As he traveled across the globe, Mitchel Bleier, a yoga teacher at Saraswati Yoga Joint in Norwalk, Conn., studied the practice of yoga. For the past 15 years, he has been teaching yoga to men and women of various ages.

According to Bleier, yoga helps to prevent injuries, lengthens and tones muscles, and reduces stress levels. In addition, yoga provides people with a feeling of accomplishment.

“Any position that new people, especially men, try, I want them to be encouraged to challenge themselves to see their potential,” Bleier said. “It’s great to have the sense of something to achieve as a lifetime pursuit.”

For men who believe they are not very flexible, Bleier does not allow them to use that as an excuse for not participating in yoga.

“The irony is that if you are not very flexible, yoga is much safer than if you are flexible. For men who are tight, it is an incredible, physical experience for them,” Bleier said. “It stimulates their spines and central nervous systems, and helps their minds.”

Max Gibson ’12, a crew member at the Saugatuck Rowing Club, practices yoga for rowing to increase his flexibility and balance. “At first I was skeptical and thought it was strange,” Gibson said. “I had never done it before and had this mystical impression of it.”

After a few more lessons, Gibson admitted to actually liking yoga due to its relaxation benefits. It calms him down after a stressful school day.

“Yoga is pretty cool,” he said.

George Birch ’11 said he was inspired by his dad to start yoga and has just recently begun taking classes.

“I am much more relaxed and it is a big de-stresser. I have become more flexible, which has helped to avoid injuries for track,” Birch said. “I have already noticed that I’m a lot less tense and more loose.”

A 2008 study by Yoga Journal indicated that approximately 15.8 million people practice yoga.

Of the non-practitioners, about 18.3 million Americans said that they were very or extremely interested in yoga, triple the amount in the same study that was conducted in 2004.

Due to yoga’s numerous positive effects, many who do it feel a sense of overall life improvement.

“People really love yoga today because it is not a selfish pursuit, but actually makes them happy,” Bleier said. “It teaches people how to live an optimal life like the one they want to live.”

Like Gibson, Jake Petterson ’12 began practicing yoga for rowing to increase his flexibility and to work on his breathing technique.

“Any man can do it. Any woman can do it. It does not matter. Only someone who is self-conscious would be affected by that. If it helps someone, then he or she should do it more,” Petterson said.

Petterson furthered that he doesn’t “keep [doing yoga] a secret, even if someone might think it’s weird or uncommon for a guy.”

Birch said how it may be more socially acceptable for women because it is closely associated with flexibility. “It’s not the most manly of things,” Birch said. “But it’s great. A lot of guys would probably like to try it if it weren’t considered so girly.”

In response to yoga’s popularity, Student Assembly has proposed the idea to the Collaborative Team of including yoga, along with dance, to next year’s physical education curriculum as a possible alternative to other gym courses.

“For the kids who have never done yoga before, this is a great way to expose them to it,” Student Assembly President Michael Goodgame ‘11 said. “There may be some guy that will take it as a joke, but hopefully after its initial introduction, more guys will sign up for yoga in gym.”