No-one can fail to be impressed by the amazing physical feats that we are witnessing at the Olympics and few of us have any understanding of the mental and physical training that an Olympic athlete goes through on their journey to the ultimate sporting competition.

As my contribution to Om Magazine’s Olympic Debate I would like to share my experience of just that journey, and give my opinion on why I don’t believe yoga should be an Olympic event.

My father took me to Taekwondo at the age of 7 as a solution to bullying.  At the age of 12 I gained my black belt, and at 13 I joined the Junior National Malaysian Team. From that point the squad’s training became about the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Six years later and I dropped out of the squad without having taken part in the Olympics. My body was in agony – my hamstrings had been repeatedly torn, my knees were injured and back pulled. I, like my team mates, trained through injury and pain, never allowing healing to take place. All that mattered was winning.

‘Winning’ and ‘competition’ are unavoidable words when talking about the Olympics, and for me, this is the essence of why yoga should not be an Olympic event.

The job of an Olympic athlete is to train to win. In my training, my body became a tool to do this and compassion for it was simply not an option. Each competition was a step towards the final goal of becoming an Olympic Champion, and that was all that mattered.

In yoga, the journey does not have an end, but rather the journey itself is the goal. Yoga is also about reconnecting to the body, helping it heal and treating it with the utmost respect. This is a very different scenario to the training I experienced.

Furthermore I see yoga not as a sport, but as a way of living. So how would you compete on that basis? Whilst I acknowledge the argument for competing on the perfectly executed Asana, I fundamentally disagree with the principle. I believe and teach that perfection is an entirely unique and individual thing. If everyone’s body is built differently, then I dispute that there is any single perfect pose.

From this perspective I believe competing in yoga would make it more inaccessible. One of the most frequent objections I hear from people enquiring about what I do is “I couldn’t do yoga, I can’t even touch my toes”. I find the average person is already intimidated by yoga and their opinions are steeped in misconceptions. Olympic competition would reinforce this and further play on people’s insecurities and reservations. We work hard with our students to help them feel comfortable within the current limitations of their own body, and to learn to listen to it. By setting the standard of a posture at an Olympic level of perfection, there is an even higher mental barrier to overcome.

So, whilst I agree that the Olympics is a truly inspiring event and would raise the profile of yoga hugely, I do not believe this would automatically translate to increased participation.

If people’s impressions, judgements and interpretation of Yoga could be managed so that they clearly understand the difference between the ‘entertainment’ of an Olympic event, and the true nature and scope of Yoga, then bring it on! However I do not believe this is possible.

I therefore say a firm “no” to making Yoga an Olympic ‘sport’ (when it is so much more than that), but a  “yes” to making yoga more accessible so that people of all ages can experience it.