2. Try this line: “Yoga is about being, not about doing. You’re actually doing it right now, Honey. You just don’t know it.”
3. Embody the bliss . . . and wait for him to come to you. I think it was Alanna Kaivalya who, in a workshop I took with her at a conference, said you can’t get someone to come to your way of thinking by forcing them. It’s much more effective if you attract them by being nonchalant and mysterious about it. “Wow, you look really relaxed and great lately! What are you doing?” “Oh, nothing really. It’s just the yoga. You can come with me next time if you want.”
4. Start simple, with one pose. I suggest Savasana (Corpse Pose) or Viparita Karani (Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose).
5. Let him think it’s a massage. Spy your dearest hunched over his keyboard. Take the opportunity to give him a sweet shoulder adjustment. Over time, you’ll see him sit up a little straighter in the chair.
6. Sneak a little yoga philosophy into your everyday conversations. “I’m sorry you had a bad day at work. But we can enjoy the evening together, right? Just be here in the present moment?”
7. Take advantage of holidays, birthdays, and special occasions. Anwser the question “What do you want for your birthday/Christmas/Valentine’s Day/our anniversary?” with a simple. “If you don’t know what to get you could always just go to a yoga class with me . . .” Just make sure it’s a jovial suggestion, and not a guilt trip or a nag.
8. Play Krishna Das in the background while you’re doing chores around the house.
9. Don’t try to be his teacher. Imagine how you’d feel if he were correcting your poses. Unless you’re doing a restorative practice together, leave your house and go to a class for heavens sake! You want this to be a pleasant experience not something that starts an argument.
10. Make sure your intentions are for his happiness and well-being, not your own.
I'm liking these tricks to get my hubby on the yoga mat with me. I've been trying to have him join me at home – but I think you're right – he needs the complete yoga experience in class.
I've also been trying to get the hubs on the mat with me! However, I have teacher training and we're required to practice teach on people who are complete beginners. I already told him he's on my victim list 🙂
I helped and supported him in his career so it's his turn to help and support me in mine.
Great tips (tricks)! I think the day my boyfriend goes to a yoga class with me hell will freeze over 🙂
Love it! I convinced my boyfriend to go to class with me this weekend and to my delight he swears he really enjoyed it – sometimes that one experience can hook em. We'll see if it lasts, but it was fun to have a yoga "date."
My wife got me to do Yoga and Chocolate with her a little over 2 1/2 years ago. Now I'm a Yoga teacher.
hahaha
When we were "new" to each other, my guy said sure, he'd go to yoga with me sometime. I should've taken the opportunity while I have it! Now we joke about how pissed off he gets when I send him yoga articles.
Worst part is, he doesn't sleep well, gets migraines, has body aches…could really benefit from yoga!!
The tricks suggested by you seems to be potential . It's very difficult to get someone on the mat when he/she doesn't like the idea of yoga. Men are specially the ones who avoids yoga.
Here's an article on yoga for men , hope it helps in someway.
http://www.a2zyoga.com/yoga-articles/yoga-men.php
Ha nice tips, I'll try to remember them! I already tell him that he does yoga even if he's not on a mat, sometimes he just is a yogi without knowing it 🙂
Last time he "did yoga" was when we went running together, I usually stretch with asanas and he started to do the same, I played teacher to a very distracted student 😀
I went back and dug up the 2nd Yoga blog I ever wrote. It was for Yoga Journal Community in response to a blog by Erica!
More Ideas About How to Trick Your Husband Into Doing Yoga
Well, I was going to suggest starting him off with erotic Tantric Yoga and work back from there. But you might never be able to "work back from there"!
All kidding aside, my wife talked me into going to Yoga class a few years ago with her by telling me it would improve my tennis. I think the sports angle is really the best to start with. Tell him Yoga is great physical AND mental sports training, which it is. Tell him it will make him more even more physically appealing to you than he already is. You won't be able to resist him.
In my case, I loved the poses, but I started reading about Yoga, one thing led to another, and now Yoga philosophy is one of my big passions (along with flamenco guitar) to the extent that I'm writing a book about my experience.
Tennis, and everything else in my life, for that matter, is like Yoga meditation. And I owe it all to my lovely wife, Jane (she loves it when I say that.)
Bob Weisenberg
YogaDemystified.com
love this
Reasons why more men don't do yoga:
If you want excellent reasons why men don't join yoga, just read the comments before mine. To start with there is the word 'trick'; we men sniff 'trick' miles away specially from women. None of the previous comments fit in the best advice in the article: "Make sure your intentions are for his happiness and well-being, not your own." I am a married man practicing yoga for more than 8 years and I simply love it; my wife tryed and didn't like it and I respect her decision. Isn't the whole purpose of yoga to be understanding and tolerant and avoid the emotional manipulation? I hope my remarks are not taken the wrong way.
Oh, GermanJax… You take me WAY too seriously…
If I actually thought I could "trick" my husband into anything, I probably would have gotten bored with him long ago. Instead, I accept that he will probably never practice yoga the way I do–but that doesn't mean he isn't doing yoga in his own way. (That's the real trick!) 😉
Thanks for commenting!
SpoiledYogi,
For your own experience, you may be right that I took you way too seriously. But the analysis that I made wasn't so much for what you wrote but for the responses that your column generated. I haven't read one response in which I can infer the happiness and realization of the husband but rather the satisfying ego of a wife/girlfriend who just wants her desires fullfilled.
I disagree with germanjax, and here's why…It IS in the best interest of a husband/boyfriend to attend to his health–physical, emotional. This is a motivator for women feeling they need to "trick" husbands and boyfriends into doing yoga. To assume that the trickery that has been mentioned is all about satisfying ego and fulfilling the woman's desires seems unfair to me. Below is a link to an article explaining a recent study that shows that most married men are healthier–in part because of their spouses encouraging them to eat better, receive medical care, and live overall healthier lifestyles than their single counterparts. What's the harm in encouraging your significant other to make choices that will improve his overall health and happiness? I know the idea of "trickery" plays into typical female stereotypes, but there are certainly worse "tricks" out there than encouraging yoga practice.
http://www.prb.org/Articles/2010/usmarriagemenshealth.aspx
oh my gosh has this worked for anyone?!?!
Hahaha, Fearn! No. No way. 🙂
i'm having some doubts on my "strategy" can anyone help? i've been trying to convince my boyfriend to do yoga and he says he's too stiff and that yoga is too slow and boring..recently i started teaching ashtanga classes and told him i was getting really strong and was full of energy,that its much more strength-oriented than my previous classes (sivananda)..he discreetly said he might try out something like that..and so did our common male friend..the thing is my ashtanga classes are in a female only club (bummer!)..so my next move would be to open a new ashtanga class that they could attend. My question: should i create a men only class, or a class open to all? maybe the men only thing would attract even more men!! any takes on this dilemma? txs! PS- and no its not for my ego, i see him stressed with a horrible back problem and bloated belly, i want him to stop suffering!he's only 29 and he's living like and old man!
I just tried all of these on my hubby who is in corpse pose on the couch right now…….he laughed. It was a good chuckle for both of us. I'll get him into it one day……..plant a seed.