Bros meet Buddha

One trend I can really get behind is the mainstreaming of meditation. In general, it seems like a great idea for as many people as possible to stop and think about the shit they do. I’m not going to get into how Western yoga is wrapped in cultural appropriation, so let’s just acknowledge that it does for now. You can read about that here and here.

What I especially like about the San Francisco meditation scene is the multitude of men exploring their zen side. When meditation (and it’s more popular form asana yoga) entered the western world, it was predominantly a woman thing. Why? Probably because at some point in our society, we decided women would be the peaceful, nurturing ones and men would scratch their balls and go to war. Not the best delegation but we accepted it. Slowly, we’ve come to realize that meditation isn’t a gender thing, but rather a wise thing.

Historically, meditation and men have gone together like popcorn kernels and that space between your teeth. Buddha was the original zen master and he also happened to be a man. I don’t think he would say manliness had anything to do with his ability to give zero shits and by doing so attain the purest form of happiness. But it’s a good data point for men who think meditation/yoga is girly (who thinks this?!).

My earliest insights into Western man mingling in yoga were rumors of professional athletes getting into yoga and dance for increased strength and flexibility. And the best way to get the “manly” stamp of approval is to have athletic endorsements. Then P90X put yoga into boost mode when it included yoga in the program, because there’s no bigger muscle than the soul my friends.

When I first started practicing yoga in SF, there were only a sprinkling of men in my classes. And they were all hardcore. It wasn’t a twenty-somethings man trying the yoga thing out. It was a man who has a guru in India, spends months in silence for fun, and can wrap his legs around his ears while balancing on his arms.

But eventually, the magic happened. Bros found Buddha. And why? Here are some ideas:

Picking up women

I think this is the go-to reason hetero guys say they’re into yoga. Spending 90 minutes with sweaty women in ass-hugging leggings who can bend in ways you didn’t know were possible. Can I get a helllllll yeaaaaa?! But let’s look at the practicality of this option. Although most people feel open and friendly and optimistic after a good yoga session, I think that energy is turned inward. We’re told to “set an intention” at the beginning of most classes, and I think few of those intentions include, find someone in this class to have sex with. But that’s just a guess. And let’s be real, when’s the last time you invested 90 minutes of undivided attention to potentially get a date.

De-stressing

Finding some calm in the chaos of a fast-paced, numbers crunching, sometimes soul drenching job seems a more likely reason men are turning to yoga. A few years out of college, I noticed many of my friends were looking for ways to add meaning to their weekly grind. They searched for opportunities to volunteer, become mentors, or give back to the community. Meditation is a way to consider the person you are at the core, and give that person what it needs. That might be hot yoga in a smelly room or sitting in a circle listening to singing bowls.

Because friends don’t let friends NOT meditate

If you’re a guy, a female friend may have dragged you to your first yoga class. If you live in San Francisco, you probably heard all of your friends talk about their yoga class, how they’re sore from yoga, blissed out from yoga, etc. Plus you’ve seen it on everybody’s dating profile and finally you realized you were the only person who hadn’t tried it.

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However it happened, gone are the days that sweating in spandex is considered a feminine quality. Mark Zuckerberg has been seen at Yoga to the People. Lululemon has a men’s section. And this article in the Onion.

Here’s to the new man, mindful not macho.