Sport Yoga Foundations and Philosophy
What this domain tests
Sport Yoga Foundations and Philosophy checks whether you can define Sport Yoga as an athletic application of yoga-using asana, breath, and attention to support sport performance, mobility, recovery, and body awareness-not as a fixed sequence or a replacement for traditional yoga. Questions cover the eight limbs, yamas and niyamas, classical texts, pranayama, bandhas, and mudras, plus how philosophy shapes safe coaching decisions.
Core rules
- Patanjali's Yoga Sutras codify the eight limbs: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, samadhi.
- The five yamas are ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, aparigraha; the five niyamas are saucha, santosha, tapas, svadhyaya, ishvarapranidhana.
- The Hatha Yoga Pradipika is a later hatha text, not Patanjali's work; the Bhagavad Gita addresses action and duty.
- Ujjayi breath provides audible, steady breath and pacing; bandhas (mula, uddiyana, jalandhara) are locks used cautiously, not forced.
- Philosophy becomes practice: ahimsa means no forcing; satya means honest cueing about sensation versus pain; aparigraha means non-attachment to a peak pose.
Worked example
A student with low-back pain asks to go deeper into camel pose because the class is "advanced." Reasoning: ahimsa rules out pushing into pain; satya requires naming the difference between stretch and sharp pain; the teacher offers supported bridge or a seated backbend, explains the modification, and keeps the student in class rather than singling them out. The philosophical precept, not ego, determines the technique.
Traps
Mixing yamas with niyamas; attributing the Yoga Sutras to the Hatha Yoga Pradipika; treating Sport Yoga as one rigid style; teaching bandhas or breath retention to uncontrolled hypertension without clearance; using "no pain, no gain" language that contradicts ahimsa.