Yoga-for-men
My intention
My intention with this article is to share 11 reasons why yoga will make you a more powerful man. I believe that yoga has some amazing benefits that many men simply ignore due to some misconceptions and negative associations. Done properly, yoga can, in fact, contribute to your masculine character development. If you do integrate yoga into your training regiment, use this article as a way to remember why.
Is it OK for men to do yoga?
The short answer is yes but be careful. It’s easy to get sucked into the weird effeminate sub-culture that the yoga community has created.
In it, you see a lot of these spineless men that don’t take showers and think that they’re enlightened because they eat grass and know a few poses. These aren’t real men but rather slaves in the Nietzschean sense meaning that they’re herd-animals that are weak and incapable of harm but think that they are virtuous because of it.
Don’t wear those fancy tights. Just do it and remember your reasons for doing it. It can lead to physical, mental and spiritual growth for sure. There are many benefits to it for men. Period.
How I got started with yoga
I first got started with yoga a few years back after being into Tai-Chi and Qi-Gong for a while. At the time, I was doing calisthenics and weight-training which were definitely helping me a lot. I was getting stronger, faster, and looking more attractive.
However, I started to look into yoga because I knew it was good for decreasing muscular tension and reversing some of the damage due to shitty-posture, lots of sitting, etc.
However, I avoided it for a long time because I thought that yoga was for girls. There’s just something that makes me antsy about seeing some effeminate-looking male prancing down the street with his little pink yoga mat.
What finally led me to pull the trigger was realizing that a lot of the men whom I respect, admire, and look to for guidance used yoga in their training! Then I started to discover that many warrior tribes in the past have done yoga too and that the sissies of this generation stole yoga and made it their own.
More specifically, what led me to pull the trigger was a book by Mark Divine called Kokoro Yoga.
This book contains many scientific benefits, research, and guidelines for practicing yoga. But most importantly it was written by a Navy SEAL which made it OK (haha). But seriously, he made me realize that yoga is, in fact, a tool that men can use on their path of self-development.
Over time, I started adopting yoga into my daily/weekly training regiment and I haven’t been the same since. I have experienced many benefits in all aspects of my life which I will be getting into in this article.
3 Badass Men Who Do Yoga
Mark Divine
At twenty-six he graduated as Honor Man (#1-ranked trainee) of SEAL BUD/S class number 170. Mark served for nine years total on active duty and eleven as a Reserve SEAL, retiring as Commander in 2011. His leadership of teams was so effective the government tasked him with creating a nationwide mentoring program for SEAL trainees. Not only did it increase the quality of SEAL candidates, it reduced BUD/S attrition rate up to five percent. Mark Divine considers yoga to be a great way to develop yourself in all 5 mountains of training (physical, mental, emotional, intuitive, and spiritual).
Elliott Hulse
Elliott Hulse
Elliott Hulse is an internationally renowned Strength & Conditioning Coach, Strongman, Author, Social Media Celebrity, Mentor, Holistic Life Coach, and Inspiration to Millions of people. Sharing his message “Be the Strongest Version of Yourself and Inspire Others” with over 2.5 Million viewers through his YouTube channel “Strength Camp” he made himself a name for unifying the development of the body and the mind. He’s been a mentor of mine over the years (even though we haven’t met) and he is a strong proponent of yoga.
David Goggins
David Goggins is a retired Navy SEAL and is the only member of the U.S. Armed Forces to complete SEAL training (including two Hell Weeks), the U.S. Army Ranger School (where he graduated as Enlisted Honor Man) and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training. At first, he never even used to stretch before his insane feats of endurance. However, after several debilitating injuries, he realized what the missing piece was: yoga/stretching which he now religiously incorporates into his daily routine practicing it for 2 hours every night.
11 Reasons why yoga will make you a more powerful man
1) Yoga is an excellent activity to do with girls you’re dating
What do most men do when they go on a date with a girl? It’s always the same shit; sitting around and drinking something, getting dinner, going for a movie, etc.
That’s fine but it can get a bit repetitive. Once you actually start dating a girl, a fun activity to incorporate into your intimacy is doing yoga together. It will make both of you feel happier, healthier, more relaxed and release all types of endorphins/hormones which will make subsequent intimacy more sensual.
My intention is to reverse this culture of sitting around/drinking and replace it with something that actually contributes to your life. This can be awkward at first but if you sense that she’s open to it then this could be a great routine. This is especially great if you have a girlfriend because then both of you are more likely to be comfortable to do the poses without feeling goofy.
2) Yoga makes you smell sweeter to the ladies
If you want some help with the ladies, just do some yoga. By sweating and releasing toxins (particularly through hot-yoga) your sweat will smell sweeter and better. Phermones are subtle scents that your body gives off that when picked up by women act as a biological indicator of the status of your health. This can aid in attraction.
3) Yoga will help you reach zen-mode more consistently
A superior man must know how to deal with pain skillfully rather than numbing himself or running away from it. Yoga is an excellent way to take control of your mental focus, release stress/tension, and come out feeling more relaxed and resourceful. Don’t go on accumulating needless stress and tension. Learn how to master your body and let go.
4) Yoga will help you become a superior lover
Yoga will give you an overall better understanding of your body which will make you better in bed. By learning how to move your body slowly, combining breathing with intention, you are developing exactly the right skills to become a better lover. Women will notice the difference between you and the average “2-pump chump.”
5) Yoga counters the negative effects of a rugged lifestyle
If you are truly on the path of masculine growth then chances are you routinely engage in activities that develop your character, strength, aggression, etc. Activities like martial-arts, football, weight-lifting, and yard-work all come to mind. These activities are pretty much essential but they come with a price: muscular tension, imbalances, injuries, and more are all pretty common. Use yoga as a way to counter these negative effects and your body will definitely thank you. My lifestyle is quite physical and yet I barely feel any pain thanks to yoga.
6) Yoga will aid in the development of sharper focus
Researchers at the University of California wrote that “Training (yoga) produced improvements in visual discrimination that were linked to increases in perceptual sensitivity and improved vigilance during sustained visual attention.” Focus/concentration is the key to extraordinary results in any endeavor. By sharpening your concentration through yogic training, you will experience a depth of concentration that will permeate into all aspects of your life personally and professionally.
7) Yoga will help you become a more present and charismatic man
“Power is found by focusing on the right thing, right now. A quality of the peak performance flow state is to be fully in the moment. Not distracted by emotionally charged memories or the fear of what may happen in the future, but being comprehensively engaged with the present moment.” – Kokoro Yoga, Mark Divine
Similar to concentration, presence is about being able to simply be here and now with no distractions. This state is KEY to all aspects of life from being a high-performance man to spiritual enlightenment. Presence is arguably one of the most important aspects of self-mastery.
Presence will also make you more charismatic and increase your level of polarity with women. Presence and masculine character development go hand-in-hand as presence helps you stay grounded and proactive. On the other hand, being distracted makes you more reactive and emotional. Consciousness/presence cuts through reactivity which is a feminine trait.
8) Yoga will help you train all muscle groups in a holistic manner
A lot of the exercises that men engage in don’t target all muscle groups as effectively and evenly as yoga does. Think body-building, power-lifting, etc. Yoga will make you an overall stronger man by strengthening all those little muscles we commonly don’t train in a balanced way.
9) Yoga will improve your immune function
As a man, life can definitely be stressful at times especially if you’re not dealing with the pain skillfully. Stress will definitely harm your immune system which will increase your chances of sickness and low-performance.
“The way of men is the way of performance.” – Ivan Throne
As a man, you must be in a position to give your gifts to the world. You must be working towards your deepest purpose. You must be in a position to protect yourself, your tribe, and your property.
Using neuroimaging and genomics technologies, Denninger and his colleagues (Harvard Research Team) are finding that yoga can switch specific genes, related to immune function, on and off, and how yoga can play a powerful role in reducing hypertension and preventing depression. “There is a true biological effect,” says Denninger.
10) Yoga will help you stay sharp well into your old age
A lot of men start getting into a rut as they age. Many men mistake their apathy for a sort of enlightened detachment but in reality, they’re just becoming lazy and mediocre. They’ve let their guard down. Eventually, brain decay sets in as their lifestyle take a major hit. This results in all of these useless old people who aimlessly sit around watching TV and shitting themselves.
Yoga is something that you can do regardless of age and has been shown to increase brain longevity. Researchers at UCLA found that a mere 12 minutes of yoga per day, increased telomerase by 43 percent. Telomerase is an enzyme known as the “brain immortality enzyme” as it is linked with increased cell-life which impacts mental/physical health and reverses stress-related aging.
A warrior must keep his brain sharp in order to stay impeccable.
11) Yoga will significantly enhance cognitive function
“A warrior is a hunter. He calculates everything. That’s control. Once his calculations are over, he acts. He lets go. That’s abandon. A warrior is not a leaf at the mercy of the wind. No one can push him; no one can make him do things against himself or against his better judgment. A warrior is tuned to survive, and he survives in the best of all possible fashions.” – Castaneda, Carlos
The above quote was simply to state that as a warrior, you must calculate your way through life. You must be mentally clear so that you can strategize and make wise purpose-driven decisions.
Yoga has been shown to increase cognitive performance. This review from the New York Academy of Sciences has showcased what researchers have found: “Studies involved a wide variety of meditation techniques and reported preliminary positive effects on attention, memory, executive function, processing speed, and general cognition.”
What do I need to get started with yoga?
Here are a few items that I would personally recommend in order to get started with yoga.
The first thing is to get a mat. I would recommend an eco-friendly high-quality mat so it lasts a long time and doesn’t contain toxins since you’ll be rubbing against it quite a bit.
If you’re on a budget, I would recommend this one or for higher quality, check out this one.
Next, I would grab a copy of Mark Divine’s book: Kokoro Yoga in order to get a more in-depth understanding of how it works as well as drills you can implement into your training regiment right away.
Get a copy here.
That’s pretty much all you need unless you wanna get fancy with the tights and all but y’all know what I think about that…
“Through sustained focus and meditation on our patterns, habits, and conditioning, we gain knowledge and understanding of our past and how we can change the patterns that aren’t serving us to live more freely and fully.” ~ Yoga Sutra III.18
“The ultimate goal of yoga is to always observe things accurately, and therefore never act in a way that will make us regret our actions later.” ~ T.K.V. Desikachar
In conclusion, yoga will definitely contribute to your growth as a man. While you do it, keep the above reasons in mind as motivation and you’ll notice the benefits.
To self-mastery,
Maximillian Giamarco
P.s. Would like to make progress on your journey to self-mastery? Check out the Spartan Ownership shop here for badass tools, gadgets, and training courses that will accelerate your growth. Also, if you would like more personalized help with setting your objectives, book a coaching/strategy session with me here.
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