At the Yoga Asana Championships...

I went to the Philippine Yoga Asana Championships at the RCBC this afternoon to be "inspired" by the dedicated yoga practitioners.

One of my resolutions for the coming year is to go to a studio, and I'm crossing my fingers that will happen. It's just that I have limited resources. A month's membership fee at some of the studios I looked at will give me three months at Gold's. We'll see, we'll see. Maybe I can combine both.

Anyway, going back to the event, this it the third year that the event is being held and it is my first time to watch it. I mentioned the event to fellow yoga buddies Allen and Theena, but I think they had prior commitments.

I arrived at RCBC 45 minutes before the start of the event just to make sure I got really good seats. Later on, I was happy to have arrived early because the Orchestra section was fully. I got to sit at the fifth or sixth (?) row of the orchestra center so that gave me a good view of the participants.

The rules of the competition are quite simple. Eeach participant must do thee five compulsory asanas and an additional asanas and the whole routine has to be completed in 3 minutes.

The five compulsory poses are Standing Head to Knee, Standing Bow Pulling, Bow, Rabbit, and Stretching.

Criteria for judging included the walk, movement, general appearance, gracefulness and performance of postures. The additional asanas were judged on the degree of the difficulty and performance.

The panel of judges were Bikram yoga teachers Rich Nichols, Ball Rattanapong and Yok Buakird.

There were 14 participants - 11 in the female division; ONLY 3 in the male division. That was a bit saddening. How come there were only three participants in the male division?!

Bikram Yoga Manila director Tristan Choa welcomed participants to the event, and he mentioned that the event was one way of spreading the gospel of yoga to a larger community.

Afterwards, the performances begin. Every time a participant walked to the middle of the stage, the whole room fell silent. Absolute silence was necessary since any noise or flicker of light or whatever could distract the participant and ruin the posture. But as soon as the three minutes is over and the participants stands up again and bows to the judges and the audience, there is tremendous applause in the audience. Family and friends of the participants cheered. I lauded the participants for just being able to complete the poses, for having the guts to challenge themselves.

From what I saw, many struggled with the Standing Bow Pulling. Jeez, that was really difficult and only one person was able to do it perfectly (and he's not even a participant. Tell you later who.). I was more excited about the two additional asanas because that was the "surprise." I was completely floored by the different poses that were performed.

Prior to the announcement of winners, the whole house was treated to a performance by Ball Rattanapong, one of the judges. The guy was a 4-peat(!!!) champ in the Thailand Regional Yoga Asana Championship. And yeah, he's the one who did the most beautiful Standing Bow Pulling. Gad, he's goood! I can only probably dream of of some of the asanas he assumed. I heard gasps of amazement from some of the audience, and I heard applause and deep appreciation from those who practice. Hehe!

After Ball's performance, the winners were announced. In the Men's Division, it was Dax Cobarrubias. For the Women's Division, it was Abigail Hasegawa.

I guess while it is a competition, the real competitor of each participant is his/her own self. Unlike other sports/fitness events like basketball or football where players are thirsty for the blood of their competitors even before the event has started, the Asana Championship did not have that air of competition in it. (Of course, I could be wrong. Hehe! But I believe that there isn't because that would defeat the purpose of the practice. Hehe!) I thought the participants were also there to help promote yoga to the audience, and I hope that it did.

I left the event feeling more inspired and more determined to continue with my practice. It seems to be improving. My Saturday hatha yoga class is a fave because our teacher goes around and checks on each one. Yesterday's class was particularly enjoyable because there were two binding/stretching poses I was able to do for the first time. Thanks to our teacher Pio for "pushing" me to achieve the poses.

“Yoga is not about doing what other people can do; it’s about understanding your own body and what it can do.” This is one of the things I read in a yoga blog I follow. And I believe it's true. If you think that yoga will require you to make headstands, splits or perform like a contortionist, it's not true. Those who do it do it because they know their body well enough and know that they can achieve it. Of course, you have other benefits aside from the physical - mental, emotional, and spiritual (if you believe in that).

You have to try it to find out for yourself.