Page 127 - Esquire - USA (Winter 2020)

Bow Leg Mountain
NEW YORK, 2013
McCann spent the next few months enjoy-
ing the spoils of victory. There was no prize
money, but he traveled with Rajashree to stu-
dios throughout Europe to give demonstra-
tions. He was a world champion, just like En-
cinia. Their low-boil rivalry was over; they’d
be on equal footing for the rest of their lives.
Then McCann got an email from the Yoga
Federation’s board of directors announcing
that the rules were changing. Moving forward,
former champions would be allowed to com-
pete. In essence, the event would crown the
champion of champions. Among the people
authorizing that move: Joseph Encinia.
In the wake of his 2011 triumph, Encinia
had joined the board, and now he’d helped
change the rules, effectively affording him
another shot at glory. He had no qualms
about the move. What other sport forc-
es its best athletes to retire in their prime?
Couldn’t the pressure push everyone to a
higher plane? Wouldn’t that in turn inspire
more people to compete? Plus, he would be
pitted against McCann—should McCann
care to defend his title—and finally prove
who was best.
At first, McCann resisted. He thought of
sitting this one out. What did he have left
to prove, and to whom? But he quickly dis-
pelled the notion. The next world champion-
ship would be unlike any other, and whoever
won would have bragging rights forever. (Ex-
cept, of course, that you aren’t supposed to
brag.) Little did he or Encinia realize that the
next generation of competitors was rising up,
biting at their ankles, eager to dethrone them.
Splits (with Backbend)
LONDON, JUNE 2014
Minutes before McCann, clad in his skimpy
red Speedo, took the stage at the 2014
World Championship in London, he cau-
tiously eyed Encinia. Encinia, in black box-
er-briefs, eyed him back. Both men now
lived in New York, and they’d tried to avoid
comparing themselves to
Zeb Homison
McCann eyed Encinia. Encinia, in black boxer-briefs,
eyed him back. Both men tried to tune out the
standoffish newcomer in the star-spangled Speedo.
side the spotlight. But that had all changed at Neither man paid much attention to Hom-
nationals, held two months earlier in San An- ison, who did a wild routine. He called out
tonio, where veterans such as McCann and En- Mountain, assumed full lotus, then hiked up
cinia had played it safe to ensure advancement his knees and pressed his arms together above
but avoid injury or embarrassment. Homison his head. He called out Om, then hoisted him-
had gone all out and come in first place. This self up on both hands, tucked one leg over his
afternoon, no one knew what to expect from shoulder, and wove the other around one el-
the young upstart. bow and beneath the other. To the untrained
As Encinia approached the mat, the crowd eye, it looked like a slow-motion exorcism.
began applauding. Though he couldn’t see It was an audacious performance, flawlessly
her, he knew Carolina was in the audience; executed, like Babe Ruth’s called shot in the
they’d be married six months later. He flashed 1932 World Series.
a smile and gave a thumbs-up. When it was time to announce the win-
Encinia knocked out the compulsory cat- ner, all the men came onstage. Their scores
egories one by one with near perfection. For were projected on the scoreboard overhead.
his first elective, he opted for a handstand pose Encinia came in fifth. McCann nabbed sec-
called Palm Tree. The mechanics may be sim- ond. Both now stood shoulder-to-shoulder,
ple, but the pose is all elegance, proof of grace’s their skin glistening under the hot lights. The
triumph over raw flexing. For his second elec- emcee made it official: “And the winner of
tive and last pose, he went for—what else?— the 2014 Yoga World Championship is ...
Scorpion, and nailed it. The crowd went wild. Zeb Homison!”
McCann approached the mat to equally Still in his star-spangled Speedo, Homi-
enthusiastic applause and shape-shifted son beamed.
his way toward the provocation: He called
out Scorpion and sprang into a handstand
before smoothly draping his feet back- Full Standing Bow
ward on top of his head. It looked perfect,
and he uncoiled and touched his feet back In 2014, Rajashree, the woman who’d started
down to the mat in such a way that gravity it all, announced that she was stepping down
seemed optional. as president of USA Yoga. She would go on to
It was time to offer up a transcendent fin- divorce Bikram. (She declined to discuss her
ishing combo. McCann first called out Full ex-husband for this story.) The calls for com-
Standing Bow, a twist on Standing Bow. In- petitive yoga to be recognized one day as an
stead of holding one leg vertically like it’s a Olympic sport, which she had championed
flagpole, you guide it over your shoulder, for years, quickly died away.
tucking it snugly below your chin, then spread In the wake of Rajashree’s departure, En-
your arms wide. McCann planted one leg, cinia was nominated to serve as president of
carefully raised the other straight up behind USA Yoga, a position he held for three years.
him, and reached back to grab his ankle and He now works as an in-demand journeyman
tug it forward. So far, so good. instructor at studios throughout New York.
Halfway through that pull, something felt Homison felt no need to defend his title the
off. His back foot wasn’t gracefully moving to- following year. He still teaches at his studio
in Pittsburgh.
McCann became the literal poster boy for
USA Yoga, modeling the poses for its offi-
cial rulebook. He also opened his own stu-
dio, in Brooklyn, and he hired the current
Bird of Paradise men’s competitive-yoga champion, the fifth
consecutive American to earn the title. To
this day, both McCann’s and Encinia’s class-
es fill, and life is good. They live and work
near each other, but they don’t talk much—
though they never really did. Neither has re-
turned to competition.