HELENA - June is National Men’s Health Month which pushes for awareness of certain diseases that men are more susceptible to like cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes.
Yoga instructor at Hot Yoga Helena, Tyrel Suzor-Hoy teaches a Buti yoga class that can help combat some of these diseases. Buti yoga is a form of power yoga that incorporates a mixture of primal movements, cardio dance, and some HIIT style sequencing.
“In Buti, there's a ton of cardio work where we do a lot of cardio dance, we're up and down, and we incorporate hit sequencing in which we get the heart rate up super high, and then we calm it down. And that puts a little bit of stress on the heart and gets it to pump more correctly and really helps it function overall. Through intense cardio work, you can increase cardiovascular health, you can increase the blood flow through your body. And all of that is so good and preventing some of those diseases like hypertension, prevents heart disease. And man, which is one of the number one killers of men is heart disease. And so working through that cardio and blending in the slow yoga poses as well, really increases that heart health." - yoga instructor Tyrel Suzor-Hoy
Suzor-Hoy is an example of how yoga can enhance one’s overall health.
“I have been doing yoga for about five years now. I've been teaching for about that same amount of time. And when I first came into doing yoga, my health was not very good. About a year before that I had a MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infection that went into my lungs and my lungs collapsed. So about a year after that, I got involved doing yoga, and what a change, completely revitalized my health. Totally changed how I breathe and how my body interacts with itself and the world. It without a doubt changed my life. I'm very happy to continue to be involved in it today,” he said.
Not only can yoga help with one’s physical health, but it has proved to help one’s mental health as well.
“In mental health, there's a lot of stigma about men coming into a studio like this and working on things that plague them inside. Yoga is a great way to focus on what you bring to the table. And with especially depression, yoga increases blood flow to the brain, which helps move through some of those types of issues, anxiety, isolation, depression, are all sort of related to each other. And anxiety is a big one that men and everybody experiences. And with yoga it and the breath work that's involved really helps break down the issues and helps you think about what you present to the world,” Suzor-Hoy said.
Though the thought of stepping into a yoga studio may be daunting, the benefits are sure to be worth it.
“There is a stigma about men in yoga and there really shouldn't be. It's not a female-focused workout or a male-banning sort of workout. It's really an all-encompassing practice for everybody. And I encourage anybody to go to your local yoga studio, get involved, come down here on Monday night, do it at home. Whether it's just a small sequence that you find on the internet, or if you want to come into the studio, I encourage it. I think it's something that's going to help your life, it's going to help your health and it's going to benefit you, not only today but throughout the rest of your life.”
