Page 126 - Esquire - USA (Winter 2020)

As a teen, Encinia spent
split. (See page 110.) As Encinia extended
one leg back, a stage light caught his eye and
blinded him just long enough to send him off
balance. He pitched sideways, breaking the
pose. Once he slammed a foot to the mat to
catch his fall, he figured it was all over.
Back at the hotel room, Encinia sought dis-
tractions in a movie and bottle of wine with
Carolina. They had only a few sips, but in the
monastic world of yoga, that qualifies as cut-
ting loose.
When McCann returned, Encinia, muster-
ing his most Zen tone, asked how it had gone.
“You made the finals!” McCann said, smiling.
“We both did.” Despite the slip-up, Encinia
managed to place in the top ten. But he still
seemed unsettled, so McCann offered some
advice: Onstage distractions affect those who
aren’t focused internally. “You lost your fo-
cus—that’s what happened,” he said. Today,
McCann remembers the exchange as a mo-
ment of karmic fullness, while Encinia says he
doesn’t recall the interaction. Back then, he
says, McCann was “very little on my radar.”
The next morning, Encinia awoke with re-
newed focus. He wasn’t going to give up; he
was pushing himself to let go. I don’t care if I
win or lose, his inner voice said. I’m just going
to have fun. That’s exactly what he did. After
moving through the compulsory categories,
114
whole days in his room,
headbanging along to Slayer,
Metallica, and Megadeth.
champs couldn’t participate in future com-
petitions. Which meant that McCann had on-
ly one person to overcome: himself.
In 2012, as expected, he stormed the na-
tional championship, thereby qualifying for
he began to freestyle, stringing poses togeth- worlds. But Rajashree Choudhury, who’d be-
er rather than ending one before starting the come something of a mentor to him, took Mc-
next. That meant point deductions, but En- Cann aside to say he wasn’t ready to be num-
cinia didn’t care. If playing by the rules hadn’t ber one, that he needed to focus on perfecting
worked out for him, why not bend them? form, not finesse. McCann made a pilgrim-
From a seated position with his legs in front age to San Francisco for a weeklong training
of him, Encinia pushed up and swung his legs session with Mary Jarvis, then the interna-
up and behind until he reached a full hand- tional coach for the USA Yoga team. In the
stand, then lowered himself into Peacock, small studio where Jarvis taught, with worn
a plank with his feet hovering a few inches carpeting and electric heaters strung from the
above the ground, the pose held in place with rafters, she put McCann on a regimen that
just his arms, which is as hard as it sounds. For treated poses like gym reps, performed in a
his finale, he started on his belly, in Locust, never-ending loop. He spent the first half of
then achieved his own metamorphosis. He the trip fighting back tears brought on by pain.
pushed up into a handstand, then curled his The hard work didn’t pay off, not that year.
legs over his head: Scorpion. “It was beauti- Ego got in the way. In the final round of the
ful,” McCann said of his rival’s performance 2012 World Championship, McCann per-
that day. “He fucking was a star.” When the formed the Scorpion but tried to go further
judges revealed the results, Encinia’s name than Encinia ever had, only to somersault
was at the top. He was the world champion. over. For the second time in as many years,
McCann came in fourth place. he’d lost, this time finishing in third place.
McCann walked away from the disappoint-
ment with a personal mantra that would make
Full Cobra Icarus proud: Don’t fucking reach. The follow-
ing year, at the 2013 World Championship
SAN FRANCISCO, NEW YORK & in L.A., he performed the same routine he’d
LOS ANGELES, 2012–13 failed the year before, this time with fewer
Despite his defeat, McCann had one conso- flourishes, a better-controlled Scorpion, and
lation: Encinia couldn’t enter the following no errors. He placed first; he was the world
year. Per the federation guidelines, world champion. Fucking finally, he thought.