Olympic Yoga Competition?

Posted by Alicia King May 9, 2008

According to this report, the World-Wide Yoga Championship has already written the rules on winning at competitive yoga. Yogis perform a series of postures "for 120 to 150 seconds each" (I'm a little confused by the coverage at this point. Are the poses held for two minutes, or are the "routines" 2 - 2.5 minutes long?).

Scored on a ten-point scale on flowing movement, steadiness, alignment, and... serenity? Apparently, if the contestant shows effort or stress they are marked down.

Competitive Yoga Causes Injuries

Granted, yoga does not have to be a pathway to spiritual enlightenment for every person who sits on a mat. I can accept that for some folks, it's just a relaxing, low-impact workout that makes doing other fitness activities easier. To some people, yoga is just stretching with music. I get that.

However, trying to force your body into any pose is an easy way to hurt yourself. Paying attention to what you could do yesterday instead of what your body is doing today is dangerous. Let alone trying to out-bendy the gymnast two mats down.

As far as the "spiritual path" side of the argument goes, there are Martial Arts in the Olympics, as well. (Though you don't see non-combatant sorts clamoring for a medal...) I'm not going to string that harp.

Like Giving out Gold Medals at a Scrimmage

My yoga teacher once pointed out that the greatest gurus refer to yoga as "Practice". It's not Yoga Perfection. It's not Yoga Mastery. It's PRACTICE.

If this mentality helps us to relieve ourselves of just a little bit of stress... isn't it worth it?