Yoga Clothing Brand OHMME and Male Suicide

Craig meets with yoga Clothing brand OHMME and discusses how yoga can help prevent male suicide

Image belongs to the BBC, click image for their news story

If I can ask you one thing it's to read on. This is a very difficult subject and one that affects a huge proportion of our communities. It may even be affecting you right now.

When I was nine years old my Grandfather decided he had had enough of life and ended his own with a fist full of sleeping tablets. A few years later by best friend tied a rope to a rafter in his attic, put the other end around his neck and jumped out of the loft hatch.

Both of these deaths devastated people and both could have been prevented.

My Grand Father Peter who I miss to this day.

Male suicide is the biggest killer of men under 40 in the UK. Not car accidents, not cancer, not heart disease. Suicide. So, being personally affected by the subject I was delighted when Yoga clothing brand OHMME got in contact with an aim to raise awareness.

As men we need to get past the ridiculous stereotype of being the strong one. It's out dated and it's killing us. Men don't cry right? Wrong. We just do it in private. We don't talk about our feelings, and we don't talk about what's bothering us. This behaviour is incredibly self destructive and can lead to tragedy.

I know first hand just how depression can affect you. It takes you to a place where you aren't able to think rationally, a place incredibly dark, bottomless and devoid of help.  But there is help and the first step of getting there is to open your mouth and talk to someone.

If you can't bring yourself to talk to a friend or your partner, the Samaritans is always there to help. They won't judge you, they won't even know who you are. There's also your GP. That's who I turned to, and while I felt embarrassed, like I'd failed at something, and incompetent, it was one of the best decisions I have ever made, and I am so glad that I went. There's a huge number of ways that you can be helped, from professional counselling, support groups and medication. There IS a solution for you if you just open your mind to it.

You can even talk to me. Drop me an email at thatdapperchap@gmail.com if you'd like to.

Aside from talking about how you feel, there are a number of ways that you can alleviate stress, anxiety and depression. Some guys work out in the gym, some run as I do, and others do yoga.

Yoga is a fantastic way to not only calm the mind but to build core strength, and contrary to popular belief it's not just for falafel eating, moon worshippers. That's another stereotype we need to move away from as it simply isn't true.

Yoga is for everyone, and while as a man, you may be in the minority in an evening class you don't need to join one. Get yourself on You Tube and you can do it in the privacy of your own bedroom in your favourite pants. Alternatively don some cool clothing from Yoga brand OHMME and find a couple of giant concrete tubes like David Robson below!

I'm a fan of yoga as it honestly does calm me down. I won't lie and tell you I'm an expert, but I do what I can and while my side plank is a little shaky, my downward dog is not to be sniffed at! (pardon the pun)

You don't have to be great, like the guys above, you just have to give it a chance and take what you can from it, who knows, you may even enjoy it and meet someone there with a good ear, who you can share you thoughts with.

To do yoga effectively you'll need some good kit. I'm wearing clothing by OHMME. All of the clothing is super comfortable and can double up as lounge wear if it takes your fancy.

The denim style pants above are priced at £48 and have an urban look about them. Versatile and functional they're a good addition to your wardrobe and will look just as good outside of the yoga class.

The T-Shirt is the Cobra Yoga shirt. It comes in three colours and is very light and stretchy. Priced at £36 it can just as easily be worn with jeans. It's a quick dry fabric so you can get it washed and on your back again very quickly.

The black 3 quarter pants are the Namoustache Yoga pants. Again they're soft, stretchy and really easy to wear. They have very strong seams and a reinforced gusset and are priced at £48.

One last thing I need from everyone who reads this post. When you ask your mate if he's alright, don't just take 'yeah' for an answer, take the time to ask a few more questions to really find out if he's okay. How is the job job going? Does it sound stressful? How does he cope with that? What about his other half? Are they getting on okay? Maybe you noticed that he didn't buy the last round of drinks, is he okay for money? It's your job as a mate to do this, just as I hope he will do for you if you reach a time when you're struggling.

Maybe if I'd done that my mate would not have jumped out of his loft hatch with a rope around his neck, leaving a 2 year old daughter and a partner to find him when they opened the front door and saw him hanging there.

So, take control, take action and maybe even take a yoga class.

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