Ruby Mackinnon-Love put her hands under her heels, bent her head backward and gracefully put her chest high in the air.

She was one of 24 very flexible people who bent their bodies in unimaginable ways for the Tri-State Regional Yoga Competition in Lawrence on Saturday. The contestants were from Lawrence; Kansas City, Mo.; St. Louis; and Memphis, Tenn.

One by one the competitors took the stage under a large tent in the parking lot of Checkers, 2300 La. They performed several asanas, or postures, calling each out by name.

Each performer was judged on endurance, performance, grace, poise and technical correctness.

For some, the competition was just an incentive to get better.

“It’s a competition with myself,” said Mark Kramer, Lawrence.

Kramer said he started practicing yoga after problems with his collar bone and breaking both ankles. Now, he said, both are healed.

“It’s one of the best things I’ve found to get cardiovascular exercise without hurting my body,” said Kramer, 50. “It’s amazing.”

The competition, sponsored by Bikram Yoga Lawrence, brought in well-known yoga expert Rajashree Choudhury. Her husband is the founder of the Yoga College of India in Beverly Hills, Calif.

“The whole performance was really nice,” Choudhury said. “Yoga is becoming very popular.”

Yoga championships are fairly new in the United States but have been conducted for 2,000 years in India, where yoga originated.

The first- and second-place winners of each division of the competition will compete in the national yoga competition Feb. 2 in Los Angeles.