Rabbit poses, coconut water, and a Bikram-practicing dance team at the international yoga championsh

[BridgeTheGap]

To those of us who've spent years practicing yoga in an atmosphere of soft-lit candles, chanting, and nonjudgmental good vibes, the idea of a yoga competition sounds about as absurd as the idea of competitive prayer. On my way to the 6th Annual International Yoga Asana Championship, held at the Westin Hotel LAX on the weekend of Feb. 7, I steeled myself to bear witness to some sort of whacked-out yoga circus, and that's more or less what I got. But a lot of yoga culture feels weird and circuslike to me anyway, so I would have felt disappointed if it had ended up being otherwise. I can now also tell you that there's a chance competitive yoga will soon be an official event at the Summer Olympics.

At the center of the weekend, wearing flashy suits and various fedoras, stood Bikram Choudhury, the animating force behind the competitive yoga circuit. Here's a man who's copyrighted his style of yoga (26 postures, repeated twice, in a room heated to 105 degrees Fahrenheit), sends cease-and-desist letters to those who dare flout the copyright, and, in interviews, summarily dismisses all other forms of American yoga while also bragging about his love for McDonald's and his large fleet of self-restored Rolls-Royces. He once famously told Business 2.0 magazine that his yoga was the "only yoga." When asked why, he said it was because he has "balls like atom bombs, two of them, 100 megatons each. Nobody fucks with me." Not surprisingly, other yoga circles view him and his particular craft with everything from mildly dismissive amusement to a disdain coming close to disgust.

http://www.slate.com/id/2211224/?GT1=38001

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. I once did two of his classes in a row.

Highly recommended.

[BridgeTheGap]

2. I've had a few other people recommend them...I do my own yoga practice though AND

it's not competitive!

[tigereye]

3. I"m sorry, that guy and the idea of competitive yoga, is asinine

signed, did Hatha Yoga with just sweats and a towel, no fancy clothes, no mats, no flourishes, no expensive fees.... and it worked fine. :eyes:

[crispini]

4. Bikram's a bit of a showboat from what I hear, BUT,

it's a pretty good asana sequence and I just LOVE LOVE LOVE the hot room. That said, I don't go to the studio I used to go to regularly because I found the owners of that studio are active, donating Republicans -- ew! and the other Bikram studio in town requires you to use your 10 class card within 30 days. I really only want to do hot yoga once a week or so; I don't care what they say about the "best benefits."