Vaishnavi Saravanakumar describes herself on Instagram as “India’s rubber band girl”. In a typical video post, dressed in a rhinestone-studded crimson catsuit and accompanied by a Bollywood-rap anthem, she demonstrates an improbable feat. From standing, she snakes into a deep back bend, curls her head and shoulders up under her tiger-striped calves, and finishes beaming to camera with ankles crossed under her chin.
This is yoga as we have seldom seen it before. Earlier this year, the Indian government announced that it will push for yogasana’s inclusion in the Olympics, ahead of the country’s bid to host the 2036 Games. The news came the week before the inaugural World Yogasana Championship, held in Ahmedabad in June, at which Saravanakumar, a gold medallist, was one of 522 yogis competing.
It’s enough to make some of us choke on our Yogi tea. How can a 5,000-year-old practice that values self-awareness and letting go of external validation be a suitable forum for judging, point-scoring and, not to put too fine a point on it, showing off? In fact, in India, yoga competitions are nothing new.
The first formal asana competition took place in 1973 in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Only recently, however, has it been pitched as entertainment for a global audience. At the championships in Ahmedabad, which ran over five days, 79 countries were represented, at a stadium with 2,000 spectators.
The event was broadcast live on national TV. Perusing the 269-page rulebook, there is even an anti-doping policy. Udit Sheth, president of Yogasana Bharat (Bharat being the traditional name for India), has spent years working to turn yoga into a global competitive sport.
An entrepreneur involved in building and operating sports stadiums, it was his vision that brought the world championships to life. Yoga is a very wide practice that includes meditation and concentration. Asana [the physical postures] is only one part of the eight petals of yoga.” The other petals, or “limbs” as they are also known, include moral vows, breathing techniques, meditation and enlightenment.
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