Yoga : Is It A Sport?
In the race for performance and slimming, many people today consider yoga a sport. In dynamic forms that can disregard its spiritual dimension, yoga is present in fitness rooms in the same way as other activities intended to refine and tone up. Yoga competitions already exist throughout the world and some are even campaigning for yoga to become an Olympic discipline. Is it fair to equate the practice of yoga with that of a sport? Do you sign up for a yoga class like you sign up for a gym class? yoga, is it a sport?
Sports and yoga
The dictionary defines sport as “a physical activity aimed at improving one’s physical condition”. Or even as “a set of physical exercises in the form of individual or collective games, generally giving rise to competition, practiced by observing certain precise rules. “.
It is true that yoga has several points in common with this definition:
The practice of asanas is indeed a physical activity.
Any beginner will have noticed that in yoga it is a question of strength, flexibility, coordination of movements, breathing… Not easy! It’s as complex as dance choreography or working on your backhand in tennis. One of the primary goals of yoga is to detoxify and strengthen the body. This is the basis of the main yoga currents that are most often found:
Hatha Yoga: physical without being too intense. It is a good way to discover yoga and reconnect with a physical practice.
Vinyasa Yoga: more intense, we seek fluidity. A certain endurance and postures are linked to the rhythm of the breath.
Ashtanga Yoga: More traditional and intense than Vinyasa, this practice is more demanding due to its structure based on fixed series and the repetition of sequences.
Yoga is a practice of effort, discipline
Like sport, yoga requires a certain effort but a “right effort” where it is a question of finding the balance between muscular tension and relaxation. It is not the performance that guides the effort and we must be able to find our own limit in yoga. A yogi will never advocate “No pain, no gain” as some athletes can do. Finally, yoga requires, like sport, regularity, respect for a certain discipline and a healthy lifestyle.
Despite these common points, yoga is not a sport when it comes to the question of a game or competition. In yoga, there are no winners or losers! Yoga is not practiced in teams or individually, but both for oneself and for others. Yoga is a personal discipline that opens us up to the world. Moreover, the more we advance in yoga, the more we discover that it is a practice that is more energetic than physical. Unlike sport, the more you progress in yoga, the less the practice becomes acrobatic and exterior. Yoga is in fact a practice of subtlety and interiority.
Yoga beyond sport
Traditionally, asanas represent only a part of this ancestral art of living. Indeed, in the Yoga-Sutras, a reference text of yoga written more than 2000 years ago by Patanjali, are defined 8 stages of yoga. Ashtanga Yoga (which means the 8 limbs of yoga and to be distinguished from the modern style of yoga mentioned above), offers a course of action contributing to good physical and mental health, in harmony with oneself and one’s environment. Each of these 8 steps prepares the next one:
- Yamas (ethics or collective values)
- Niyamas (ethics and individual lifestyle)
- Asanas (postures)
- Pranayama (breath)
- Pratyahara (The withdrawal of the senses)
- Dharana (Concentration)
- Dyana (meditation)
- Samadhi (bliss or absolute well-being)
While modern yoga above all promises good physical health, the yoga of the origins offers us to gradually disregard the body to touch the soul, or what we really are.
A paradox ? Not really. Contemporary life and its imperatives take us on a more “down to earth” quest: freeing ourselves from stress, back pain, being more flexible or more toned, sleeping better, etc. However, this does not prevent us from knowing this heritage of yoga.
Thus, beyond the direct physical benefits, we can try to direct our practice towards a greater union between body and mind (the word yoga means “union” in Sanskrit). Therefore, we can consider postures not as goals to achieve but as opportunities to improve the quality of our presence and our attention.
Each asana is a field for exploring oneself, learning one’s limits, one’s emotions, one’s sensations… The “perfect” posture does not matter. What matters is the path we take to try to get there.
Even if summarized only in asanas, yoga is above all a discipline to better understand who we are, here and now. And this is a profound difference with most sports!
Yoga, an excellent complement to sports practice!
What if yoga and sport were simply complementary? Neither completely different nor quite the same, yoga and sport go well together. In fact, many athletes have already included it in their training routine.
Asanas improve flexibility, posture and coordination of movements: postures work on our motor coordination by combining breathing with exercises. This makes our body more flexible and allows energy to flow through it!
They also tone the core of the body and the muscles of the back, deep muscles essential for maintaining good basic posture and avoiding injuries. Yoga thus helps our body to be more efficient in the exercise of sport.
Yin or restorative practices are also a real plus in terms of sports recovery thanks to the work of letting go and the relaxation of the fascias that takes place.
So between yoga or sport, you won’t have to choose! Each discipline brings something very specific. And you will understand, yoga is a real philosophy of life, which goes through the physical, of course, but which goes far beyond…
So are a yogi? Hope you enjoyed this blog post and found it useful. Comment down below if you practice yoga as a sport or a disciplinary routine and share with us your experience.
Looking forward to reading your comments, sending you love and positive vibes!!!
