Today, 85% of yoga practitioners are women.
And yet, for millennia, yoga was a man's business.
So… how did we get here?
And why does yoga resonate so strongly in the bodies and hearts of women today?
Practiced at all stages of a woman's life, it can also become a valuable ally in the face of certain challenges, as illustrated in our article Yoga and Endometriosis: Navigating the Waves of Menstrual Pain or Yoga and the Sacred Feminine : Cultivating Balance through Practice.
This is what we will explore in this article, with a light and joyful spirit, but without losing depth.
1. Yoga, a thousand-year-old tradition… almost 100% masculine
In ancient texts, sages, gurus, and yogis were men. Not by designation, but simply because the patriarchal social structure did not allow women to fully participate in spiritual spheres.
Spirituality was their domain. Women? They were often reduced to a role of silent devotion or, worse, perceived as distractions for men seeking enlightenment. (Atmosphere.)
But be careful: ancient yoga texts do not reject the feminine. Quite the contrary, they speak of balance between polarities. Shakti, the feminine energy, is even described as the fundamental creative force of the universe.
So where were the women in all this? Perhaps they were much more present than official history would have us believe.
2. Invisible Yoginis: History's Forgotten Ones
Some sources mention female ascetics, yoginis, initiates into tantric practices and even teachers... but rarely named, rarely highlighted.
In some texts, they appear as companions of yogis for rituals. In others, they are dismissed to avoid "distracting" male practitioners.
But one thing is certain: their invisibility in the archives does not mean absence. You simply have to read between the lines.
3. A Silent Revolution: The Arrival of Women in Modern Yoga
It was not until the 20th century that the first major female figures appeared in the world of modern yoga.
In 1947, Indra Devi , trained by Krishnamacharya, opened the first yoga studio in Hollywood. She taught stars and ordinary women alike, popularizing a gentle, accessible, and... finally, feminine approach to yoga.
From then on, the movement accelerated. Yoga entered homes, TV shows, and evening classes. And guess who was there? Women!
4. Why does yoga speak so much to women today?
Because yoga offers everything that our modern lives compress:
- Slowness in a world that is running.
- Silence in a screaming world.
- Breath, when everything goes too fast.
Yoga invites us to reconnect with our bodies, our feelings, and our cycles. It gives space to emotions, to the intuitive, to the subtle. Basically, to everything that our modern cultures have long deemed "less rational," and therefore "less valid."
And it is perhaps precisely this restoration of the feminine that is expressed through the carpet.
5. The sacred feminine: Shakti, Kundalini & company
In yogic philosophy, the feminine is neither a gender nor a fragility. It is a strength. Shakti, the feminine energy, is the one that sets the universe in motion. She is creative, intuitive, fluid, and powerful.
Kundalini yoga, in particular, honors this energy. It speaks of Kundalini as a serpent goddess coiled at the base of the spine, waiting to be awakened to unleash our full potential.
Not very Netflix, but definitely more transformative.
6. Yoga designed for women? Or adapted to them?
For a long time, asana series were designed for male bodies: straight lines, strength, retention, endurance.
But today, more feminine approaches are flourishing. Not with the idea of doing yoga "for women," but to respect the body, cycles, and changing energies.
Hormone yoga , cycle yoga , prenatal yoga and lunar yoga invite us to a more intuitive, gentler, but no less powerful practice.
Because being strong isn't always about holding a pose for 5 minutes. Sometimes it's simply knowing when to let go, breathe, and say no.
7. Yoga and feminism: the same fight?
Yoga can be a space of liberation. But it's not automatic. It can also perpetuate norms: perfect bodies, extreme flexibility, injunctions to well-being.
This is why it is essential to bring back meaning, respect, and listening. Yoga, in its essence, is neither masculine nor feminine. It is union. It is welcoming what is, without judgment.
In this logic, yoga becomes feminist not because it excludes men, but because it gives back to each person (and everyone) the right to live their body, their interiority, their truth.
8. In conclusion: the soft power of women on the mat
Yoga has changed, just as women have changed. From mere "practitioners," they have become teachers, guides, transmitters. Their presence is no longer an exception, but a driving force.
And if the world of yoga is 85% female today, it's no coincidence. Perhaps it's a sign that Shakti's energy is slowly but surely awakening.
So, whether you are a woman, a man, neither, or both:
Lie on the mat. Close your eyes. Breathe in the feminine. And let it teach you what true power is.
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