East Lansing, Michigan – May 18, 2017 –
Three practitioners at Bikram Yoga Capital Area will represent the state of Michigan in this year’s USA Yoga MidWest Super Regional Championship. The event will take place at the Latin School of Chicago in Chicago, IL, on Sunday, May 21, 2017. Those interested in attending may find detailed information here.
The participants were invited via USA Yoga’s official qualifying procedures. They will join 16 other invitees in the Adult Women category from Illinois, Utah, Colorado, Missouri, and Idaho.
What happens at the championship?
Invited athletes each have a maximum of three minutes to demonstrate a routine of six postures. Each asana must be held in stillness for at least 5 seconds to attain maximum points. In addition to technical details of posture form, participants score points if they demonstrate a range of strength, flexibility, and balance in their routines.
Four of the postures come from compulsory categories (forward bend, backward bend, stretch, and twist). Participants choose the two additional postures from a list of several dozen of varying difficulty. For complete rules and championship structure, click HERE.
Top scoring representatives from each participating state and region will be invited to participate in the National Championship in Grand Rapids, Michigan, this August.
Participating Athletes from Michigan
Please congratulate and support our participating athletes:
Lindsay Gray, 40, of East Lansing
Lauren Anastos, 27, of Farmington Hills
Ann Chrapkiewicz, 38, of Dearborn and Okemos
Lindsay Gray
Lauren Anastos
Lauren is a native of Farmington Hills, Michigan, and is currently Resident Physician at Sparrow Hospital – Michigan State University. She graduated from Adrian College in 2011 and in 2016 graduated from MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. Read more about her success with Bikram Yoga and marathons here.
Ann Chrapkiewicz
Ann is a native of Dearborn, Michigan, and a lover of the mitten state. After attending college at Duke University (B.A. 2000) and living in rural Japan for two years, she returned to Michigan for more education (M.A. UM-Ann Arbor 2006), and in the process, discovered Bikram Yoga. Her 10-year-old son, Forrest, has practiced almost 70 classes (floor series only; warm temperature classes) and has even instructed a few postures at BYCA! More details follow in Ann’s Participant Bio.
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Frequently Asked Questions:
What is USA Yoga?
USA Yoga is a non-profit organization dedicated to developing and promoting Yoga Asana as a sport. Rajashree Choudhury founded the organization to inspire youth to cultivate a yoga practice. USA Yoga is not affiliated with any particular yoga school or tradition and seeks to include practitioners of all hatha yoga backgrounds.
Read more about its purposes and Rules structure here.
Are Asana championships competitive?
In yoga we learn that whatever we bring to a situation determines the nature of how we operate in that situation. Many people see asana championships as competitive, but this is a limited way of seeing them. B.K.S. Iyengar, one of the most well-known yogis in the past century, supported asana demonstrations and championships as a way to inspire others to take up a hatha yoga practice (read his letter of support here). For more on my personal philosophy and the approach of many participants, read here.