Play to win

Yesterday I went to the New England Yoga Asana Championships. Rajashree, Bikram's wife, is the energy behind bringing Yoga Asanas to championship competitions. Raj was at our New England regional event. It was an inspiring day.

Participants perform five compulsory postures, Standing Head to Knee; Standing Bow Pulling; Camel; Rabbit and Stretching. Then the participant performs two optional postures of their choice.

Three judges (five at the National and International level) score the postures based on how precisely the postures are executed. Grace in the postures is included in the score as well.

There is a men's division and a woman's. First, second and third place finishers are acknowledge and the first and second place finishers go to the national championship event in Los Angeles in February.

The real value of this endeavor is the benefit the participants receive from doing a lot of Yoga in preparation for the competition. I think a display of excellence inspires everybody as well.

A few years ago I was part of a company that did personal growth seminars, Momentum Education:

http://www.momentumeducation.com/cgi-bin/Testimonials.pl.

Momentum's motto is "Play to Win".

The owner of Momentum, Robin, is a good friend of mine. Sadly, Robin is sick, she has cancer. Robin is approaching her treatment with courage and an attitude consistent with her teaching. She is playing to win.

So yesterday's champions (all the participants are champs) plus Robin's courage gave me a big lift this morning.

My back and right elbow hurt today. Somehow, that was a minor point. I did discover that an elbow injury interferes with a lot of postures. I could not extend my right arm to full extension. The pain was present in Pranayama Breathing, Awkward, Standing Head to Knee, Standing Bow, big time in Locust and it interfered with Floor Bow and Spine Twist.

I took my own advice and did the best I could. I kept thinking: "Play to Win".

My back pain is gone. My elbow is better, much better.