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08/22/2017 12:00 AMYoga and competition—two words that, at first glance, seem like polar opposites. However, before yoga was widely practiced in the United States, yoga asana (posture) competitions were a regular occurrence in India. In the west, yoga is thought of as anything from a form of exercise to a path to spiritual well-being, but it’s almost never considered a sport. With the USA Yoga Sports Federation’s 2017 National Yoga Asana Competition having taken place in Grand Rapids, Michigan earlier this month, I thought this was the perfect time to explore this budding sport in America and talk to some of the local residents who compete.
A Tradition
Yoga competitions are specifically focused on the physical practice of yoga postures in what is known as Hatha yoga. There are many disciplines of yoga, but most of what’s practiced in the United States is Hatha, which stems from the 84 classic postures that are designed to make the body stronger, more flexible, and better able to balance.
Originally, thousands of years ago, the reason to practice Hatha yoga was to improve the body’s structure to the point where being still for long periods of time would pose little difficulty. While that may seem counterintuitive, the point was to prepare one’s body to meditate without any aches and pains that come from sitting still overtaking the mind. In the United States, we typically use yoga as a means to stay healthy and, although the reasons may vary from person to person, this isn’t far off from what the postures are designed to do.
Robin Brace, the owner of True Bikram Yoga in Madison and New Haven, has judged yoga asana competitions since 2008, and she’s also coached several local competitors. Quite often in her studio, Brace sees people with misconceptions about yoga and how it can work on a competitive level
“I think it’s the fact that a lot of people think of yoga as spiritual,” says Brace. “Of course, it has a spiritual element. Yes, it prepares the body for spiritual practice, but Hatha yoga is a physical practice. Hatha yoga is what we’re talking about.”
A Competition
So how do you compete at an exercise? After all, even the most staunch supporters of yoga asana as a competitive sport admit they were confused when they first heard about it. New Haven resident Melissa Grosso felt that way when Brace told her about yoga asana competitions, but over time, she’s discovered that it’s not much different from other sports.
“My reaction was probably similar to most people’s reactions. How the heck do they judge it? What is it based on? What is a yoga competition? Just the logistics of it, those were all big question marks for me, but it takes a lot of the skills traditional sports need,” Grosso says. “It takes strength, flexibility, and it takes mental strength—the same things you see from other professional athletes. It’s just not mainstream enough yet. People think it’s candles in a room and music and ‘Kumbaya.’”
USA Yoga’s asana competitions are much like a weightlifting competition, a gymnastics routine, or a competitive-diving performance that’s judged by a panel where points are awarded based on execution. Each competitor chooses a routine of six postures to be completed within three minutes. The judges watch for specific aspects of the posture that the competitors try to achieve. If their form is askew in any way, deductions to the score are made accordingly.
This year’s national competition featured three divisions—Youth, Adult, and Senior—for both men and women. There were four compulsory categories for the postures and each of those categories contained approved postures with varying degrees of difficulty. Competitors also chose two optional approved postures either within or outside of those categories in order to complete their routine.
As USA Yoga holds more competitions, the judging and scoring is becoming more standardized. Brace feels that’s crucial when it comes to the perception and integrity of yoga as a sport.
“I became a judge in 2008. It was something that became natural to me being a teacher and looking at alignment. It was what I did every day. These days, it’s a little bit stricter about deductions and accounting for each,” she says. “It used to be that I could look at someone and know the score of a posture, but of course, for legitimacy, you have to say what you’re taking off, so competitors can look and account for that and train. I’m glad it’s harder now as a judge. There’s so much more to study as the postures have gotten more complex and varied.”
What Motivates a Competitor?
A competitive season for USA Yoga consists of a qualifying level, a super regional level, and a national level. The qualifying determines who competes at the super regional, and then the first-place winners from each state at that competition move on to nationals. Some people enter the qualifiers with hopes of ultimately winning a national championship, while others compete to further enhance their regular practice.
Emily Avery of New Haven, who practices at True Bikram Yoga, was looking to achieve both of these goals at this year’s national competition, and that’s exactly what she did. Avery was crowned the 2017 national champion in the Adult Women’s Division.
“I was so excited to have won, of course. That’s probably not surprising. It felt like a really good payback for all the hard work I’ve put in,” says Avery, who also won the national title in the Youth Girls’ Division in 2013. “At the same time, the reason why I compete is not to win; it’s to have an excuse to keep pushing my practice and to make more connections in the yoga community. I’m excited to have won, but it hasn’t changed how I practice or my goals.”
Daniel Hand graduate Peter Doheny also earned a trip to nationals. While he wanted to put together the best routine of his competitive career, Doheny wasn’t expecting to win a championship, and so that wasn’t his primary focus at the meet.
“I never really thought of it as too much of a competitive thing; it’s more of a demonstration. I get why it becomes tangible with a score and a ranking, but it’s just really a demonstration of your own practice,” says Doheny, a Madison native. “I always thought the competition as what the yoga has done for you up to this point. It’s a demonstration of your practice and where it’s at. It’s really simple; you just have to keep doing it. You have to stay consistent with your practice and put the time in, so when the time comes, you’re prepared.”
Other people compete as a way to raise the stakes on their everyday yoga practice. New Haven’s Warren Maxwell went to nationals to give his regular practice a jumpstart after his initial gains with strength and flexibility started yielding diminishing returns.
“My passion for the practice wasn’t what it used to be, so it got me back in the groove to have a goal. I’m at a place in my practice where I’m not going places I haven’t been before. I’m older and prone to injury, so I needed something to be working towards,” Maxwell said. “I was never an athlete in high school or any point in my life, so the idea that you could do yoga poses as a competition was right up my alley. I’m not an athlete, I don’t like to exercise, I hated the gym. I would work out and hate every minute of it. Not that I love the hot room, but I do feel amazingly well afterward.”
Practice, Practice, Practice
Whether the goal is to become a national champion or compete as a form of demonstration, everyone knows that they’ve signed up for a more rigorous practice schedule when they’re getting ready for the national meet. Avery made sure she was prepared by practicing hot yoga every day, in addition to working on her routine separately. It’s a huge help to Avery that she loves to examine the minutiae of her postures.
“I take hour-and-a-half-long Bikram Yoga class every day—at least one; I love to go twice on the weekends. Then after every class, I stay at the studio for a half-hour to train by myself. Then I will run my routine at least one time,” says Avery. “As often as I can, I video myself practicing a routine. Then I send it to my coach, who helps me pick it apart and study my alignment and my timing to get ready for the competition. Of course, it’s taken my practice to another level. It has helped me stay really excited about yoga. Every time I go to a competition, I am so excited. I get that extra push to work on a posture I haven’t gotten quite yet.”
When Kathy Carney of Guilford decided that she wanted to compete, she constantly went through her routine with Brace, taking her critiques to heart and then trying to incorporate them into her regular yoga practice. Carney’s practices became her competition, and she says that’s made her practice habits even better.
“It helped me to focus on my individual daily practice. Every time I would practice, which was four or five times a week, I would pretend that the class was the competition. And I still do that today. I go into my practice and try to do everything to my hundred percent that day. I just give it my all,” Carney says. “It really helps your focus. It made my practice a lot stronger, and I don’t know if I would have gotten there if I didn’t compete. If you’re just doing it, you’re not motivated to do it for a reason other than exercise.”
Not Just for the Love of Sport
USA Yoga didn’t take up the task of holding yoga asana competitions just for the sake of yoga practitioners who already understand the benefits of a daily practice. Instead, the organization’s overarching mission is to increase the visibility of yoga asana competition as a sport, so it can eventually make its way to larger stages like the Olympics. That, in turn, would make it easier to get funding in public schools for yoga-based programs. Brace said that getting youngsters to do yoga would be a major positive for both mental and physical health in America.
“All Olympic sports demonstrate what the human mind and body is capable of. I think yoga demonstrates that as well as anything else. It’s not just the physical execution; it’s the mental preparation, and I think yoga is the best example of that,” said Brace. “If you can get yoga into school programs, it would be huge for health issues, education issues, and mental-health issues. What are you going to benefit more from in life: kickball or yoga? And I like kickball. Nothing against kickball. I love it. It’s fun. But when you think about what sets kids up to have better life skills, yoga has a much more of an impact on kids in their physical health, mental health, stability, and well-being.”
Compulsory Categories and Corresponding Postures
There are four categories of postures that all competitors must include in their routines at the National Yoga Asana Competition. Each posture is defined by a major element of strength, flexibility, balance, or a combination of each. Competitors strive to show their proficiency in a diverse set of elements. The categories are as follows: 1. forward compressions: rabbit (flexibility), standing head to knee (balance), and full tortoise with lifting (combination); 2. backward bends: bow (flexibility), standing bow pulling (balance), and dancer (combination); 3. stretching: stretching (flexibility), upward stretching (balance), standing splits (combination); and 4. twists: spine twist (flexibility), wide angle twist (balance), and full spine twist (flexibility).