A yoga championship is a judged sport in which athletes perform set yoga postures before a panel that scores form, balance and control. The first World Yogasana Championship took place in Ahmedabad in June 2026, and YogaFX graduates came home with seven medals. This guide shows the pathway that led there, step by step.
It is written by the YogaFX team with Mr. Ian Terry, E-RYT 500, who trained the athletes and coached Indonesia’s team in India. If you want the long history of the sport, read the full history of the yoga championship from Calcutta to Ahmedabad. This page doesn’t retell that history. Instead, it follows real people from an ordinary class to a world podium, so you can see what the pathway looks like in practice.
What a Yoga Championship Is and Who Can Enter
In a yoga championship, athletes compete in age groups and event types. Judges mark the quality of each posture, not how long the athlete has practised. India’s Sports Ministry recognised yogasana as a competitive sport in 2020, and that step opened the door to national teams, school events and, in 2026, a world stage. Our piece on competitive yoga for teacher trainees looks at what the scoring tests.
The first World Yogasana Championship ran for five days at EKA Arena in Ahmedabad and ended on 8 June 2026. Tribune India reported 522 athletes from 79 countries. India won 114 medals, including 102 gold.
So who can enter? Any athlete selected by a national federation. That’s the part many people miss, because a yoga championship isn’t an open sign-up like a fun run. You earn a place through local events, national trials and a federation that backs you.
- Start local. Join a regional or national yoga sports event in your country.
- Learn the format. Each yoga championship event has its own rules for postures, time and scoring.
- Find a coach. A trained eye catches the small errors that cost marks.
- Work with your federation. It chooses the team, so build that relationship early.
What Judges Look For
Our earlier report on the world event notes that judges scored athletes on strength, flexibility, balance, endurance and precision. That list explains why so many athletes also practise a fixed sequence like Hot 26&2. The sequence checks each of those qualities every single class, so weak spots show up early.
It also explains why coaches talk about the world yoga championship 2026 as a turning point. For the first time, athletes from 79 countries were judged under one roof and one rulebook, which means a good habit learned in a Bali studio can now be tested on a global stage.
The YogaFX Yoga Championship Record: 12 Medals in Detail
Numbers mean more when you can see where each one came from. The table below lists every medal that YogaFX graduates have won, event by event. It is the complete record, and it comes straight from YogaFX and the athletes’ own results.
| Athlete (class) | Event and year | Result | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arkan Fauzan Riyanto (2022) | FORNAS, 2022, 2023 and 2025 | 3 gold medals | National |
| Ivara Candra Kartika (2023) | FORNAS VIII, Lombok, July 2025 | 1 gold medal | National |
| Ivara Candra Kartika (2023) | 6th Asian Yogasana Championship, Fujairah, August 2025 | 1 silver medal | Asian |
| Ivara Candra Kartika (2023) | World Yogasana Championship, Ahmedabad, June 2026 | 1 gold and 1 bronze | World |
| Arkan Fauzan Riyanto (2022) | World Yogasana Championship, Ahmedabad, June 2026 | 2 silver and 3 bronze | World |
Add the rows and you get 12 medals. Five are gold, three are silver and four are bronze. The Asian event in Fujairah brought together more than 160 athletes from 16 countries, so Ivara’s silver there was a real test before Ahmedabad.
There is a third graduate in the story. Slamet Ariyanto, class of 2024, chairs the Yoga Practitioner Association of Indonesia (PPYNI) and manages the national team. He does not compete. He makes sure the athletes can. The national bodies PPYNI, KORMI and KONI gave the athletes official send-offs before the trip to India.
For the full results report from Ahmedabad, see our earlier article on the World Yogasana Championship 2026 and its seven YogaFX medals.
Ivara’s Pathway: From a Wobbly Standing Bow to World Gold
Ivara Candra Kartika joined YogaFX in 2023. Mr. Ian often tells her story because it is so ordinary at the start. Three years before Ahmedabad she was still struggling with Dandayamana Dhanurasana, or Standing Bow Pose. She didn’t have a secret talent. Instead, she had a method and a habit of showing up.
By July 2025 she had won gold at FORNAS VIII in Lombok. A month later she took silver in Fujairah. In June 2026 she won gold and bronze in Ahmedabad. Today she teaches at the YogaFX studio in Seminyak and leads the posture demonstrations in our online course.
Look at the order of those steps. Class first, then a national medal, then an Asian medal, then a world medal. Nobody skipped a level, so that’s the most useful lesson for any athlete thinking about a yoga championship: build one rung at a time.
What Changed Between 2023 and 2026
What made the difference, Mr. Ian says, was steady practice, clear correction and a method that never changes. She also competed at national level before she reached the world stage. Her FORNAS gold in July 2025 came eleven months before Ahmedabad, so a big event wasn’t new to her by then.
Arkan and Slamet: Consistency and Leadership
Arkan Fauzan Riyanto graduated in 2022. He has won the asana singles title at FORNAS three times, in 2022, 2023 and 2025. In Ahmedabad he won five medals, the most of anyone on the Indonesian team. The Tribune India report lists his bronze in the Senior Male Twisting Body event with a score of 38.09.
That kind of record needs clean, repeatable form. It also needs calm. Mr. Ian says the same thing to every trainee: consistency beats intensity. A student who practises well every week beats one who trains heroically once a month.
Slamet’s part is different but just as important. A yoga championship team needs someone to handle the admin. He does that, while Mr. Ian leads the coaching and technical work. Together they show that the sport needs athletes, coaches and organisers.
The Yoga Championship Pathway, Step by Step
From Class to Podium in Five Steps
Here is the route the YogaFX graduates followed, written as a plan you can adapt. The first row is the one every medallist shared: a standard teacher training course, not a sports academy.
| Step | What you do | Where it happens | What it builds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Learn the method | Take the six-day hybrid RYT 200 MasterClass | Online, then Seminyak, Bali | Alignment, dialogue and teaching confidence |
| 2. Practise every week | Repeat the 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises | Your studio or home | Balance, flexibility and strength |
| 3. Compete locally | Enter a national sports event such as FORNAS | Your national federation | Nerve and match experience |
| 4. Step up regionally | Represent your country at an Asian event | Federation selection | Routine under pressure |
| 5. Reach the world stage | Compete at a World Yogasana Championship | Ahmedabad in 2026 | Precision against global rivals |
Steps three to five depend on your federation, so ask them early. Steps one and two, however, are in your hands today. That’s why we say the pathway starts in an ordinary class.
What Beginners Often Get Wrong
- Training only the showy postures. A yoga championship rewards balance and control across every posture, so a strong backbend can’t cover a weak twist.
- Skipping rest. Recovery is part of training, because tired muscles lose form first.
- Going it alone. A coach sees the small angle errors that you can’t feel from inside the posture.
- Ignoring the federation. Without selection, even a perfect routine stays in the studio.
What Science Says About Training for a Yoga Championship
No study has followed yoga championship athletes, so we cannot say the hot room makes champions. Research does measure the qualities that judges reward. For example, here is what the main studies found, with their limits.
- Strength and flexibility. A 2013 study by Tracy and Hart looked at healthy young adults. After regular Bikram yoga they showed about 20% more strength in the muscles of the back of the body, plus better flexibility and body composition.
- Workload. A 2014 University of Wisconsin study led by Porcari measured a 90-minute class. It found about 333 calories for women and 460 for men, at roughly 80% of maximum heart rate.
- Wider evidence. A 2025 systematic review by Willmott and colleagues pooled 43 studies and 942 participants. It reported benefits of Bikram yoga for flexibility, bone density and well-being.
- Nerves. A 2022 study by Hui and colleagues found that hot yoga reduced state anxiety, which matters when you stand in front of judges.
These studies describe regular practice in general. They do not prove that any class will make you a champion. Please consult a healthcare professional before starting a heated practice, especially if you have a heart condition, an injury or a pregnancy, or take regular medication.
Mr. Ian’s Coaching Rules for Yoga Championship Athletes
Mr. Ian Terry has taught more than 12,000 hours and has served as a Master Trainer of the Republic of Indonesia Yogasana Sports Federation. He spent five years, from 2014 to 2019, training with the founder of the Bikram Hot 26&2 method. Here are the rules he gives athletes who ask how to prepare.
- Heat is a tool, not a test. The warmth helps the body open. It is never something to simply survive.
- Words must be exact. The scripted dialogue trains you to break a posture into clear steps, in the right order.
- Consistency beats intensity. Regular practice changes the body more than the odd heroic session.
- Every body is different. The same sequence serves beginners and medal winners. Only the depth of each posture changes.
None of these rules is about winning. They are about practising well. The medals in Ahmedabad were a side effect of good teaching and steady habits, not the goal of the course. If you want to understand how a hot-room athlete recovers and trains safely, read our guide to yoga for athletes recovery.
You can also meet the coach behind the medallists on Mr. Ian Terry’s teacher page, which lists his federation role and credentials.
What YogaFX Students Say About the Training
Not every student wants a medal. Most want a stronger practice or a teaching career. Here is what three students said in their own words.
Mr.Ian and His team were amazing! We all had to work and learn hard, it was so rewarding.
Celia, Google review, 2025
I am ever grateful to Mr Ian for the “sandpaper” effect, moulding us into the diamonds that the world needs.
Malini, Yoga Alliance review, 2026
Samantha, a trainee in our YouTube reviews from 2019, says that when she first spoke to Mr. Ian she knew it was the right programme and that she had made the right choice. You can watch her video below.
Start the Pathway: Train Where the Medallists Trained
Both medallists took the course that YogaFX runs today. It is a hybrid format, so you start at home and finish in Bali. Here is what the next intake looks like.
- Format: a self-paced online pre-course, then a six-day MasterClass in Seminyak, Bali.
- Certification: Yoga Alliance RYT 200 plus a Bikram Hot 26&2 200-hour certificate.
- Next intake: check-in Sunday 24 January 2027, check-out Friday 29 January 2027, at Soham Wellness Center, Seminyak.
- Price: US$1,899 Early Bird, with interest-free instalments from US$250 a month.
See the 200-hour yoga teacher training in Bali guide for the full programme, or check the current course dates for every open intake. Whether you dream of a podium, a studio or a classroom, step one is the same.
FAQ
What is a yoga championship?
A yoga championship is a sports competition where athletes perform set yoga postures or routines in front of judges. The panel scores form, balance, flexibility and control. India recognised yogasana as a competitive sport in 2020, and the first World Yogasana Championship took place in Ahmedabad in June 2026.
Who won the yoga championship in 2026?
India topped the medal table at the 2026 World Yogasana Championships in Ahmedabad with 114 medals, 102 of them gold. Indonesia won seven medals: one gold, two silver and four bronze. All seven came from two YogaFX graduates, Ivara Candra Kartika and Arkan Fauzan Riyanto.
How do I enter a yoga championship?
Start with your national yoga sports federation, because it runs the trials and picks the national team. Ask about age groups, event types and entry dates. Most athletes build up through local and national events first, as YogaFX graduates did at FORNAS before they competed in Asian and world championships.
Do you need a teacher training to compete?
No. Teacher training is not an entry rule for any yoga championship. It simply builds skills that judges reward, such as alignment, calm under pressure and repeatable form. Both YogaFX medallists took the standard six-day hybrid RYT 200 course, and both trained in person with Mr. Ian Terry.
Is hot yoga good preparation for a yoga championship?
It can help, because the Hot 26&2 sequence trains balance, flexibility and strength in a fixed order. Research on Bikram yoga reports gains in strength and flexibility, but no study shows it produces champions. Talk to a healthcare professional before starting heated practice, especially with a heart condition or pregnancy.
Still have questions? Message Mr. Ian and the YogaFX team on WhatsApp and we will answer them personally. We can explain how the training works, which dates are open and whether the six-day MasterClass suits your goals, whether you want to compete or simply teach.
