosting workshops, believe the numbers might be even more skewed. After all, only about 1 in 10 subscribers to this magazine is male. “What I find myself constantly contemplating,” says Michael Lechonczak, a yoga instructor who teaches at Equinox Fitness in Manhattan, “is how to get more guys into class.”

It’s not that we don’t know what we’re missing. Nowadays, there seems to be a yoga studio on every corner; our girlfriends and wives are walking, talking testimonies to the practice. At home, we watch them rushing out the front door, brows furrowed, only to return standing tall, with big, tranquil smiles on their faces and compassion in their eyes. Because my wife Madeleine is a yoga instructor and an avid student, I witness this stress-to-bliss transformation several times a week. When she comes home, I often mumble to myself, “Don’t I want to be that happy?” Yet I haven’t practiced yoga consistently for years.

So I asked highly qualified doctors, scientists, and veteran yoga teachers exactly why so many men stick to yoga’s sidelines. I also polled members of that rare breed known as the male practitioner—from pro athletes to busy investment managers—to find out how they came to embrace yoga. In the end, I discovered social, physical, and emotional realities that discourage men from practicing. I also heard about the moments of inspiration that got men over such barriers—and ideas about what might help other men make the leap, too. If you’re a man who’s hesitated to try yoga—or you know a man you’d like to introduce to the practice—read on.

Get a man past his reservations about asana time with the ladies and he’ll still have a well-founded reason to drag his feet to a studio: Yoga can be painful.

Men, it seems, are naturally tight. Boys and girls may be born equally limber, with an ability to comfortably put their feet behind their heads. But by adolescence, boys generally lose flexibility faster than girls, and as boys become men, the differences in flexibility tend to grow. Researchers have noted this gap, although they can’t specifically link it to differences in hormones, musculature, or connective tissue. “It’s hard to attribute to any one thing,” says Lynn Millar, a professor of physical therapy.

Whatever is to blame, the typical man’s pursuits and lifestyle, from sitting at a desk all day to grabbing a quick pint , put little importance on flexibility.

Lasater says stretching takes a back seat in a male’s life as early as high school. “Look at the way they stretch in football—they push on each other and bounce. It hurts,” she says. “How could anyone emerge from that with a positive view of flexibility?” Investment manager Ron Bernstein was certainly ambivalent about stretching—until his 80-hour workweeks caught up with him. Back in 1998, Bernstein, a former competitive high school golfer who’s a managing director for the investment firm Marathon Real Estate in New York City, realized that “everything hurt,” he says. “My wife was doing some yoga and suggested that stretching would be good.”

Bernstein, 37, went to a class and muddled through. “On my walk home, my back felt so much better. All those Upward and Downward Dogs really worked.”

If you suffer from seasonal depression yoga could make a real difference. Recent studies have found that having PMS makes a person more likely to have seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, and good evidence exists that yoga can help minimize the effects of PMS. Unfortunately, little research has been done so far on how yoga affects SAD. So if you struggle to keep your energy up and your mood positive in the winter, yoga may be a doubly effective remedy.

Why is it that winter is so hard to take? Researchers don’t fully understand the reasons, but it’s thought that some people’s bodies can’t properly adjust their internal clocks to winter’s shorter days. In particular, the trouble may lie with the body’s increased production of melatonin, which helps us feel sleepy, or its decreased production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that’s thought to contribute to feelings of well-being.

Yoga may work by affecting the level of serotonin in the body, says Timothy McCall, MD, Yoga Journal‘s medical editor aIn his book he cites research showing that people suffering from depression who did yoga experienced an increase in serotonin and became more sociable. Though the study wasn’t focused on SAD, McCall does say that things that work for other kinds of depression are likely to work for SAD.

Looking  After your Wellbeing

However yoga affects the body, it also teaches you about the workings of your “monkey mind.” In particular, you learn how to handle dark feelings that might otherwise overwhelm you.

“Learning to witness your feelings without getting wrapped up in negativity is a big part of yoga,” says Lee. “And yogic mantras can help people focus on the positive. Both are important.”

Hahn concurs. “Yoga connects my mind and body,” she says. “It gets the two working together and makes it easier for me to control a lot of the physical manifestations of my depression.”

Whatever you choose, McCall suggests practicing at least a few minutes each day. One key finding of the research he cites in Yoga as Medicine is that yoga’s effects appear slowly but are long lasting.

“You change brain architecture by repeating actions again and again, which strengthens the links between brain cells,” he explains. “The best way to forge and strengthen new neural pathways is to practice every day. It can be as little as 5 to 10 minutes, though you’re likely to get greater benefit if you do more. So I’d say start with a small amount and, if you can maintain it, increase slowly over time.”

With any luck, you’ll feel energy bubbling up from within and be ready to face your day, clouds and all.

Let the Sun Shine In Need more help with SAD and PMS? Consider these suggestions:

Light Therapy

The best-studied treatment for SAD, light therapy, is also effective for women suffering from the more severe form of PMS, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Light therapy inhibits production of daytime melatonin in people with SAD and improves PMDD-related mood problems. You don’t need a prescription to buy a light box. Studies differ on whether it’s best to use one in the morning or at night; experiment to find out what works best for you.

St. John’s Wort

This herbal antidepressant can be helpful for both PMS and SAD. Dosage recommendations are 300 mg, three times a day. But beware: St. John’s Wort can interact with medications, including birth control pills, conventional antidepressants, and anti-HIV medications.

Vitamin D

While research has produced conflicting results, some studies have found that taking vitamin D, which our bodies naturally produce in the sun and which drops during the winter, may help ease SAD. The maximum dose is 2,000 IU per day in winter.

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
500g/1lb 2oz pumpkin, skinned, seeded and cubed
2 baking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
2 sprigs fresh sage
salt and pepper
570ml/1 pint vegetable stock
300ml/½ pint dry cider or apple juice

What to do

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onions and the garlic. Cook for 2 minutes and then add the pumpkin, chopped apples and sage.
2. Cook for another 2 minutes, season well and add the stock and the cider or apple juice. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the ingredients are tender.
3. Liquidise and serve piping hot with crusty bread.

Yoga Wellbeing Tip

After you have finished carving out your face, use your leftover pumpkin flesh for this recipe.

Make sure you all enjoy your Hallow’s Eve.

A recent government study found that fewer school children are participating in school sports and are signing up for more  non-competitive alternatives like circus skills and yoga.

Almost three quarters of students, the equivalent of about four million children, are failing to play regular competitive sport during PE lessons at school. Four in five children also do not regularly compete in team sports against other schools.

Instead, found that increasing numbers of schools were instead offering “fun” sports such as yoga. And with the London 2012 Olympics fast approaching, secondary schools are now offering cheerleading as an alternative.

Children’s Minister Iain Wright said: “Thanks to our national PE and Sport Strategy for Young People and world-class investment, school and youth sport has never been so well-funded or enjoyed by young people.”

Could this be the future? What do you think?

                                 Last week we spoke about Yoga Bliss and all it’s brilliant goodies that it has to offer. This week we are talking about Sweaty Betty and the amazing control legging.

These truly are the answer to your legging nightmares. They are a really comfortable length, keep there shape and are very high waisted. They hold in everything, before you have even started exercising.

They are a great product for the down dogs, no baggy material hanging around and it makes it a much easier for the yoga teacher to see what position you are in.

If you need any more information then just visit the Sweaty Betty website and surf at your leisure – http://www.sweatybetty.com/

Does yoga help arthritis? Virginia seems to think so.

“As I grew older I thought I’d be crippled one day too,” says the 66-year-old yoga teacher. So, a decade ago, when the first signs of osteoarthritis appeared she braced herself for the worst. But the worst never came. Since then, the condition has spread to her wrists, right knee, and left ankle, but it’s hardly slowed her down. She still hikes, bikes, and swims every chance she gets. She jokes about how her doctor shakes his head in disbelief at her flexibility and activity level. “My doctor thinks I deal with the pain incredibly well” she says with a laugh, “but really it’s the yoga.”

Osteoarthritis, the cause of which isn’t entirely understood, affects a staggering number of people. People with osteoarthritis who practice yoga find that it soothes physical and emotional symptoms, says Sharon Kolasinski, a rheumatologist from Philadelphia. “Yoga not only safely exercises the muscles, ligaments, and bones in and around the joints, but also triggers a relaxation response that can help reduce pain and improve functioning.”

Virginia started practicing yoga 20 years ago as a way to meet people and stay in shape. In 2006 she completed a hatha yoga teacher training course. And today, in addition to teaching regular classes, she teaches workshops for people with osteoarthritis. She credits yoga for helping her day to day “I don’t know if I would be mobile right now if it weren’t for yoga,” she says.

Only a few small studies about yoga and osteoarthritis have been done, but what research does exist shows the benefits. Marian Garfinkel, a senior intermediate Iyengar teacher led one of the best-designed studies to date. She recruited seven women with osteoarthritis of the knee, none of whom had practiced yoga before. For 90 minutes, twice a week, she led the group through a sequence she designed to increase their range of motion in the knee. Using props, such as chairs, blankets, blocks, and straps, the women practiced Warrior Pose II, Bound Angle Pose and Staff Pose as well as many other poses.

The results published in 2005 in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, were inspiring. After just eight weeks of yoga, the women reported a 46 percent drop in pain and a massive 39 percent reduction in stiffness. “”Before the study, one of the women was scared of getting on the floor—afraid that if she got down, she’d never get back up.”

Meditation can help teach us how to calm our minds and can lead to powerful reductions in stress, anxiety and depression. Practitioners also claim meditation increases mental efficiency and alertness and raises self-awareness, all of which contribute to relaxation.

It is practiced in many forms, including:   
Transcendental meditation: Repeating a word or phrase, called a mantra, either silently or aloud.

Mindfulness meditation: A person observes sensations, perceptions, and thoughts without judgment as they arise.

Meditation in motion: Tai chi, qigong, and the Japanese martial art aikido use poses, stretches and controlled breathing.

The goal of meditation is to different for everyone. It can also be self-guided by choosing a quiet place, sitting or resting with eyes closed, noticing the breath and letting go of all worries and stresses. It has proven benefits of promoting relaxation and reducing chronic pain and sleeplessness. So why not give it a try, here’s a simple breathing mediation.

A Simple Breathing Meditation

The first stage of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind clearer and more lucid. This can be accomplished by practising a simple breathing meditation. We choose a quiet place to meditate and sit in a comfortable position. We can sit in the traditional cross-legged posture or in any other position that is comfortable. If we wish, we can sit in a chair. The most important thing is to keep our back straight to prevent our mind from becoming sluggish or sleepy. The first stage of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind clearer and more lucid.

We sit with our eyes partially closed and turn our attention to our breathing. We breathe naturally, preferably through the nostrils, without attempting to control our breath, and we try to become aware of the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. This sensation is our object of meditation. We should try to concentrate on it to the exclusion of everything else.

At first, our mind will be very busy, and we might even feel that the meditation is making our mind busier; but in reality we are just becoming more aware of how busy our mind actually is. There will be a great temptation to follow the different thoughts as they arise, but we should resist this and remain focused single-pointedly on the sensation of the breath. If we discover that our mind has wandered and is following our thoughts, we should immediately return it to the breath. We should repeat this as many times as necessary until the mind settles on the breath.

If you are interested in all things yogic then you should get yourself along to the Yoga Show which is taking place at Olympia from 30th October – 1st November. The show is a great way to discover and try out the many different styles of yoga that are out there. There are free workshops that you can pop along to anytime throughout the day and 1:2:1 equipment sessions, children’s yoga, demonstrations and lectures.

You can always give yourself a little break from being bendy and discover some tasty and healthy snacks. It’s also a excellent way to finding out about new music and many other things with a ‘wellbeing’ feel.

Yoga Wellbeing will be there on Sunday 1st November, we will be wearing our YW shirts so if you see us stop us and we can have a good chat.

To find out what’s in store, take a look – www.theyogashow.co.uk.

Calling all yogis and yoginis. This really is a yoga bag that has it all.

If your looking for a bag that magically holds everything you need for a bendy session, then you have found it here. Your yoga mat, clothes and mere essentials will all fit in. The bag has lots of extra special details, I love the lotus embroidered on the outside pocket.  Also, it’s ethically sourced in India, which fits in perfectly with the yogi lifestyle.

If you would like to find out more then take a peek at Yoga Bliss – www.yogabliss.co.uk They have plenty of other goodies to take a look at. Before you thought it couldn’t get any better, Yoga Bliss offers discount to all yoga teachers and seems to keep the promotional discounts coming.

I am off to another Yoga in the Park class, I might just squeeze an extra mat and snackette in my bag.

Om peace,

Lx