SO Helen Mead (LET, August 21) thinks men and yoga is a marriage in hell and, by the tone of her article, strictly a pursuit for wimps. Well, that puts me in my place, though I should have seen it coming, the clues have been there for a long time.

Helen, no doubt, thinks that when I am making a meal for my wife and myself on a Saturday evening, I should really be down the pub sinking a few pints waiting for the telephone to ring.

Helen would have us believe that men are like steel girders. From my observations, I would suggest 'overweight' and 'pot bellied' are nearer the truth, certainly for the over 30s -- below this age, they have not enough practice in the bar.

So where are all these super-fit men. Not in the gym I attend, which has more women attending than men.

I am sure Helen knows best just because yoga is practised all over the world, especially in Asia. They must still have it wrong. Perhaps if we introduced them to some of our more successful team sports such as football hooliganism. And as for all those Chinese performing Tai-Chi every day, no doubt we should view them as wimps to a man.

Why, in this country, do we have such trouble embracing new concepts and ideas? Yes, I know yoga is hardly new. If we do not understand, we belittle. We present a face of superiority that is totally misplaced.

So what can yoga offer? Your women readers generally are already convinced of its benefits, but what about Helen's man who, typically, cannot see his toes, never mind touch them?

One thing we lose as we grow older is suppleness. Yoga helps to maintain this and is used by all the top athletes as part of their fitness programme.

Recommended warm up exercises in fact embrace yoga exercise. The benefits are obvious and classes can be quite strenuous, though you are advised not to do more than your body is comfortable with.

Yoga also involves breathing and relaxation exercises. The relaxation tends towards the end of the session, though I have to admit I am not too comfortable with this as I once fell asleep and my snoring disturbed the rest of the class.

ROY WARD, Bostons, Great Harwood.