Acrobats are NOT yogis/yoginis. Circus freaks are NOT either. Come to think of it neither are ballet dancers or athletes. Yogis/Yoginis are well… yogis/yoginis. It is beyond the physical. Beyond the point of “look at what I can do”. There’s a subtlety and a humility that is expressed through the body when doing asana. Can you see it…within yourself?
FYI:
Someone commented:
Hmmmm…
I know what you mean, I think. But many dancers and athletes and acrobats I know are also yogis/yoginis… the various practices and arts and sciences do interleaf with each other, all the intersecting influences and balances and movements and stillness add the kind of texture to life that I adore…
My response:
You may think so – but the quality of the relationship between mind and body is intrinsically different because of how you approach the physical practice. If you are in a discipline such as gymnastics or dance which focuses on ‘performance’, that becomes a part of the ‘yoga’ you do which is NOT the how or the why of Yoga…
Gymnastics and dance, etc. are just physical. Just because you can contort your body seemingly perfectly into the postures does not mean you are doing YOGA. Yoga is so much more and if you’ve done it long enough say 20 years (yes I think it takes that long and even longer), you will know that performing the postures and enacting asana within your practice are NOT the same thing.
*Bhoga is doing yoga asana for the sake of the self. For entertainment, performance or narcissistic purposes. Yoga asana should only be done for the purpose of worshipping god (universal energy). – Paraphrased from the writings of Mr. Iyengar founder of Iyengar Yoga.