Alpha Males Doing Yoga

This seems to be a theme, though my last post on this subject was based on an essay written in 2010.   This one this time appeared just the other day in the British newspaper The Telegraph.  And this news so excites me because I feel this is a demographic that would very much benefit from yoga.   The piece opens first with how a yoga practice kept one master of the universe from investing in the subprime market.  Then,

Yoga, once the preserve of scrawny men in drawstring trousers meditating on top of a mountain, has, since the Nineties, turned itself into a spirit-lite way for women with Gucci mats and Sweaty Betty vest tops to keep fit and tone their bums, tums and thighs. In the past three or four years, however, an increasing number of people from the top echelons of business, finance and politics, looking to get an edge over their rivals or manage their stress levels, have been following Gross’s lead and adding a yoga instructor to their retinue of chefs, nannies and personal trainers.Suddenly, it’s not only acceptable for alpha males to do yoga; it’s considered by many to be a badge of honour.

Then the piece lists several yogis in business, including Steve Jobs.   But this is my favorite quote:

“Very ambitious, high-achieving people realise that there’s something in yoga that is useful to them,” says instructor Tara Fraser, who, with her partner, Nigel Jones, runs the Yoga Junction studio in north London. “It’s not weird, not hippy. If you’re a man, the fact that you do yoga shows that you’re in touch with your intuitive side and you’re flexible as well as strong.“If you said, ‘No, no, no. I don’t want to do any of that stuff, I just want to work out at the gym and build muscle’, I think, nowadays, people would think, ‘Hmm. What are you trying to prove?’“Yoga shows that you’re a well-rounded individual. You know how to choose the wine, you know which restaurants to go to. Adding yoga to your portfolio of skills impresses people.”

Read the whole thing here - Power yoga: how money has changed a spiritual pursuit (the title is misleading - it's more about how yoga is changing the money industry, plus yoga is far more than a spiritual pursuit!)  Worth the click.

I sure hope it's true that more alpha males are seeing the benefits and value of yoga, and not just in London.  They would be happier, and the world a better place.  I know one or two, myself!