Australia's macho men take yoga twist
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050927/lf_afp/afplifestyleaustralia_050927154259SYDNEY (AFP) - Increasing numbers of Australia's famously macho men are showing surprising metrosexual tendencies, ditching competitive exercise for the meditative calm of yoga.
"We are getting the rugby players, the body builders, the gym junkie guys," says yoga teacher Duncan Peak, a former parachute officer and first-grade rugby player.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, yoga does not make it into the top four forms of exercise in this country -- walking, swimming, aerobic and fitness workouts, and tennis.
But a 2002 survey found that about 3.6 percent of those who exercised regularly did some yoga -- slightly more than those who played a game of Australian Rules football that year.
While women make up about 85 percent of yoga practitioners in Australia, Bower says more men are becoming involved as a way of handling the stress of their lives.