Should Yoga Moves Be Gender-Specific? We Asked Experts

I’ve practiced yoga for 22 years, and during that time I’ve never been afraid to mix it up a bit. Variety is the spice of life, right? After doing ashtanga for a few years, I gave Bikram a try. After that, Iyengar, followed by Jivamukti, Hatha, and Kundalini. Each new approach brought something rich with it, a fresh perspective on the underlying power that yoga has to make you feel great. 

During all that experimentation, I’ve met a diverse array of characters, from yogis who seemed to be in a universe of their own (and more power to them!) to fellow downward dog-ers I’m still friends with to this day. People of all races, nationalities, and genders always added to the magic of the experience, which is why I was so fascinated when I discovered a type of yoga I hadn’t tried: yoga specifically targeted for male bodies. 

While the idea didn’t seem all that crazy, I was intrigued by the practice itself, so we asked two experts from the yoga world—Michael Gould, yoga teacher at Vitality Yoga Flow in New Paltz and Rad Kaim of Rad Kaim Yoga and teacher at Yoga4Men—to explore the concept of gender and yoga, and take us through the inner workings of what makes yoga for men so unique. 

First off, is there a point to genderizing yoga?

The connection between yoga and gender is an interesting one, and it actually sheds light on the whole “point” of yoga, as it were. Historically (around 1500 BCE), the practice of yoga was reserved exclusively for the male members of the priestly caste, before opening up to the commoners (still male) and eventually women in the 9th century. But as Gould explained, so much of the categorization we apply to practices like yoga come down to arbitrary social constructs. “Yoga is about awakening to our oneness," he explains. "There's no difference between us—we are connected, one unified field, that pulsates in the rhythm of the universal power.” This universal power consists of "yang" or sun energy, stereotypically considered to be masculine, and "yin" or moon energy that endows us with the power to create and which is considered feminine. Therefore, "masculine" and "feminine" energy are inside all of us regardless of how we identify. 

And that, Gould said, is where the problem comes in. One part of being human—even in today’s culture—is this tendency to assign inherently polarizing categories and labels to people, concepts and philosophies in order to make sense of our lives, which causes us to lose sight of this oneness—and that’s where yoga comes in as a sort of “middle path” that, through poses and breathwork, helps us to reach that wavelength between the polarities. 

Because of that balance, yoga can be considered genderless in a fundamental sense, but that hasn’t stopped a major movement of yoga disciplines focused solely on men from going gangbusters. Rad Kaim from Yoga4Men explained that the emergence of the "yoga for men" movement comes down to overcoming misconceptions stemming from our deeply patriarchic and misogynistic culture. “In many Western countries, yoga practice has been labeled as female thing to do,” he said, positing a scenario many of us (present company included) have experienced: showing up at a yoga class as the only guy, and allowing our poor societal conventions to convince us that the reason the women around us seem to be flowing through their asanas with the grace and beauty of an ocean wave is because their bodies are simply better suited to yoga. And as it turns out, there may be some truth to that. 

Is yoga more difficult for bodies assigned male?

While the claim that “females are more flexible than males” is still up for debate, Kaim pointed out several key physiological differences between a male and female's body that could account for the latter’s alleged inherent knack for doing yoga. “The female skeleton is generally… smoother and more delicate than the male," he explains. "Males, in general, have denser bones, tendons, and ligaments. A female’s rib cage is more rounded and smaller, its lumbar curve greater, and a generally longer and smaller female waist results from the chest being more narrow at the base, and the pelvis generally not as high.”

Still, male bodies have been doing yoga for over two millennia, so it's time to put that excuse to bed and face the fact that what ultimately makes yoga so appealing nowadays is the sense of camaraderie and community. “Males have different body types,” Kaim explained. “Short, tall, slim, stocky, and you will recognize similarities in your struggles on your mat when someone next to you mirrors you back.” In other words, being in similar company is helpful.

At the end of the day, yoga is yoga, but touching on the physiological and psychological points we’ve just mentioned, Kaim’s discipline focuses specifically on the male body and targeting common areas of tension including shoulders, hips, and hamstrings. “It is a slower paced yoga focusing on each pose and how to get there, to help build strength and prevent injury,” he said. Can women do it too? Of course. 

Below, 10 yoga poses designed specifically for the male body (but great for females, too!).