Faster, higher ... bendier?

Competitive yoga: it sounds like a contradiction in terms, but adepts are crossing their fingers (and arms and legs) that it will become an Olympic sport in 2012.

Devotees of a particularly intense form of yoga known as "Bikram yoga", reigning British yoga champions Bertie and Sarea Hidskes-Valora are part of a growing band of "yogis" who are pushing for the 5,000-year-old tradition to be recognised as a seriously competitive and even Olympic sport.



Also known as "hot yoga" or "sweaty yoga", the Bikram method is a series of 26 postures performed in a mirrored room heated to sweltering temperatures of more than 40C (104F). The technique is the brainchild of Bikram Choudhury, a 60-year-old yoga guru who, at just 12, was the youngest-ever Indian national yoga champion.

However, not all yoga enthusiasts are keen on the idea of an Olympic "Team Great Britain", and critics of competitive yoga argue that contests contradict its traditional spiritual and non-competitive principles. Elizabeth Stanley, the director of the Life Centre in west London, strongly opposes competitive yoga.

"If what you are doing is just physical postures without the breathing and understanding, then you may as well be doing a step class at the gym," she says. "Competition is anathema to yoga: it jeopardises its true nature, which is about an acceptance of who you are and where your body is at."