And the Winner Is...

Yoga–as it was intended–is not a competitive activity. We are not supposed to be in a competition with other people in the room nor in a battle against ourselves. In fact, the postures that we call yoga today were integrated into the traditional yogic path in recent history. When yoga was developing before the Common Era, a yogi practiced seated meditation and the stool that he sat on was an asana. In our current lexicon asana means pose or posture. Over hundreds of years the postures that we are familiar with were woven into the yogic practice. While it is true that they help us to bring balance and health to our bodies, their purpose is even deeper. BKS Iyengar, one of the most familiar names in the world of yoga, wrote in his classic Light on Yoga that the postures’ “real importance lies in the way they train and discipline the mind.”

At no point is anything mentioned about competition. When we come to our mats, we must leave our egos at the door alongside our shoes and jackets. We are asked to turn our focus inward instead of getting caught up in what’s happening around us. We are told to give our attention to our minds and bodies instead of comparing ourselves to other students in the class. The goal isn’t to fold deeper into a posture than the next person or stand in Vrksasana (tree pose) without losing my balance for longer than the student next to me.

In yoga school I have been assigned homework where I am instructed to watch how other students respond to cues from the teacher, and it makes me uncomfortable. It feels strange to watch other people as they practice because that is not how I have been trained to approach a yoga class. I have been taught to focus on my own body and listen closely to what it is telling me that day. I may challenge my body and mind, but I practice with compassion. I accept where I am instead of forcing myself to do more than I am capable of in a competition with my expectations. And when I can do all of this, I leave class with a lightness and calm that is hard to find anywhere else.

Inherent in this approach to practicing yoga is the belief that where we are right now is okay. We already have everything we need within us, and there is no place that we have to get to. We are asked to be content right where we are and to refrain from judging ourselves through comparisons with others. I find this is much easier to do on my mat than it is outside the walls of the studio, but the idea is the same. Wherever I am on my path is okay. I am as stretched as I can be right now, and there is no measuring stick to compare myself to. If I can cultivate this sense of contentment in the present moment, wherever I might be, I can find peace.