From 2012-2016, the number of men practicing yoga increased to a staggering 150% and that number has only risen, as Yoga Alliance reported. Yogis have predominately been women, but way more men are seeing the health benefits of practicing their poses as well.
Several male celebrities are huge yoga fans and have been practicing yoga and meditation for years because of the positive benefits it has on the mind and body. Whether they do it after an intense workout to stretch out their muscles or need to find balance in an unbalanced world, these male stars love to do yoga and aren't afraid to admit it.
10 Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr. is among the top male celebrities that include yoga into his daily routine. After the star was arrested in 2001 on drug charges, the first thing he did was kick his addiction to the curb and started practicing yoga.
According to Yoga Practice, the Iron Man star has used yoga as a "tool for recovery" and has gotten in touch with his spiritual side. The actor's career was at a downfall when he suffered from addiction and was plagued by legal troubles, but yoga has helped him find his inner peace and his career is better than it's ever been.
9 Woody Harrelson
According to Woody Harrelson, practicing yoga with his entire family has kept him young and feeling alive. But, not only as this actor practiced a few yoga poses, he has incorporated its teaching in his diet, living dairy-free for over 30 years, and in the bedroom.
Harrelson once shared, "Yoga is the best thing for your sex life! It keeps you limber in all kinds of ways. It teaches you to love your body and your partner's body. But more than anything, it keeps your mind liquid, and nothing's sexier than that."
8 Russell Brand
If you're wondering what happened to Russell Brand, fans can spot him at a yoga studio practicing his yogi poses and even teaching it. According to Yoga Practice, the British actor is into a deeper form of meditation known as Kundalini yoga and has found that yoga has helped him overcome his alcohol addiction.
Thanks to his new love for yoga, Brand has been drug-free and sober for 13 years. During an interview, he addressed how yoga has helped him in the fight to get better. "It's really good if you've had addiction issues. It's highly psychological, and very beautiful, and overwhelming, and real, and trippy."
7 Jeremy Piven
When he isn't acting, Jeremy Piven is dedicating time in his day to practice yoga. Piven is a huge fan of the spiritual practices and their benefits on his physical and mental health, sharing that it's helped to "balance" his life.
He shared with Men's Fitness, "If you don't balance your life, you're going to be brought to your knees - that's basically what happened to me." Piven is a fan of slower-paced yoga, which helps to find patience and relaxation in a stressful life.
6 Matthew McConaughey
Matthew McConaughey avidly practices yoga and fans can even spot him doing a few poses shirtless on the beach. YogaPractices even shared that the actor has been challenging himself and trying a few advanced yoga postures thanks to his personal trainer, Peter Park. Talking to Coach magazine, Park stated, "He likes challenging stuff. He'd be bored stiff going to the gym and doing one of those basic workouts. Matthew can do hundreds of press-ups, and he's mobile like a yoga person."
5 David Beckham
David and Victoria Beckham have been practicing yoga since 2009, proving that working together on their mind and body has brought them closer than ever, according to Yogi Approved. With his long career as a soccer player, incorporating yoga can improve flexibility, strength, and endurance, writes Amplified Soccer Athlete.
The Beckhams are reportedly big fans of Bikram, a system of hot yoga that consists of 26 postures, practiced in a room set to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Sweating out all the toxins and negativity appears to be working very well for the two celebs.
4 Sting
Sting is another huge fan of practicing yoga and believes that constantly doing it helps in the anti-aging process. Speaking about his love for yoga, Sting shared, "If anything, it's reversing my aging process. I can now do things with my body that I wouldn't even have thought possible when I was an athletic teenager."
According to Yogi Approved, the singer likes to mix it up, incorporating Tantra, Jivamukti, and Ashtanga styles into his yoga practice.
3 Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons appreciates the art of yoga so much, he opened up his own tantric studio and even became a vegan. In one of his infamous blog posts, the entrepreneurs shared, "The beauty of the practice of yoga is that it teaches you how to take those precious seconds of stillness and lengthen them from seconds, to minutes, to a lifetime of enlightenment." Besides practicing his best poses, Simmons also is a fan of meditation to relieve his stress.
2 Colin Farrell
There are numerous paparazzi shots of actor Colin Farrell entering a yoga studio and leaving it, usually shirtless. The Phone Booth actor admitted that he practices yoga because it can help him live a longer and much healthier life.
"Part of it is fear-based and wanting to live forever. I would like to live as long as possible because I'm really enjoying being alive," Farrell shared. According to Kripalu, a Center of Yoga & Health, yoga not only helps us relax or makes us flexible, it also helps to influence our memories, lifespan, and immunity.
1 Lebron James
Yes, even NBA athletes love to practice yoga, with Lebron James being one of the biggest supporters. James has credited yoga with helping to not only help his physical well-being but also his mind.
"Yoga just isn't about the body," the basketball player shared, adding, "it's also about the mind and it's a technique that has really helped me. You do have to focus because some positions can really hurt you at times if you aren't focused and breathing right."