On the opening day of the 2008 Olympic Games it seems only fitting to mention the continued dispute of whether or not yoga should be considered an olympic sport, or whether it’s a sport at all. While the debate lingers on, competitive yogists are doing their darndest to win over the International Olympic Commission in the hopes of convincing them by the 2020 Summer Games.
Bikram Choudhury, long time flack for competitive yoga, and more accurately, for exploiting his Bikram style, is behind much of the fanfare. This guy is like the Ray Kroc of the yoga world, what with all his franchising and copyrighting.
Whatever your stance, one thing’s for sure and that’s with the direction things are moving these days we won’t be surprised to see the yogic divide grow even deeper with either side clamoring to emerge as the definers of “real” yoga. While some of these competition videos come off as cringeworthy demonstrations of hubris we can’t help but be pleased in the fact that yoga is getting some well-deserved recognition, we guess. Bikram is going for the gold and we should be happy about it…right?
Being a former Bikram student, it is sad to read these articles. He is getting a little big for his Speedo.