THE competitors stood nervously on stage, awaiting the judges' decisions. As each name was called the crowd cheered, and the winner stepped forward to claim a prize, bowing his or her head to accept a medal. <...> The ultimate goal of the Choudhurys, who emigrated from India to Los Angeles, is to have yoga qualify as an Olympic sport. "It's far away," Mrs. Choudhury said in an interview. "A lot of work needs to be done before we really get into it, 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, which emphasizes self-acceptance and inner growth. Although yoga does tend to attract people who are limber, the physical poses, or asanas, are only one aspect of the practice; others include chanting, meditation and reading Sanskrit. "The initial reaction from most people is always the same thing: competition yoga? Those things don't belong in the same sentence," said John Philp, a filmmaker in New York who directed a documentary film, "Yoga, Inc.," about the commercialization of Western yoga, and wrote a book with the same title. <...> Mr. [Richard Rosen, director of the Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, Calif.] said that yoga contests could spread the perception that people with the most flexible limbs were the best yogis. "Unfortunately, yoga has been conflated with asana, which is a huge misapprehension," he said. "If the people who are winning asana competitions are suddenly being seen as more yogic than others, that's a really bad comparison to make." ...
THE competitors stood nervously on stage, awaiting the judges' decisions. As each name was called the crowd cheered, and the winner stepped forward to claim a prize, bowing his or her head to accept a medal.
<...>
The ultimate goal of the Choudhurys, who emigrated from India to Los Angeles, is to have yoga qualify as an Olympic sport. "It's far away," Mrs. Choudhury said in an interview. "A lot of work needs to be done before we really get into it, 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, which emphasizes self-acceptance and inner growth. Although yoga does tend to attract people who are limber, the physical poses, or asanas, are only one aspect of the practice; others include chanting, meditation and reading Sanskrit.
"The initial reaction from most people is always the same thing: competition yoga? Those things don't belong in the same sentence," said John Philp, a filmmaker in New York who directed a documentary film, "Yoga, Inc.," about the commercialization of Western yoga, and wrote a book with the same title.
Mr. [Richard Rosen, director of the Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, Calif.] said that yoga contests could spread the perception that people with the most flexible limbs were the best yogis. "Unfortunately, yoga has been conflated with asana, which is a huge misapprehension," he said. "If the people who are winning asana competitions are suddenly being seen as more yogic than others, that's a really bad comparison to make." ...
