Prostate And Men’s Health: What Mr Iyengar, The Yoga Doctors And The Research Say

Up at night to pee, a dull ache low in the pelvis, or a prostate cancer diagnosis, and no idea whether yoga could help? Most men never ask. Mr BKS Iyengar wrote a whole men’s health section in his book on yoga for health, and a growing set of small studies has tested yoga in men with pelvic pain, during prostate cancer radiotherapy and for sexual function. This guide brings together what Mr Iyengar, the medical doctors who worked with him and the research say about prostate health and men’s health, and why so few men try yoga at all. Last updated: 4 November 2026.

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Is yoga good for prostate health? The short answer

Yes, yoga is worth doing for prostate health and men’s health. In a 2026 trial of 40 men with chronic pelvic pain (often called chronic prostatitis), six weeks of daily yoga eased symptoms almost as much as two medicines, with far fewer side effects. In men having radiotherapy for prostate cancer, twice-weekly yoga meant less fatigue and better sexual health scores. A 2024 review of yoga in prostate cancer survivors found gains in erectile function, fatigue, urinary symptoms, stress and quality of life. Mr Iyengar’s own approach for the prostate works the pelvis, the hips and the belly, with inversions (upside-down poses) and seated poses.

One gap to know about: no trial has yet tested yoga for an enlarged prostate (BPH, benign prostatic hyperplasia) or for men’s urinary symptoms on their own. Not yet studied is not the same as not working. For the enlarged prostate this guide rests on Mr Iyengar and Dr Krishna Raman. And most of the trials tested yoga in general, of many styles, not Iyengar yoga. Why the kind of yoga matters.

The bottom line: five key moves for prostate health and men’s health

1. Go to a yoga class at your level, two or three times a week. The trials that helped ran for six to twelve weeks, so give it at least that long.
2. Get to know your pelvic floor. Men have one too. Standing tall, with the feet pointing forward and the inner legs working, is where it starts in an Iyengar class.
3. Open the hips and the groins. Seated and reclining poses with the knees out to the sides, such as Bound Angle Pose, are the poses Mr Iyengar and Dr Raman name for the prostate.
4. Bring the stress down. Slow pranayama (yoga breathing) and supported rest calm the nervous system, and a calm nervous system matters for the bladder, for pelvic pain and for sex.
5. Start now. New to Flametree, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price, in Darwin or LIVE online. Bring a mate or come alone, but give it 12 weeks.

Iyengar yoga is the style we teach at Flametree. During the 20th century, Mr BKS Iyengar was the major person who codified traditional Indian yoga, through his seminal books and widespread teaching. He also pioneered the use of props, so poses can be adapted to almost any body. His style is sometimes called modern classical yoga. This guide is part of our encyclopaedia of yoga for health conditions.

This guide in short

• Mr BKS Iyengar: a men’s health section covering impotence, prostate problems and hernias, built on hip-opening poses, forward bends and supported inversions.
• Dr Timothy McCall: prostate cancer and sexual function are on his list of conditions helped by yoga; for cancer he points to gentle, restful practice and slow breathing.
• Dr Krishna Raman: Bound Angle Pose for the prostate and urinary infections; yoga after hernia surgery from about six months.
• The research: 15 studies listed below on men’s pelvic pain, prostate cancer, sexual function and hernia. All small, and all promising.
• Not yet studied: yoga for an enlarged prostate (BPH) and men’s urinary symptoms.
• Why men do less yoga: five studies of what keeps men away, and what brings them in.
• Take it further: our free ebook for men, Stay In The Game, a 2027 masterclass on the pelvic floor, and classes in Darwin and online.

“Begin with small expectations. Restructuring muscles, bones, tissues, posture, and internal organs takes time.”

What is the prostate, and what are the common men’s health problems?

The prostate is a small gland sitting just below the bladder and wrapped around the tube that carries urine out. It grows slowly through a man’s life. The main problems this guide covers are:

• Enlarged prostate (BPH): the gland grows and presses on the urine tube, so the flow is weak and men go more often, including at night. It is not cancer.
• Prostatitis and chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS): pain in the pelvis, groin, lower belly or between the legs, often with urinary trouble, lasting months. Pelvic pain in men is common and often goes unspoken.
• Prostate cancer: men may be on watchful waiting, or have surgery, radiotherapy or hormone therapy, and many live with it for years.
• Sexual function: erection problems and early ejaculation. Mr Iyengar says nearly half of adult men face some form of impotence at some time.
• Hernias: a weak spot in the belly wall lets the bowel bulge through, often in the groin (an inguinal hernia).

The pelvic floor, the sling of muscle at the base of the pelvis, runs through all of these. It has its own guide, with a part for men: pelvic floor dysfunction and yoga.

What did Mr BKS Iyengar teach about the prostate and men’s health?

In short: open the pelvis and the groins, bring blood to the belly and the pelvic organs, and use supported inversions, slowly and over time.

In Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health, Mr Iyengar gives men’s health its own section (pp. 397 to 405). He opens it by saying that prostate enlargement and hernias are common in men over 50, and that these problems “respond to the practice of yoga” (p. 397). That is his claim, from a lifetime of teaching. In our words:

• Impotence (p. 397). He describes it as an often temporary trouble getting or keeping an erection, with causes that can be structural, hormonal, nerve-related or in the mind, or a side effect of drugs. His course uses inversions, forward bends and hip-opening poses.
• Prostate problems (p. 398). He covers an enlarged or inflamed prostate, with pain and a blocked flow of urine. His course combines reclining hip-opening poses, forward bends and supported inversions.
• Hernias (about pp. 399 to 402). He gives courses for a hiatus hernia (the stomach pushing up through the diaphragm), an inguinal hernia in the groin and an umbilical hernia at the navel, using standing, reclining and forward-bending poses, supported inversions and, for some, the slow ocean breath (Ujjayi). These page numbers are approximate.
• Bound Angle Pose (p. 108). In his description of Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle or cobbler pose), he lists benefits for the kidneys, the prostate and the urinary tract. That too is his claim.

In Light on Yoga, his first book, the appendix on ailments has a cluster of men’s entries: hernia (p. 425), impotency and hydrocele, fluid around a testicle (p. 426), prostates (p. 430) and involuntary loss of semen (p. 431). In our words, the approach is much the same each time: inversions, seated poses and forward bends, with twists, back bends and the internal locks (bandhas) added for the prostate. For an inguinal hernia he says to rest lying down afterwards rather than stand up and move about at once. In his introduction to the appendix (p. 413) he says that, because so many poses are listed, an experienced teacher is the best guide, adapting to each person’s ability and watching the body’s reactions.

We do not publish his sequences. A sequence needs a teacher who can see you and adapt each pose, which is what a class is for.

“When the practice of yoga makes an average man a better person, why not sports people?”

What does Dr Timothy McCall say about the prostate and men’s health?

In short: prostate cancer and sexual function are on his list of conditions helped by yoga, and in cancer he sees yoga as a way to cope well, rest well and breathe slowly.

Dr McCall is a US medical doctor who trained in Iyengar yoga, and his book Yoga as Medicine is the best-known book on yoga for health. His June 2019 list of 117 conditions helped by yoga includes Prostate Cancer (no. 93), Sexual Function (no. 101) and Inguinal Hernia (no. 47). His book has no chapter on the prostate, so here is what his cancer chapter adds, in our words:

• Yoga for coping, not a promise. He is careful: he says no study yet shows yoga makes people with cancer live longer. He sees yoga as a way to handle the illness and the side effects of medical care.
• Gentle, restful practice. Restorative poses, simple breathing and deep relaxation lower stress and anxiety without demanding much effort, and the practice can match whatever energy a person has that day. Rest when tired.
• Slow breathing helps with pain and with the shock of a diagnosis. Forceful breaths are not for people who are depleted.
• The Ornish programme. He calls the evidence from Dr Dean Ornish’s lifestyle programme “suggestive”. In men with early prostate cancer, a programme of diet, yoga, meditation, exercise and group support went with a falling PSA (a blood marker of prostate activity). The trial is listed below.

What does Dr Krishna Raman say?

In short: Bound Angle Pose for the prostate, each hernia judged on its own, and lifting with a long back.

Dr Raman is a physician in Chennai who trained with Mr Iyengar. In Yoga and Medical Science: FAQ he answers patients’ questions. These are his views, in our words:

• Enlarged prostate (Q361). He says Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose) helps with urinary infections and with the prostate. This follows Mr Iyengar’s own teaching.
• Hernia (Q237). In his view each hernia is different. Some need surgery, and after surgery yoga can be added from about six months on.
• Lifting (Q238). He says you can bend forward to lift as long as the spine stays long and slightly hollowed, not rounded. That matters to anyone careful of a hernia or a sore back.

Dr Loren Fishman and Dr J. T. Shah, the other doctors who worked with Mr Iyengar, add nothing specific on the prostate in the material we hold.

“Relax the abdomen. Learn to make the abdomen soft.”

Iyengar yoga for men: what did Geeta Iyengar teach?

In short: men need restful poses as much as women do, and a weekly practice of inversions and forward bends, she taught, keeps the body and the temper steady.

Geeta S Iyengar, Mr Iyengar’s daughter, is best known for her teaching on women’s health, but she also wrote for men. Her article “Restorative Asanas for Men” was printed by Iyengar Yoga Australia in a men’s issue of its journal Yoga Vaani (no. 62, September 2000, p. 11). Her views, in our words:

• Men get tired too. “Men too need the restorative asanas,” she wrote. The reclining and supported poses women use around their periods are not off limits to men, and help them recover from fatigue.
• Once a week, without fail. She asked men to make inversions (upside-down poses), forward bends and reclining poses part of every week, for blood pressure, blood sugar, hormones, anger and tension. Her claim, from long teaching.
• The prostate. She named an enlarged or swollen prostate among the problems common to men, and gave head balance and shoulder stand, with the legs in Bound Angle and wide-angle shapes, as the work for it. That follows Mr Iyengar’s own course.
• Forward bends to cool a hot temper. In her view, part of men’s drive and aggression comes from the adrenal glands, and forward bends quieten it. A quiet man, she said, should be quiet for real, not putting on a brave face.
• Finish well. Do not end a practice on head balance alone: follow it with shoulder stand or a supported bridge, then rest.

We do not publish her list of poses: your teacher adapts it to you. See the issue in the Iyengar Yoga Australia e-library (members).

A prostate trial that was planned but never run. In the early 1990s the senior London Iyengar teacher Mira Mehta and the surgeon Gerald Choa designed a trial of Iyengar yoga for an enlarged prostate with Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. Men aged 60 to 70 waiting for prostate surgery would practise for 20 minutes a day, six days a week, for four months, with urine flow measured against a matched group. The proposal was not accepted, so the trial never took place. They published the outline in Yoga Vaani 41 (September 1995, pp. 42 to 44, see the issue) and again in no. 62 (p. 28). It is still the clearest picture of how the Iyengar tradition would test yoga for the prostate, and it is still waiting for someone to run it.

Other yoga voices on men’s health

In short: the pelvic floor belongs to men too, posture decides how well it works, and stress gets in the way.

Chris Lalor, Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and certified Yoga Therapist, has taught men about the pelvic area for years. Her teaching, in our words:

• Both men and women have a pelvic floor, and for both it matters for bladder control and for intimacy. For men, a pelvic floor you can feel and use helps hold up what sits above it, including the prostate.
• Posture comes first. Leaning back to balance a big waist, or hours slumped at the wheel, means much less control of the pelvic floor. So does standing with the feet turned out.
• Work the inner legs. Most exercise builds the outer thighs. Wide-legged standing and seated poses tone the inner legs and give the pelvic floor a better base. In class we often use a foam block between the thighs to feel it.
• Stress gets in the way. When the fight-or-flight side of the nervous system is switched on, arousal is harder for everyone. Restful poses switch on the other side.
• Men tend to hide these problems. Often the best person to raise them is a partner, a sister or a mate.

Stuart McGill, yoga teacher, Flametree Yoga Darwin, wrote our free ebook for men, Stay In The Game. Its point is simple: keep the sport you love and add yoga to it. The book sets out the research on men’s strength, flexibility, blood pressure, blood sugar and testosterone. Testosterone, for example, falls far more with poor health and weight gain than with birthdays alone, and the ebook says plainly that no proper trial of yoga and testosterone has yet been run.

“In the beginning the spine is stiff, but with practice it becomes flexible.”

What does the research show about yoga, the prostate and men’s pelvic pain?

In short: in men with chronic pelvic pain, yoga eased symptoms almost as well as medicine with fewer side effects; during prostate cancer radiotherapy it cut fatigue; and small studies point to better sexual function. The studies are small, and they tested yoga in general, of many styles. No Iyengar yoga trial in men’s health has been run yet. Why the difference matters.

Men’s pelvic pain and chronic prostatitis

• Six weeks of daily one-hour yoga eased the symptoms of chronic pelvic pain syndrome almost as much as two medicines (alfuzosin and amitriptyline), with far fewer side effects: 10% with yoga against 27.5% with the medicines. Pain and quality of life improved about equally; the medicines did more for urinary symptoms. Gaur 2026 (the COPE trial), a randomised crossover trial of 40 men in India, each trying both. Read the study.
• Exercise programmes beat standard medical care for men’s chronic pelvic pain, and pelvic floor training scored best. Shen 2026, a review comparing 15 randomised trials and 1,736 men. Not a yoga study, but it shows why the pelvic floor is the focus. Read the study.

Prostate cancer and recovery

• Yoga during radiotherapy meant clearly less fatigue, and sexual health scores (erectile function) held up better than without yoga. Ben-Josef 2017, a randomised trial of twice-weekly yoga during six to nine weeks of radiotherapy; 68 men started and 50 were analysed. Most of those who left did so because of clashes with their radiotherapy times. Read the study.
• Twice-weekly yoga could be run alongside radiotherapy, and fatigue, sexual health, bladder control and quality of life held steady through it. Ben-Josef 2016, the pilot study of 27 men for the trial above. Read the study.
• Six weeks of yoga before prostate surgery gave the biggest gains in sexual wellbeing, fatigue and social wellbeing, boosted immune cells and lowered markers of inflammation. Kaushik 2021, a pilot randomised trial of 29 men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer, yoga against usual care. Read the study.
• Yoga has the potential to improve erectile function, fatigue, urinary symptoms, stress, immune function and quality of life in prostate cancer survivors, and men can fit it into their lives. Boopalan 2024, a review of 5 studies and 129 men. The authors call for bigger trials before firm conclusions. Read the study.
• In men with early prostate cancer, a lifestyle programme of diet, yoga, meditation, exercise and support went with PSA falling 4% while it rose 6% in the usual care group, and their blood slowed the growth of prostate cancer cells in the laboratory nearly eight times as much. None of the programme group, against 6 of the usual care group, went on to surgery, radiation or hormone therapy in the year. Ornish 2005, a randomised trial of 93 men. A whole-lifestyle programme, so yoga is one part of it. Read the study.
• Mindfulness programmes had small to moderate benefits for the mood and stress of men with prostate cancer. Nnate 2021, a review of 4 studies, 3 of them randomised. Read the study.
• Yoga and Pilates were among the options with good effects on men’s bladder leaks, alongside the main one, pelvic floor training. Zhang 2023, a review of 87 studies, mostly in men after prostate cancer surgery. Read the study.

Sexual function

• After 12 weeks of yoga, men’s sexual function improved in every area measured: desire, erection, control, orgasm and satisfaction. Dhikav 2010, a study of 65 men aged 24 to 60 at a yoga camp in India, without a comparison group. Read the study.
• Yoga had a large effect on early (premature) ejaculation, with no significant side effects. Rohilla 2025, a review of 5 studies, 3 pooled. The results varied a lot between studies. Read the study.
• Yoga looked safe and helpful for early ejaculation, and less clearly so for erection problems. Bhat 2024, a review of 10 studies from 2000 to 2023. Read the study.
• Yoga lengthened time to ejaculation about as much as the medicine paroxetine, from about 26 to about 89 seconds, though it took longer to start working. Rohilla 2020, a comparison of 68 men who chose yoga or the medicine. Read the study.
• All 38 men in the yoga group improved their time to ejaculation, against 25 of 30 men on fluoxetine. Dhikav 2007, a controlled study of 68 men in India. Read the study.

Hernia

• Three months of selected yoga poses brought less pain and fewer symptoms in men with a groin hernia that could still be pushed back. Alagesan 2012, a study of 19 men, without a comparison group. Read the study.

Enlarged prostate (BPH) and men’s urinary symptoms

No trial has yet tested yoga for an enlarged prostate, or for men’s urinary symptoms such as getting up at night, a weak stream or needing to go often. Not yet studied is not the same as not working. Here the guide rests on Mr Iyengar’s courses (pp. 397 to 405 of Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health, and pp. 425 to 431 of Light on Yoga), Dr Raman’s view on Bound Angle Pose, and the pelvic floor research in our pelvic floor guide.

Iyengar yoga studies

No trial has yet tested Iyengar yoga, taught by trained Iyengar teachers, for the prostate or men’s health. The trials above tested yoga in general, taught by teachers with very different training. In our view as certified Iyengar teachers, well-taught Iyengar yoga, with its close attention to the pelvis, the legs and the breath, is likely to go further. Why the kind of yoga matters.

Breathing practice (pranayama) and meditation

No trial in our list tested pranayama on its own for the prostate. Breathing was part of most of the yoga programmes above, though the papers rarely say which techniques were taught, or how. The mindfulness review above found calmer mood and less stress in men with prostate cancer; “mindfulness” is a loose word, and the steady attention of a pose and of pranayama trains the same thing. The pranayama we teach (staircase, ocean, alternate nostril and humming) is slow, nasal and taught step by step. Pranayama and humming help balance and improve the immune system, and so help with what the immune system does, including reducing infection. See our immune system guide, and yoga for stress and burnout for the calming side.

“Yoga cannot be considered as a sport but it is the mother of sports.”

For men: why do so few men do yoga, and what brings them in?

In short: men are not against yoga, they just like their own sport better, and many still see yoga as “not for blokes”. Role models, a clear physical reason and a welcoming class change that.

An old Australian question. In 2000, Suzanne Eggins, a University of New South Wales lecturer and Iyengar student, asked the same question in Yoga Vaani (no. 62, p. 12). Men then made up no more than about 15% of regular students in Australian Iyengar classes. The barriers she found still sound familiar: stiff bodies that make the first classes hard, the idea that a real man should be big and muscled, and yoga seen either as mystical or as just another workout. Her ideas included introductory classes for men. Today about a third of the people in our Darwin classes are men.

• Most men who skip yoga are not against it: 47% said they were not interested, and 22% preferred other exercise. Women mostly said they had no time. The men who did yoga came for flexibility, fitness and avoiding injury. Garnsey 2025, a survey of 351 US university students, half of them men. Read the study.
• Men in Queensland preferred other activity, and saw yoga as feminine, against “bloke” culture. Short information sessions and classes with other men were what might bring them in. Cagas 2021, interviews with 21 men aged 18 to 60. Read the study.
• Men who do yoga are more likely than women to use it to support their other sport. Cagas 2022, a survey of 546 yoga students, 138 of them men. Read the study.
• Men take up yoga when trusted people encourage them and when they see male role models. Focusing on the physical benefits, and feeling them first hand, helped men past the doubts. Cagas 2024, focus groups and interviews, titled “Men Need Role Models”. Read the study.
• Men with prostate cancer gained physically, mentally and socially from a yoga and exercise programme made for them. Free first classes, a programme tailored to prostate cancer and a friendly setting kept them coming. Culos-Reed 2019, two focus groups of 11 men in Calgary. Read the study.

How our classes suit men. About a third of everyone in our classes is a man. All our classes are mixed, and men come right across the timetable, though more than average come to our Yoga for Backs classes, and many men love Chris Lalor’s classes on the wall ropes, where the ropes take the load and let a stiff body hang, stretch and turn upside down safely. Stuart is our main male teacher. Stiff is fine: that is what the props are for. Our post Yoga For Men and the free ebook Stay In The Game explain why yoga suits men who play sport, and the sitting rising test shows what strong, mobile legs mean later in life.

What men can do about it. Yoga is something you do, not something you talk about, and you feel it in the body first: looser hips, an easier back, a quieter head. Start with a beginner class. Bring a mate or come alone, but give it 12 weeks. Heart disease also hits men harder; see our heart health guide.

“Previously I used to challenge the body, now the body challenges me.”

How does this come together in a Flametree class?

Everything above points the same way, and it is how we teach yoga for men’s health in Darwin and online.

• Standing poses done precisely: feet pointing forward, legs straight and strong, the pelvis level. This is where the pelvic floor learns to work.
• Hip and groin opening, seated and reclining, with blocks and blankets so stiff men can do them well.
• Supported inversions, on the wall ropes, a chair or the wall, brought in step by step.
• Classes adapted to the people in them. No one-size-fits-all. Tell your teacher about a hernia, recent surgery or radiotherapy, and the poses are changed for you.
• Breath and calm: every class ends in rest, and our pranayama classes go further. On tired days, our restorative yoga classes suit.

Read more on men’s health and yoga

• Pelvic floor dysfunction and yoga: the full guide, with a part for men
• Yoga for pelvic floor: what research shows for leaks, prolapse and pelvic pain
• Yoga for men: the golfer who called it his secret weapon
• Stay In The Game: free ebook on yoga for men
• Want male yoga classes near you?
• Men in Darwin: think you’re too stiff for yoga?
• Heart health and yoga: the full guide
• Yoga for stress and burnout
• Yoga for cricketers: the test opener who found it hurt at first, and kept going

Take it further

• Classes, in Darwin or LIVE online: new, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price. Already practising yoga? See the non-beginner half price pass. See every class time.
• Masterclass: Yoga for pelvic floors, Sunday 31 January 2027, for every body, men included, one of our six 2027 Sunday Arvo Masterclasses with Chris Lalor, Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and certified Yoga Therapist. Come for the poses, the sequences and the pranayama that put this guide into action, in the studio or LIVE online.
• Retreats: a week of daily, adapted yoga and pranayama in Bali. See the retreats.

Other conditions are in our encyclopaedia of yoga for health conditions.

Prostate health and men’s health: questions people ask

Is yoga good for prostate health?

Yes, it is worth doing. In a 2026 trial of 40 men with chronic pelvic pain, six weeks of daily yoga eased symptoms almost as much as two medicines, with far fewer side effects. In men having radiotherapy for prostate cancer, twice-weekly yoga meant less fatigue and better sexual health scores. Mr Iyengar’s approach for the prostate uses hip-opening poses, forward bends and supported inversions.

Can yoga help an enlarged prostate (BPH)?

No trial has yet tested yoga for an enlarged prostate or for men’s urinary symptoms, so it is not yet studied. Mr BKS Iyengar gives a course for prostate problems in Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health (p. 398), built on reclining hip-opening poses, forward bends and supported inversions, and Dr Krishna Raman says Bound Angle Pose helps the prostate. The pelvic floor research also applies to men.

Does yoga help men’s pelvic pain and chronic prostatitis?

Yes. In the 2026 COPE trial, 40 men with chronic pelvic pain syndrome tried six weeks of daily one-hour yoga and six weeks of two medicines. Yoga eased symptoms almost as much, pain and quality of life improved about equally, and side effects were far fewer with yoga (10% against 27.5%). The medicines did more for urinary symptoms. Always follow the directions of any doctor you are consulting.

Can men do yoga during prostate cancer radiotherapy?

Yes, and it has been tested. In a 2017 randomised trial in Pennsylvania, men who did yoga twice a week through six to nine weeks of radiotherapy had clearly less fatigue and better sexual health scores than men without yoga. A 2024 review of 5 studies found yoga can improve erectile function, fatigue, urinary symptoms, stress and quality of life in prostate cancer survivors.

Does yoga help sexual function in men?

Small studies say yes. In 65 men at a 12-week yoga camp, sexual function improved in every area measured, including desire, erection and control. A 2025 review found a large effect of yoga on early ejaculation with no significant side effects. Mr Iyengar gives a course for impotence built on inversions, forward bends and hip-opening poses. The evidence for erection problems is thinner.

What did Mr Iyengar say about the prostate and hernias?

In Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health, Mr BKS Iyengar has a men’s health section (pp. 397 to 405) covering impotence, prostate problems and hernias. He says prostate enlargement and hernias are common over 50 and respond to yoga, his claim. In Light on Yoga he lists entries for hernia, impotency and the prostate, and after work for an inguinal hernia he says to rest lying down before getting up.

Why do so few men do yoga?

Mostly because they prefer their own sport. In a 2025 survey, 47% of men who did not do yoga said they were not interested and 22% preferred other exercise. Australian interviews found men also see yoga as feminine. Men take it up when someone they trust encourages them, when they see male teachers, and when there is a clear physical reason. About a third of Flametree’s class attendance is men.

Where can men do yoga for prostate health in Darwin or online?

Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga at Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin, and LIVE online across Australia. All classes are mixed, about a third of attendance is men, and men especially like the Yoga for Backs classes and the wall ropes. New, or away 3 months or more? You get 2 free classes, then 10 at half price.

Where this comes from: BKS Iyengar, Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health (Dorling Kindersley), the Men’s Health section (pp. 397 to 405, hernia pages approximate) and Baddha Konasana (p. 108); Light on Yoga, Appendix II (pp. 413 and 425 to 431); Astadala Yogamala; Yoga Wisdom and Practice. Geeta S Iyengar, Yoga: A Gem for Women, and her Sydney classes, 1996. Timothy McCall MD, Yoga as Medicine (Bantam), the cancer chapter, and his June 2019 list of health conditions helped by yoga. Krishna Raman MD and S. Suresh MD, Yoga and Medical Science: FAQ, Q237, Q238 and Q361. Chris Lalor’s teaching on the pelvic floor for men. Stuart McGill, Stay In The Game (Flametree Yoga Studio, 2026). Studies as linked above, checked on PubMed. Everything is summarised in our own words.

This page is general information, not medical advice. Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and LIVE online.