Yoga gave me passion and perspective, something I’d never had growing up. I lived in a bubble; parties, late nights, all the glitzy superficiality that comes with growing up in LA. My reality was skewed and my ego over-inflated. I can honestly say I’m not sure how I would have turned out if I hadn’t stumbled into that first class at City Yoga on Fairfax Avenue.
Yoga cleansed me, shaped me and gave me something to be inspired by. The asana (the physical practice) committed me to a daily dose of strength, flexibility and mobility; it gave me a challenge that I couldn’t talk my way out of. These days, this part of the practice reminds me how lucky I am to be able to tie my own shoes, pick up and play with my niece, Koa, and walk away from things that don’t serve my life.
Michael James Wong © Niki Priest
Yoga gave me peace in a way I didn’t even know I needed, the kind that helped me battle my daily insecurities. Even more, yoga helped to calm the chaos in my mind, manage my personal anxiety and perceive the world from a kinder point of view, one day at a time.
Through the practice, I’ve started to slow down. I’m quieter now than I used to be. I enjoy the silence. Beyond anything else, yoga has given me space, something I never knew was lacking in my life. Yoga helped me to find confidence in myself on and off the mat. Those first few years of dedicated practice allowed me to realise that life wasn’t all about being cool.
‘YOGA HELPED TO CALM THE CHAOS IN MY MIND’
At the age of 25 I left the US to travel the world and experience a little more of what life had to offer (to the anguish of my mother, I’ve yet to move back home). Since leaving, I’ve split my time between Sydney and London, getting my passport stamped in as many places as possible on the way.
And I’m still going. I’ve been teaching yoga, modern mindfulness and meditation for the past ten years and I am blessed to have an amazing community of yogis, teachers, students and friends all over the world.
Michael James Wong © Niki Priest
I give credit to my parents for my diverse upbringing and the trust and freedom they allowed me to continue exploring the world.
I’m grateful for all the choices I have made to get me to this point in my life. I always thank my parents for showing me the world through their eyes. I’ve been lucky enough to be an immigrant my whole life. I was raised to respect everyone from everywhere, because I was welcomed everywhere. Home has always been where friends and family are, and these days, no matter where I go I’m home.
This is me living my Yoga.
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’
Front Row: Johnny Vasilj, Adam Whiting
Back Row: Benny Gould, Anwar Gilbert
We live in a world that is always on – online, on loud, on show, on high alert. In today’s society, we’re overloaded with things to do, meetings to be had, calls to be made and coffees to be shared. We thrive on busy schedules, busy lives and just the idea itself of being busy. We talk more than listen. We speed up without ever thinking about slowing down. We’ve become accustomed to thinking that this is how life is meant to be.
But a growing number of us are starting to see that maybe it’s time to turn the volume down and step into something less chaotic.
Over the past decade yoga has become increasingly popular in the Western world. These days it feels like there is a yoga studio popping up on every street corner and pretty soon there will be more of them than Starbucks branches in America alone (we can only hope). Look around and you’ll see that yoga is now in the mainstream, helping lead the wellness revolution, and it’s about time. The world is starting to wake up to the benefits of the practice and a more mindful way of