My very limited knowledge of yoga has led me to understand that clearing your mind and relaxing are extremely important. When my fiancee is doing yoga, she prefers that I not even speak to her. Can the whole clear-headed, peace of mind thing be combined with Olympic competition? Those who participate in the National Yoga Asana Championship believe it can.
The National Yoga Asana Championship is an event that will be held from March 2-4. The idea is to perfect the various yoga poses, with judges determining whether or not each competitor’s knees were locked and wrists were straight, among other criteria depending on the position. The competition is being held by USA Yoga, whose founder Rajashree Choudhury can envision yoga poses as an Olympic sport.
“I’m not trying to measure anybody’s ‘eight states,”‘ Choudhury said referring to the spiritual aspect of yoga, according to MyFoxDC.com. “The posture can be competitive.”
Choudhury believes competitions are a way to capture the interest of those who may shy away from the meditative state that yoga is associated with. As expected, her opinion is not shared by everyone.
“The roots of yoga are based in acceptance and non-violence and compassion toward self and others,” 35-yeard-old Roseanne Harvey, a yoga practitioner of 15 years, explained. “What we’re trying to do is encourage students not to compete.”
Considering there are plenty of people out there who criticize Olympic sports like curling, I highly doubt the prospect of yoga as an Olympic sport will be well-received. I understand the concept of having the quality of a yoga position judged and critiqued, but is this really something countries can compete against one another over? I’m not seeing it.
