Focus on Men’s Health: Yoga Practice Benefits
Anyone of any gender can benefit from the physical and mental aspects of yoga practice, according to Andrew Beaumont, M.D., Ph.D., and Viniyoga Teacher and Yoga Therapist.
“There is some misperception that yoga classes are more oriented as a women’s class and that is simply not true,” says Beaumont. “Yoga can help with physical ailments, aches and pains, sore joints, strained muscles. Yoga can promote muscle and bone health. Yoga can help with feelings of anxiousness, and turmoil and help bring an inner sense of peace. These needs are not gender specific and so everyone can benefit, men and women.”
What may be different in broad strokes is how men and women react to or cope with stress and anxiety. And here’s where yoga can be a powerful tool for men.
“Men tend to have different coping mechanisms from stress and anxiety, which often involve containing or bottling up the emotion,” Beaumont explains. “Yoga has many tools that can help cope with stress and anxiety and can help prevent the dangers of bottling stress up.”
“Men tend to push through bodily injury, because it’s a gender stereotype to be tough and deal with it,” he says. “They also may have a tendency to have physically demanding jobs, which make them injury prone. Yoga can help with healing and restoration from physical pain and injury. Yoga also has excellent tools that can help strengthen the pelvic floor, which may be relevant for men with prostate problems and erectile dysfunction.”
There is a high incidence of hypertension and heart disease in men, and stress reduction can be a significant benefit in helping with high blood pressure and the risk of heart disease, Beaumont says. “Yoga also serves as an excellent all round exercise for muscle development and toning, and for male athletes, yoga can be a powerful adjunct training tool to support their main athletic endeavors.”
Beaumont highlights 3 postures men may be exposed to in a yoga class:
- Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana): A great forward bend to help stretch the back, strengthen the arms and legs and also some cardiovascular benefit from the mild inversion.
- Child’s Pose (Balasana): A calming pose to soothe the low back, promote relaxation and reduce generalized muscle tension.
- Reclining Bound Angle Pose (Supta Baddha Konasana): An excellent exercise for the pelvic floor.
Mike Martin started practicing yoga years ago, because he understood it could help reduce lower back pain as one ages. “It has done that and helped strengthen other areas as well. I definitely have a stronger core, which has allowed me to continue to do activities that used to result in back pain. It also gets me loosened and warmed up for my daily cardio exercises, usually workouts on our elliptical or treadmill that I do immediately after yoga.”
Martin added that with anything, you get out of it what you put into it. “Establish a regular routine that includes yoga. It really helps to do a guided practice at least weekly to learn new postures and exercises to work into your routine. 5 Koshas has a good variety of classes to choose from. Try some different ones to get an idea of the instructors and various foci that each class offers.”
Ralph Kronenwetter began his yoga practice as a result of his Parkinson’s diagnosis back in 2015.
“I knew that exercise was considered good medicine for this disease, and I had the best of intentions to not take any medicine until I had to,” explains Kronenwetter. “Fast forward 11 years, I am now on three different meds (lowest dose possible) and consider yoga as the only constant therapy that works my body and mind. The overall mobility and flexibility from daily yoga helps my balance and coordination, which keeps my independence intact. My body needs yoga to live a full life.”
Parkinson’s can make a body rigid and tight, and Kronenwetter says yoga works with the flexibility he needs by gently moving him into positions that he would not normally move into, stretching him ever so slightly beyond the rigid.
“Yoga makes me more stable in the moves I do every day, getting up and out of a chair, reaching into a cupboard, tying my shoes, lifting and carrying groceries from the car,” he says. “The one surprising benefit was, and this is so important to me, is the social support from the instructors and the group that I practice with. Yoga people are peaceful, supportive, full of empathy for each other and also very fun to be around.”
Kronenwetter adds that yoga clears his mind, soothing his brain into a mental calmness. “Relaxation for me is needed as some days it feels like I never stop moving my limbs—they have a mind of their own.”
His advice to others is that yoga will lift your mood. “You’ll find yourself more aware of what’s going on in your body. There is no reason not to try it, as anyone can do it—no matter what your current physical state is. It changes the way you think, move and feel. The focused attention of yoga helps me feel like I’m still in control of an uncontrollable disease. It’s such a positive experience for both my physical and mental health.”
Joe Hoppa has practiced yoga for 11 years, having contacted a teacher to determine if yoga could help with symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis, which he’s been living with for almost 40 years.
“Yoga helps me keep my muscles alive and awake. I need the motion and logical way yoga progresses throughout each session,” he says. “It helps me focus on the here and now, but also focus much deeper (especially I-rest yoga and pain management yoga), where I find a complete self deep inside, instead of a collection of rotten symptoms. My symptoms don’t define me. My self is deeper and whole. It really helps me with the pain associated with MS. Yoga helps me breathe. This a big deal. Breathing is my way to a lot of good things. I think it’s the key to yoga.”
Hoppa says a big benefit is the people he’s met over time. His advice is that it’s ok to try yoga and find the practice that works best for you. He now practices senior chair yoga.
“It’s really hard as I get older and move into the secondary progressive form of MS. I’ve had a hip replaced, serious back issues, gall bladder removed, and increasing battles with MS fatigue and balance issues. So yoga has helped.”