I wish I could laugh at this. However, it is being looked at as a sport with possible Olympic potential.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wEIsbdIYmI
“Yoga may be reverentially called a "practice," but Bikram Choudhury is pushing for it to be a competitive--and perhaps one day Olympic--sport.
In the competitions, yogis take the stage individually and are given three minutes to perform a total of seven asanas or postures before a panel of judges. The poses are judged on alignment, grace, stability, confidence, balance and presence”
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/features_julieshealthclub/2008/08/competitive-yog.html

“A Yoga competition is unique. It is like no other competition. Who wins is in essence totally anticlimactic. Everyone; from the judges, to the participants, to the spectators hope that each competitor does their best. For this reason: everyone wins.”

“Whether or not yogis can get behind the idea of contests, there may soon be a new public view of yoga: Diehard Bikram fans are gunning for inclusion in the Olympic Games. It takes five years of International Competitions before a “sport” can be entered, and Bikram contests are now in their fourth year.”

http://www.bikramfinder.com/profiles/blogs/2113492:BlogPost:662

"Once upon a time, people did yoga to relax.

But closer to home, Type A's such as Sonja Wyche, a 31-year-old Reston physician and mom to an 18-month-old, are squeezing an adrenaline rush out of their ohm time. Wyche, who took up yoga less than three years ago, will represent the D.C. area in the 2008 Bishnu Charan Ghosh Cup, the Bikram yoga championship, in Los Angeles on Saturday. (Joining her are the other first- and second-place finishers in the men's and women's divisions of the regional competition.)

In a pose called the standing full bow, Wyche does the splits while standing, pulling her back leg forward with both hands until her foot touches the back of her head. It's moves like that -- ones that require a trifecta of strength, flexibility and balance -- that landed her in second place out of 16 women in a regional contest in November."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012402134.html

I am thinking you could someday be watching this on espn 2. I mean they cover competitive eating on that channel.

Permalink | Report