Both mental and physical benefits

Men who have yet to give yoga a chance are missing benefits they may never have imagined.

Studies have long linked yoga to a reduction in back pain, hypertension, heart rate, blood pressure and even diabetes.

But one of the top benefits yoga offers men is the ability to accept themselves as they are, says yoga teacher and researcher Farah Shroff.

Australian research has shown that men who practise yoga are happier with their bodies than are men who lift weights, says Shroff, who is also a professor at University of B.C.’s school of population and public health.

“According to this research, men who lift weights are always wanting the body they don’t have,” Shroff says. “Whereas the men doing yoga were quite content with the body they did have.

“The philosophy of yoga is to come as you are. Everybody is welcome, whether you’re skinny, fat, whatever shape you’re in.”

For men and women suffering from depression, yoga may be effective as an add-on to pharmaceutical therapy and, in milder cases, an alternative, she says.

Many men know that yoga can ease stress. But knowing it and experiencing it are different, she says.

“Closing your eyes for a few minutes and finding there’s a whole new world inside yourself is an amazing discovery,” she says.

“I’ve seen it happen to hundreds of men.”

Research from India shows that yoga’s stress-busting power may also improve male fertility, Shroff says.

Dr. Rajak Randhawa, a physician and research assistant to Shroff, says men who enjoy cardio and strength workouts should consider yoga styles such as ashtanga or vinyasa.

“As a physician, I feel it’s important to market yoga to males,” Randhawa says. “It promotes good mental health and reduces stress and that’s a gain for everyone.”