Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10 a.m., Ross Martin heads to Dedman Center for his morning workout.
He walks up the steps, swipes his tattered four-year-old SMU ID, and heads toward Studio 2 on the main floor.
But unlike the many men at SMU who go to Dedman to lift weights or run miles, Martin opts for a different kind of workout: Yoga.
“I feel less stressed knowing I am going to the class,” said Martin, a senior at SMU.
Martin is one of four males in his Choices 2: Power Yoga class for Wellness. Four men may seem like a small number, especially in a class of thirty, but for a yoga class it is significant, say instructors.
Lynn Romejko-Jacobs, a yoga instructor at SMU, said her classes typically consist of 10 to 15 percent men and that the practice is becoming more and more popular among males.
“Some studios that are really popular may have 20 to 30 percent men, but they are still mostly dominated by women,” said Jacobs.
According to the “Yoga in America” study released in February 2008 by Yoga Journal, out of the 15.8 million Americans who study yoga, 27.8 percent are men. This number has risen from the 23 percent of men who practiced yoga in the 2005 “Yoga In America” study.
“I think that most men don’t really know what yoga is or what it can do for the mind and body,” said Bryan Robbins, a yoga professor who has been teaching at SMU since 1974. Robbins took up yoga to help with flexibility in his practice of martial arts.
Although Robbins has not seen a dramatic increase of men in his classes, he said that men are more inclined to the physically strenuous yoga practices, such as Power Yoga or Bikram (“Hot”) Yoga.
Another reason Robbins gives for the lack of men in his class is that, “…most guys don’t care about flexibility as much as females. Once most guys take a vigorous yoga class they see that yoga involves strength as well as flexibility and they become hooked on the practice.”
Ashley Sells, owner of Sunstone Yoga studio in Rockwall, said that male participation in yoga has picked up significantly in the past year. Sells said men have been starting to realize the beneficial fitness aspects of the sport.
“Another thing is that people will come in as couples,” said Sells. “Women will come in with their husbands. They have told them how hard it is and then the men want to try.”
One of the main reasons the men in Jacobs’ class took yoga was to increase their flexibility.
“All I want to do is touch my toes!” said Martin.
Some of the most popular types of yoga include: Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga/Power, and Bikram/Hot Yoga. Hatha Yoga is the most common, and is a general term used for all types of yoga. Vinyasa Yoga is more intense, and incorporates “Sun Salutations,” a series of different repeated positions. Ashtanga Yoga is a faster, more physically intensive style of yoga. Those who practice Power Yoga are doing a form of Ashtanga Yoga, but incorporate other styles of yoga as well . Bikram Yoga is typically practiced in a room heated around at 100 degrees.
Carlos Maroon, SMU senior and Power Yoga practitioner, responded with an enthusiastic, “Oh yea!” when asked if his flexibility has increased in the past semester. But it when comes to positions that involve a partner, “Thank God there are other guys!” said Marron.
Men practice yoga for other reasons besides flexibility.
“I am trying to quit smoking cigarettes,” said SMU junior Lucas Ferrell, who is also enrolled in Jacobs’ Power Yoga class. “I realize yoga is relaxing and it calms me down.”
So if some men are realizing the physical and spiritual benefits of yoga, where are the other men?
“In general, if men are competitive and in a group setting, and if they are not just as good or better, they don’t want to feel like they are not keeping up,” said Jacobs. “It is healthy and humbling for guys to come in an work through it with the girls because they are all on the same page. It is good for both sexes.”
