Ahmedabad, When Kemi Blake first took up yoga nearly a decade ago, she was not looking for medals. She wanted to become a contortionist.
On Saturday, that journey came full circle when Kemi won gold for the United States in the Back Bend Senior B category at the inaugural World Yogasana Championships at the EKA Arena here.
Sharing the experience was her daughter, Kimani Blake, who also competed for Team USA.
“I actually started practicing yoga maybe about 10 years ago because I wanted to be a contortionist,” Kemi told PTI Videos.
“I wanted to be a performer. Yoga was the closest thing that I understood.”
Kemi discovered competitive Yogasana through social media about a year-and-a-half ago and travelled to India for training. When she returned home and spoke about an upcoming championship, Kimani insisted on joining her.
“When I came back and I was told that there was this competition happening, she was like, ‘You’re not going to leave me. You have to take me with you’,” Kemi recalled.
“So I was like, ‘Okay, well, you have to train Yogasana.’ And so we started training and here we are today, doing it together.”
The mother-daughter duo believes Yogasana’s competitive format does not contradict the discipline’s traditional values, despite reservations from some sections of the yoga community.
“There are a lot of people in the US who know yoga as a practice of calming the mind, but not very many people know Yogasana as a sport,” Kemi said.
“Some people think yoga cannot be a competitive sport because it’s supposed to be all about peace. I think that is a misunderstanding because you can be peaceful and competitive at the same time.”
The road to Ahmedabad was not without challenges.
The duo said their journey from the United States took three days as some members of the American contingent had to be rerouted because of disruptions linked to the ongoing Gulf war.
“They arrived the day of their event,” Kemi said.
“It shows that there are going to be challenges and difficulties, but if you stay focused on your goal, you will ultimately reach it.”
According to Kemi, competition in Yogasana is about pushing personal limits while respecting fellow competitors.
“The competition itself is about going beyond your current capacity and doing that in a way that encourages sportsmanship amongst people from all around the world,” she said.
For Kimani, the experience has been less about results and more about personal fulfilment.
“I’m not really too worried about going for gold. I just like the vibe here. I like to do my asanas and go home feeling fulfilled,” she said.
Competing alongside her mother has made the experience even more special.
“With my mother, I feel very happy being a duo. We can both do the arts and the acrobatic sort of things.”
Kimani said Yogasana has helped her remain calm during stressful situations.
“I definitely think it has helped me in my flexibility and my ability to keep calm in stressful situations. It’s been very testing, but I think it’s good to test one’s patience,” she said.
Having met athletes from countries including India, Mauritius, Nepal, Nigeria and Singapore, Kemi believes the sport has the potential to unite people across cultures.
“My ultimate goal is to be in the Olympics,I want to continue to practice personally, but also inform as many people as possible about this amazing sport around the world so that we can participate in the Olympics,” she said.
Despite some logistical challenges associated with hosting the first edition of a global event, the American duo praised the arrangements made by organisers.
Kimani described the hotel accommodations as “very nice”, while Kemi said the hosts had done “an amazing job” considering the scale of the championship and the number of countries involved.
“They’ve done a really good job of hosting, making sure that we’re provided for, that we have food, proper accommodations and that if we’re facing any challenges, there are enough volunteers,” Kemi said.
She acknowledged there had been some issues related to the timing of events but said such concerns were natural for an inaugural championship.
“That will get better with time. This is the first one, so we give grace,” she said, adding that volunteers stationed across the venue had been readily available to assist athletes and delegations.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
