Who needs competition? Jered Seibert says we can still experience
that same feeling of winning jubilation each time on the mat
om spirit om spirit
I
n the post-Trump, Brexit era of
capitalism, competition is a touchy
subject and even more taboo when
it comes to yoga. The connection
between winning, losing, competition,
and judgement is inextricable for most.
Besides, how can we have a winner without
a loser, and how can we label it a victory
without a competition?
I think this is why many of us turn to yoga.
Yoga is taught from a safe space, free from
labels, competition and judgement. For
many of us, yoga is the only place in our
adult lives where we can move freely within
our bodies unafraid of the funny shapes weHOW TO WIN
are making. It feels sacrilegious to introduce
the idea of winning to a sacred space free
from contests and coveted prizes. Yet,
what if we could experience the amazing
sensations of winning during a yoga class
without the anxiety of competition or fear
of losing?
The reason you can’t win at yoga is
because you have never worked to detach
the feeling of winning from the practice of
competing. You think of a winner as a person
and winning as a thing. I am asking that you
consider winning as a unique one-of-a-
kind emotion. The simple cause and effect
relationship between winning and competingare inexplicably intertwined because our
culture and experience has reinforced that
many times over.Feeling of elation
Yoga is a place where we don’t want to feel
the stress of competition, the agony of
defeat, or the scrutinising eyes of judgement- this is the exact reason that I found solace
from the hyper-competitive financial industry
in a yoga studio.
The problem with this is that we end
up depriving ourselves of a natural and
amazing emotion that can deepen our
practice. With the exception of assigning
AT YOGA