“Competitive yoga is a growing sport that displays the unique beauty of yoga and fits well in the Arnold Sports Festival’s repertoire,” says Craig Mayton, event co-chairman for Yoga at the Arnold Sports Festival, which returns to Columbus on March 3-5, 2017. Mayton and Jayn Roush Mayton have been working to assemble the yoga activities.
The largest multi-sport fitness weekend in the nation, the Arnold Sports Festival has long featured martial arts and other non-weightlifting/body building activities; this year yoga will be there, too! The registration deadline for the yoga competitions is December 31, 2016.
“We are excited to be a part of the Arnold!” said Stacie McCool, owner of Blue Spot Yoga in Bexley. Blue Spot will demonstrate Barkan yoga, which like Bikram yoga, shares its lineage with the Bishnu Ghosh yoga that is the foundation of the yoga demonstrations and competitions in India.
The yoga competitions held at the Arnold in March, 2017 will be the Central/North super regional tournaments for USAYoga which was founded by Indian yoga champion and former wife of Bikram Choudary, Rajashree Choudary. One goal of USAYoga is to make yoga an Olympic sport.
“The USA Yoga competition is similar to gymnastics competition,” explained Mayton.
There are compulsory routines and optional postures. Asanas are assigned a point value based on difficulty, and points are awarded based on elements such as balance and execution of a standard form. Deductions come from deviating from the standard pose, and there may be added points for accepted flourishes. Youth, men and women’s adult, and senior divisions exist.
In addition to the yoga competitions at the Arnold there will be non-competitive yoga events. Elizabeth Beattie of CorePower Yoga is excited that they will be holding a class there.
“It will be a bit of everything, including doing adjustments, and it should be fantastic,” says Beattie.
Other local studios involved directly at the Arnold are Balanced Yoga, Fierce Wellness (in Pataskala), Blue Spot Yoga of Bexley, and Seven Studios, located in downtown Columbus.
Julie Wilkes, owner of Seven Studios, is especially excited that World Yoga Sport Champion, Joseph Encina, will be in Columbus this January 6-8, 2017. Encinia will lead a 2-hour workshop at Seven Studios on January 8th for only $35.
“His story is, like mine, inspirational,” she says. “He overcame severe, life-threatening illnesses through yoga fitness.” Encinia will also do a demonstration at Easton’s CorePower Yoga on January 6, 2017 and visit Blue Spot Yoga in Bexley on January 7, 2017. He will also have a class at Bikram Yoga Columbus (BYC) the morning of January 7, 2017. BYC is the only official Bikram studio in Columbus, Ohio, and BYC instructors Whitney Kappes and Kaylee Maloney may compete at the Arnold, as well as Fierce Wellness’ owner, Celeste Cruz. Despite a pending nuptial, BYC student Patricia Rogers, who has practiced almost daily for two years at Bikram Yoga Columbus, hopes to enter because, as she says, “I just love the yoga.”
Many yoga lovers are expressing mixed feelings about Yoga at The Arnold. While some like the exposure yoga is getting, many doubt that yoga competitions are good idea. When asked about Yoga at The Arnold, International Power Yoga superstar Bryan Kest said via email, “It’s impossible to compare yourself and compete with others without disrespecting yourself.”
Yoga Happiness owner, Burgendie Miceli adds, “I can’t consider this true yoga. Yoga isn’t competitive. You don’t compete with yourself, and you don’t compete with others… if it’s competitive, it’s gymnastics.” Former NCAA collegiate gymnastic competitor Linda Chun agrees, and says, “It seems 100 percent silly.” Dr. Chun is known for her own amazing yoga form and teaches Ashtanga Yoga at Yoga on High.
In addition to the USA Yoga competitions, free yoga demonstrations and yoga classes, Yoga at The Arnold will include Indian dancing and a yoga fashion show by event sponsor Mika Yoga Wear. Denver-based Mika makes a variety of athletic garb, including items for pole fitness.
To register for competition at Yoga at The Arnold, go to USAYoga.org. There is a $50 fee to join USA Yoga and a video seems to be required before the December 31 deadline.
Yoga at The Arnold Sports Festival is coming March 3-5, 2017 to the Greater Columbus Convention Center. For more information, visit arnoldsportsfestival.com/usa.
