History of Yoga Sports

HISTORY OF YOGA SPORTS

Yoga Competitions have been conducted for 2000 years now, more philosophical and spiritual way with other yoga angas. Today, it is estimated that the yoga competition in its present form began approximately 200 years ago. Yoga was exposed to the western world by Swami Vivekananda in the 1890s. He toured Europe and the United States to popularize yoga internationally.

The first World Yoga Championship was held in 1989 in Montevideo, Uruguay; under the leadership of Swami Maitreyananda (Yogacharya Fernando Estevez Griego). The first international Yoga Asanas Championship was in 1989 at Pondicherry, India; under the leadership of Yoga Maharishi: Dr Swami Gitananda Giri. At least one yoga competition happens daily in India and globally. These competitions have paved the way for Yoga as a sport and since then plenty of Yoga competitions presently take place all around the world. But all these yoga competitions differ concerning the authorities, regulatory bodies, competition rules and regulations, yoga curriculum, competition format, scoring systems and code of conduct. There is no uniformity of guidelines and yoga angas when it comes to Yoga competitions. All these championships need to be brought under one roof.

Yoga competitions need a standardized format and standardized rules and regulations. Centralizing the scattered yoga competitions under a single body needs to be done to make Yogasana flourish as a sport at a global level. Thus, the International Yogasana Sport Federation came into picture.

Yogasana sport competition will include categories for participation, age groups, game format, list of asanas, criteria for scoring, scoring format, the referee, judges’ panel, the other functions, rules and regulations, misconducts and faults, attire and safety considerations.