Bending Backwards

Yoga championship?

Yoga enthusiasts like to talk about the many benefits of their practice but yoga as a competitive sport has been almost unknown,largely because the practice is seen as a spiritual quest rather than an exclusively physical exercise. But now,Rajashree Choudhury and her husband,Bikram Choudhury,who created the style of yoga known as Bikram,are trying to build momentum for competitive yoga in the US. Mrs Choudhury has set up two nonprofit organisations,the United States Yoga Federation and the World Yoga Foundation,and she has been staging competitions for the last seven years. This fall and winter,regional championships are being held in several states,and the winners will advance to a national championship in February.

The ultimate goal of the Choudhurys is to have yoga qualify as an Olympic sport. Its far away, Mrs. Choudhury said,but this is our dream.

One big obstacle may be the yoga community itself. To many people,the idea of competition goes against the philosophy of yoga. The initial reaction from most people is always the same thing: competition yoga? Those things dont belong in the same sentence, said John Philp,a filmmaker in New York who directed a documentary film,Yoga,Inc.. Also in dispute is the extent to which the Choudhurys could benefit if Bikram yogaalso known as hot yoga,because it is usually practiced in a room heated to 105 degreeswere to become the accepted standard for competition yoga. Mrs. Choudhury says that she had made a determined effort to keep the brand separate from the competition. She also noted that yoga competitions were not conducted in hot rooms.

Although the events sponsored by one of Mrs. Choudhurys nonprofits,the United States Yoga Federation,are open to practitioners of all yoga forms,most people who enter practice the Bikram format. The perception that Bikram yogis would have an advantage over students of other disciplines,like Ashtanga or Kundalini,has irked some yogis,Philp said.

Mrs. Choudhury said she hoped to get the participation of yogis from other schools and was open to tweaking the required poses in accordance with other styles. So far her efforts have met with resistance. Many yoga teachers do not like to see the physical aspect of yoga divorced from the spiritual or turned into a contest. Richard Rosen,director of the Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland,California,said that the Choudhurys Olympic quest was not taken seriously outside the Bikram community. Most of the people I talk to think its very silly, he said. The Choudhurys are trying to change that perception,but acknowledge that it wont happen soon. The IOC requires that a sport applying for Olympic consideration have active federations in 50 countries. Last year,only 15 countries were represented at the Sixth Annual International Yoga Asana Championship. For now,Mrs Choudhury is focused on creating an infrastructure of regional contests with uniform rules and judging guidelines. At each competition,participants have three minutes to perform the five required postures as well as two other postures of their choosing. Contestants are judged on strength,flexibility and overall execution.

We are not trying to judge any kind of spirituality when they are out there, Mrs. Choudhury said.

Luke Strandquist,a Bikram instructor who stood third in the New York City competition,among the men,said he had no problem with the notion of competitive yoga,since the tournaments were limited to the physical aspects of yoga. But Strandquist did note a contradiction. As a teacher,its the opposite of what Im always telling my students: that youre here to practice your yoga,and it doesnt matter what anyone else is doing, he said.