Denise Green was a long distance runner. Had been one for years, and wasn’t too interested in yoga. Couldn’t touch her toes and didn’t really care. Until four years ago when she tried a class at The Yoga House in
Denise Green was a long distance runner. Had been one for years, and wasn’t too interested in yoga. Couldn’t touch her toes and didn’t really care.
Until four years ago when she tried a class at The Yoga House in Kapaa.
“I thought it wasn’t a cardiovascular workout but then I got into the bikram hot yoga class. It turns out it is a cardiovascular workout. You spend the first 54 minutes of class doing standing postures, with no breaks in between,” she said.
Not only is it hot, it’s intense and sweaty, too.
“This isn’t your grandma’s yoga. This is serious stuff,” said Green, smiling “But the best part is, it’s something anyone can do.”
And something anyone can watch, too.
The Kapaa woman will be one of about 20 competitors in the Hawaii USA Yoga Asana Championship.
It’s being held on Kauai for the first time, 3-6 p.m. Saturday at All Saints gym, 4-1065 Kuhio Highway, Kapaa. It will bring some world class athletes here, including the 2007 yoga world champion, Cynthia Wehr.
“People who are going to be demonstrating, it’s just amazing how much work they’ve done,” Green said.
Here’s what will happen.
Competitors, including several from Kauai, will take the stage individually and demonstrate a series of seven yoga postures during a three-minute routine. Postures require strength, flexibility, and balance and must be held in complete stillness. Competitors are evaluated by a team of three judges. There will be categories for men, women, adults and seniors.
Wehr will be the head judge. Ann Marie Paul, who placed second in the USA National Championship in 2010, will also judge and do a demonstration at the event. Anna Hunter, a yoga teacher and practitioner from Florida will be the third judge.
While division winners can advance to the national championship in San Antonio in March, this event is also about demonstrating the power and skill behind yoga.
Organizers are hoping for a large crowd. Tickets are $10.
“The idea is to share yoga so people can come and see that the human body has so much potential,” Green said.
Determination, dedication and concentration are keys to doing well in Saturday’s yoga postures. It’s about bringing the mind and body together.
“These postures require balance, strength and flexibility, three very hard things to bring into a perfect marriage,” she said.
Some of the poses you’ll likely see include Tiger Scorpian, Standing Bow, Full Camel, Full Wheel and a handstand.
It looks insanely difficult and at this level, it is.
“When the competitors hold their posture, they have to hold it in complete stillness so that it looks like they can stay there forever,” Green said.
The Hawaii Regional Yoga Asana Championship is organized through USA Yoga, a nonprofit dedicated to the promotion of Yoga Asana as a sport.
USA Yoga has applied to the United States Olympic Committee to qualify Yoga Asana as an official Olympic sport.
Yoga asana competitions originated in India hundreds of years ago and are still conducted there today.
USA Yoga is bringing the spirit of healthy competition to the United States, where, according to a recent study, more than 22 million people practice yoga.
“USA Yoga believes that the sport of Yoga Asana will inspire many of these practitioners to improve their practices and encourage many newcomers to take up the practice of yoga and the sport of Yoga Asana,” according to a press release.
Green said she and others have practiced daily and put in hundreds of hours to prepare for their three-minute routine.
“It takes years to build up some of these postures, like standing head to knee pose, for example,” she said. “That posture, it takes years of dedication and practice to where you can do that posture without falling out.”
“You stand on one leg, you kick your leg out, you’re holding your leg, bringing your elbows down and then you bring your forehead to touch your knee. That’s balance and concentration, strength and flexibility, too.”
While it sounds like pain is certainly involved, Green says, yoga is for everyone. Toddlers to seniors take yoga. You can’t say you’re too old, too young, too tired or not flexible enough, either, she added. The more you do it, the better you’ll get. You’ll learn how to be flexible and how to use your strength to build flexibility.
Yoga improved her breathing, calmed her nervous system and opened her body. And now, she can touch her toes, too.
“Those things I learned in yoga improved my running, tenfold,” she said.
Once you get started, you’ll discover your body can bend and twist farther than you thought — without breaking.
“It’s so much of a mental thing as well as physical thing. It’s about bringing the mind and body back together, in harmony,” she said.
