Each year, the Bikram yogis come from far & away to NYC for the Annual Bikram Yoga Asana Competition. Bikram’s wife, Rajashree, also travels in to judge it!
There are a lot of folks who are very anti-yoga competitions. To all the haters, here’s my take on it:
If you’ve ever taken a Bikram class, you know the teacher does not demonstrate postures. You learn by following the dialogue closely (which, in & of itself, is a type of meditation) and matching the words with your body. If you happen to sit out a posture (out of sheer exhaustion), and watch your classmate do a beautiful expression of a pose – it’s one of the most inspiring things. I truly believe observation can really help cultivate one’s practice.
In the competition, yes, postures are “judged” but only on form, not whether or not you do the full expression. So it’s not a competition of “how low can you go?” – it’s more “how correct is your form?”
Watching fellow yogis is truly one of the most beautiful things.
Check out this cute video from NY Mag.com, where Tim Murphy becomes one with the asanas.
Ultimately, perhaps the word “competition” is misleading. Perhaps they should rename it a CELEBRATION, because truly – it’s a celebration of yoga.
1 response so far ↓
Colette // Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 4:59 pm
I find it extremely inspiring to watch more advanced yogis. One of the things I love best in yoga is when I find myself doing a further expression of a pose than I used to be able to =) & that video is amazing!