Yoga: exercise for all sexes
By Nik Wood
The Charlatan, Carelton University
January 9, 2008
OTTAWA (CUP) -- What do Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry Seinfeld, Sting, Oprah, Christy Turlington and Shaq have in common? They all do yoga.
If you were to go by the Lululemon logos, 80 per cent of the female university student population is doing yoga. It is possible however, that not everyone in stretchy pants is down with the downward dog or sold on the sun salutation.
Most universities, however, now have hundreds, even thousands, of yoga goers on campus.
The seemingly sudden popularity of the yoga boom beguiles the fact that yoga has been around for a lot longer than spandex.
There is evidence showing yoga has been around for some 5,000 years.
Traditionally yoga has been practiced by both sexes, but for some reason yoga seems to have been labeled as a female activity in North America.
After all, toning and stretching are not exactly the stated fitness goals of the typical 20-year-old wannabe alpha-male.
Third-year Carleton University student Doug Miller has cut his teeth on yoga this year and lamented the fact he is the only male in a class of 20.
“I think guys shouldn’t be afraid to try,” he said.
Suzanne Oliver, who has been teaching yoga at Carleton for ten years, has another theory about why more males do not do yoga.
“They probably think that they’re going to be turned into a pretzel and so they’re a little afraid to take it,” she said.
But class participants said more men should take yoga because nobody would pass judgment.
Now that the pressure is off, and males need not be afraid of being judged for their lack of flexibility and core strength, perhaps there will be a swarm of new registrations.
Spandex is not necessary.
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