Sport, Yoga and Kung Fu

The more I read about Yoga the more I feel that Yoga and Kung Fu are the same thing. Not if you look at the moves and what you are focusing in each move they are different of course because one is a martial art, and the other (at least in the modern American version) is not a martial art. What I'm talking about is when Yoga teachers get into talking about how Yoga is more than the moves, about self knowledge, that sort of thing. Pretty much anything the say when talking in this manner that starts with Yoga is..... will be the same if you say Kung Fu is......Yoga is not a sport. But I've seen articles where some practitioners have tried to make it into one. This seems less strange with Kung Fu. Because there are all sorts of sports associated with Kung Fu. There are forms competitions, fighting competitions, and lion dance competitions. But when it comes down to it, these competitions are more like a part of Kung Fu, a game invented to encourage people to get excited about doing Lion Dance, or Kung Fu, but ultimately the goal of Kung Fu goes beyond this. 

For instance there was Kung Fu before there was these tournaments, so what were they practicing for then. 

Let's talk about war. If the point of Kung Fu was war, or killing, then Kung Fu would have already died out because you can kill faster with fire, guns, bombs, and germ warfare. It just so happens that warriors, as well as non warriors, were very interested in Kung Fu as a way to pass the time as well as a mental and physical practice to get to know themselves. Plus the stereotype of a Kung Fu master is a wise old hermetic old man on a mountain. He is by himself so who is he killing? Plus people tend to be better fighters when they are younger. Maybe the old master could win in a duel. But on the battlefield, running about hacking people in a chaotic melee of burning pillaging and all manner of atrocities, I think young people are better at that game.

KUng Fu is something that continues or perhaps only genuinely begins after that stage in life.

Let's talk about sport. Sports have a few purposes. To win (or compete in a way that does not involve death (or less death), or at least in modern sports. Also another purpose is to entertain. But even though those are the main goals, it doesn't mean that athletes do not experience higher states of consciousness while playing sports. For instance while playing 21 or some such game with a basketball, I saw my friend trance out. He would not describe it like this, but after he hit shot after shot and was "on fire" I could clearly see that his eyes were more dilated an he was in a different state. Yes he could still joke and socialize. But isn't that just a higher level of altered consciousness where you can joke and still be in a trance? Of course this trance like state is not the main point in basketball. The main point is to win. But it is part of the experience. Conversely winning and being badass is a part of Kung Fu, but it is not the main goal ultimately. Flexibility is an aspect of certain types of Yoga practice, but again, it is not the main goal.