"No, you won't have to stand on your head ... No chanting, no incense, no gurus," John Capouya boldly exclaims in the introduction to his best-selling guide book Real Men Do Yoga. "And no, it isn't a chick thing".
Attempting to show that yoga's not solely a preserve for the fairer gender, Capouya quotes a string of male sports stars in his book, who all rave enthusiastically how the ancient mind and body practice has improved their on-field performance. These include the baseball pitcher Barry Zito, the basketball ace Kevin Garnett and the American football running back Eddie George, who graces the cover of the book, showing off his ripped physique.
But it's not just US sportsmen who are fervent exponents. The Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs has put the longevity of his playing career down to his keenness for yoga; Scotland's habitual grand slam runner up Andy Murray is a diehard fan; while the New Zealand rugby union team turned to a yoga instructor to prime them for their recent world cup-winning campaign.
Earlier this year, it was reported across world media outlets that elite warrior units in the US, such as the Navy Seals, were insisting troops take up yoga to reduce injury levels and instil mental toughness. The latest research from the UK from the University of York, released last month and contributing to a growing body, showed that 12 weeks of yoga classes led to a small improvement in how well participants could perform their daily activities.
Yet despite this roll call of burly blokes, all proclaiming its benefits for endurance, muscle tone and strength, yoga is still seen by many as irredeemably feminine - particularly in this part of the world.
Paul Jones is one of the few male yoga teachers in the Emirates, having taught at the Zen Yoga studios in Dubai since 2008. Although the gender imbalance has improved recently, he says men are still well in the minority in his classes. He blames this on cultural perceptions.
"Many guys think that physical activity has to be rigorous and competitive - either lifting heavy weights or bashing into each other," says Jones. "If it's not this, then some think 'what's the point of it?' Because you're not building up big muscles, and it does involve some degree of self-reflection, it's seen as something very feminine, which actually if you try it, you'll find it can be as exhausting and challenging as many other sports."
Jones explains that despite yoga's association with ladies, when the exercise originated in India 5,000 years ago, it was exclusively practised by men. So why did this change when it spread outside the subcontinent?
"The first people to bring it to the West were men in the 1960s," says Jones, "but it arrived at a time when a new emphasis was being put on women's health and well-being, and so it kind of became a symbol of women's empowerment and feminism. Then there was the way it was marketed, with celebrities like Madonna and supermodels doing it. So it became a kind of aspirational activity for a lot of women.
"But now I think more emphasis is being put on men's well-being and health, so hopefully we'll see more guys getting involved." Ria Haffar, who teaches at the Abu Dhabi Country Club, believes that fear of being outdone by women is another reason why many men are put off yoga.
"At my mixed classes, I think there were guys who'd want to take part, then they'd come along, see all these females and run away," she says. "I guess they thought 'they're all really flexible and I'm not' and feel intimidated and shy."
Hence Haffar has now started male-only beginner's classes, which she says have been a success, drawing up to 15 men per session.
"I see the guys, and they're embarrassed when in the mixed class, but they're not when they're here," she claims. "But when men do yoga, they're brilliant at it because they have more strength than women.