Why no Y?

I started taking yoga again at the start of the summer.  I attend once a week, sometimes twice and I feel more limber and balanced as a result.  From the first class on I noticed a lack of Y chromosomes in these classes.  I find it curious that there are usually three men and upwards of fifteen women in the class.  What lies at the root of this low male turnout?  I spoke with some fit friends about this and the responses I received were revealing.

One of the women I  spoke with looked at me like I was dumb and said (I will paraphrase) "Of course.  Most men don't want to feel and yoga puts you in touch with how your body feels."  One of the men I spoke with, who happens to be a gym owner and world class Olympic lifter said that men are less likely to join a gym (and therefore an exercise class) than women.  His gym, Gardiner Athletics, where I am a coach has a ratio of 25% men to 75% women.  Could this be one of the main reasons I like to work out?  I enjoy exercising alone and I have no problem working out with other men but I really do like exercising with women.

This may be due to the fact that spending time in a gym is one of the few opportunities I have to interact with women in motion.  Much of my time is spent engaging in activities with men and because we are performing physical labor we can talk.  As many of you know it is difficult for men to engage with other men (or women) unless there is something that needs doing.  Forgive me if I am offending anyone but it has been my experience that most men are uncomfortable speaking unless they are on a mission, which can include watching sports and drinking alcohol.

Women, on the other hand, seem to interact with each other more readily and appear to enjoy the community aspect of engaging in an activity as a group more so then men.

One of the reasons venues like Crossfit have been successful is that they appeal to both men and women, but for different reasons.  Men like it because they can compete against each other by becoming faster and stronger than their gym buddies.  Women like it because they enjoy learning a new skill and perfecting it.  These revealing conclusions are not surprising because we know that generally speaking men want concrete results that set them apart from others and women are much more attuned to process and sharing, which answers my yoga question.  Of course these are generalizations and there is a tremendous amount of crossover: women want results and men want to perfect their lifts but in yoga moment to moment awareness and extension of the postures are process based.  It's funny because when I first started attending class I was concerned that the other guy in the pavillion might be reaching more in his Warrior II pose than I.  Now I focus on not dislocating my hips.

These conclusions do not emphasize our differences but reveal our similarities because we all want change and we go about achieving it in different ways.  What we share as a species is that eventually we look to the community or group for guidance and help.  For many of us the gym is much more than a training ground it is a place to share ideas and move in space in a safe arena that is different from both the work place and home.  If beer could somehow be incorporated into the asanas we might see more men at yoga class.