A teacher I respect greatly once said to me, "Do you always get a lot of men in your classes? Every class I basically teaching to 30 women and maybe 2 men."

The demographics have definitely taken a turn since the old days when Yoga was predominantly practiced by men. Exceptions of course withstanding, since yoga has migrated to the west we have mostly seen of the yoga marketing target women.

There isn't the biggest push for brotherhoods, and masculine yoga circles like I see my colleagues curating sisterhoods and cacao ceremonies for women. In fact I have never seen such a brotherhood in the west. I have heard of underground gatherings of men practicing and sharing a kind of spirituality, but a group of men gathered to embrace their brotherhood and masculinity through the art of yoga? No.

It is puzzling that yoga hasn't had the same effect of men in the west as other popular disciplines. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has exploded since UFC and Mixed Martial Arts has become a global phenomenon and sport. Rock climbing seems to have become more popular as in door climbing gyms have now sprouted in mostly every major city, with it's populations being fairly mixed with males and females alike.

Why not yoga then? Has the monotonous studio designs with pastel colors and mandala geometry some how shooed the men who might be curious about yoga turn toward more violent and adrenaline pumping disciplines?

I don't know what the answer is, but I know that yoga implies a kind of vulnerability that perhaps other disciplines do not clearly state as part of it's practice.
The first limb of yoga is the Yamas, a theoretical guide on self awareness based on 5 principles or 'Yamas'
And the first Yama is Ahimsa or 'Non Harming'

Perhaps that is it then, yoga is just not violent enough!
What is it? Why has this amazing, muscle building, flexibility gaining, self awareness giving, nervous system maintaining practice not lend it self to the western ideas of masculinity?

Could it be that the marketing being used in yoga implies that yoga asks you to be vulnerable right off the bat. No I cannot climb the routes that are in the back of the gym with no one to watch. We don't expect to learn how to strangle someone and defend ourselves (or maybe we do in a different way).

Nope, you walk into these lobbies, and no one asks if you've practiced before, and you pretend like you have. You throw down a mat you bought at Marshalls and there you go. You now trapped for an hour in a room small enough where everyone can see you, feel you, and no one is uncomfortable lying next to other strangers.

Maybe you've watched a yoga youtube video once, and your afraid you'll be asked to om or something. Maybe you came in because you thought it might be good for your tight muscles from all the lifting you've been doing. That was me, practicing with socks on, afraid to be seen, and confused by the Sanskrit.

Everyone lays down savasana and the teacher says, "notice how your feeling emotionally." and that is all it takes for you to basically check out. Vulnerability. You weren't afraid to do the handstands, or the backbends, or the put your foot in your nose pose, but the moment were asked to be vulnerable for a second, we are looking for the exit.

"Vulnerability isn’t good or bad: it’s not what we call a dark emotion, nor is it always a light, positive experience. Vulnerability is the core of all emotions and feelings. To feel is to be vulnerable. To believe vulnerability is weakness is to believe that feeling is weakness. To foreclose on our emotional life out of a fear that the costs will be too high is to walk away from the very thing that gives purpose and meaning to living." - Berne Brown in Daring Greatly
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Ultimately isn't this what we come to any discipline to? To find out how deep we can go? How vulnerable we can be? I hope that more masculine men will adopt yoga during my lifetime. Most if not all of the men I have come across in the yoga industry and circles that have stuck around are strong and loving men. Yes, we have had some poor terrible actors. YES men have abused and taken advantage of their position, but we need men in yoga, and the world needs more yoga in men, more POWERFUL men, the kind of men that influence cultural and economical change, the kind of men that need to find themselves before they hurt others, the kind of men that have people, friends, and family who care about them, and yet can't seem to connect with them, the men who have fallen to addiction, the men who have been molested and abused, the men who are coming out of prison, the men who are fleeing war torn countries and trying to find a home.
Maybe it's time to find ways to market to these men, in a way that inspires a willingness to invest in and cultivate their ability to to be vulnerable.