Why Yoga Isn’t a Sport
Yoga is a practice and nothing more. It never becomes a performance. It never accomplishes a task. This single and simple fact opens to you the possibility of practicing yoga asana according to a philosophy. One of the yamas (restraints) in the Yoga Sutras is ahimsa - nonviolence. This is a guideline through which Ghandi led his movement - and I imagine it was hard for him and his followers to restrain themselves at times. Damage to the annamaya kosha (body layer), mainly, but to all koshas to some degree, is prevented by refusing to do yourself harm in your practice.
A sport intention might be, “I’m going to get across that finish line first, even if I drag myself over the last hurdle on this severely sprained ankle.” Imagine if you came to your mat tomorrow with the intention, “I’m going to get that pose come hell or high water, even if I bust a gut to get into it.”
In sport, when you swing on compromised shoulders, push through dehydration or pound on injured limbs and partially torn muscles, harm is lurking, waiting for the door to open. You are accomplishing a task and your body may suffer in the pursuit of that task. The task is the goal; and the body tries to hold up in the pursuit of the goal.
This doesn’t mean sport is bad and yoga is good. It merely distinguishes between the two activities. The distinction is borne of intention. In sport, the intention is to score the goal, lift the weight, make the basket, touch the wall first - in short, to win. In yoga, the intention is joy. You may set a smaller, more specific objective every day, but those are small steps that shift you ever closer toward the overall goal of joy.
The yamas include ahimsa because it’s one of the principles that will bring you joy. Causing yourself great injury brings pain and suffering. There is limited space in yoga for ooches and aches and zings and malaise, as there is no gold, silver or bronze, no thrill of victory or agony of defeat. Yoga has no trophies but many triumphs. It’s as effective and life affirming as a sport, in its special ways of building confidence, outer and inner strength, and relaxed mobility.
You may want the pose, but your dedication to yoga philosophy and your understanding of yoga’s goal prevent you from working this way. So you change your intention: “I’m going to get that pose if I can get my body into it. I’m going to warm up and practice components of the pose. I’m going to discover the right spots to engage and I’m going to stretch what is necessary. I’m going to use techniques, learn from teachers, and prop myself. The final pose may not happen today. I will work toward my edge but not past it, as I do not want to cause harm to my body. I will be a witness to my work and encourage myself, as I do not want to cause harm to my mind.”
In yoga, unlike in sport, the triumphs never end. Though you will lose mobility as you age, you gain more and more knowledge of your true self.