Читать книгу Sit Down, Be Quiet: A modern guide to yoga and mindful living - Michael Wong James, Michael James Wong, Майкл Джеймс Вонг - Страница 9

The Beginning

BOYS OF YOGA is a project inspired by the global community that exists and thrives all over the world.

The aim is to share and connect with male yogis around the world to help widen the common perception of the practice, and ultimately make yoga more accessible to the male massive. It’s about starting a new conversation about yoga, and to change the way guys see it today in the Western world.

The goal is simple: smash the stereotype and get more guys on the mat.

Even today, yoga is stigmatised. It is still seen as something for the girls – your sister, your girlfriend, your mum and their friends. It’s easy to see on social media and in Western media that yoga is a feminine pastime. But did you know that yoga was originally just for men?

Regardless of the old ways or the new stereotypes the truth is, yoga is great for everybody and every body. Its benefits are undeniable, and it has no gender, colour, race, age or physical requirement.

Yoga gives you whatever you need. It can make you sweat and challenge your body; it can alleviate pain, tension or tightness; it can calm the mind, ease anxiety and change the way you see the world around you. Yoga isn’t just a thing you do on the mat for an hour a day; it’s a lifestyle, a philosophy and a way to connect to ourselves, to each other and the world we live in.

When I started BOYS OF YOGA, I never thought it would turn into a global movement of this magnitude. It has been an amazing journey and one I’m continually inspired by every single day.

‘YOGA IS GREAT FOR EVERYBODY AND EVERY BODY. THE BENEFITS ARE UNDENIABLE’

This book, like my teachings, is simply to share my own experiences in a way I believe to be true and to translate the wisdom of the practice I have learned over the years in a way that is easy to digest. I hope this speaks to you, just like the practice did to me when I started yoga. There is nothing in this book that says what is right and wrong. It is merely ideas, considerations and my experiences. All the photos and words are my own and all the stories belong to the BOYS that have joined me in helping to smash the stereotype of yoga that persists in the Western world. From pro-surfers to DJs, stay-at-home fathers to industry executives, graphic designers to plumbers, all the BOYS in this book, and so many more, come from all walks of life and from all around the world. Yoga doesn’t have a type – it just is.

Left to right: Dustin Brown, Michael James Wong, Benny Gould

This is a book with purpose: to get more guys onto the mat through education and communicating the value of yoga. In these pages you’ll find techniques about where to start and how to get going, and keep going.

We all know a guy who needs to start yoga. Or maybe you are that guy. The biggest issue we have with yoga today isn’t the practice, but the word itself. For those just starting out, or those not quite ready to start, know that yoga will benefit your life, you just have to be ready and willing to give it a try. And if you’ve made it this far by picking up this book, you’ve already done the hardest part: you’ve started. Taking the first step is always the toughest part of doing anything new.

My biggest wish is that this book helps get you or your brother, boyfriend, dad, work colleague, sceptic or whoever onto the mat for the first time.

The yoga will do the rest.

‘YOGA WILL BENEFIT YOUR LIFE, YOU JUST HAVE TO BE WILLING TO GIVE IT A TRY’