For Kelsea Bangora, New York’s 2011 yoga asana champion, the conversation usually goes like this:

“Yoga champion? How does that work?”

“Well, it’s like a dance performance, sort of, or a gymnastics routine, but not really.”

“So, can you touch your head with your feet?”

“Well, of course”

Typically, she does not demonstrate.

“I don’t want to show off,” she said. “I mean, my own students don’t even know I’m a champion.”

Others will be vying for that title when the United States Yoga Federation hosts the ninth New York Regional and National Yoga Asana Championship from Friday night through Sunday afternoon at the Hudson Theater in Midtown Manhattan.

Before a panel of five judges, participants will have three minutes to perform five required postures and two of their choice. In the youth division, participants ages 11 to 17 will perform six postures. The top two finishers in each group — men, women and youth — will move on to the Bishnu Charan Ghosh Cup, the international championship held in June in Los Angeles.