Yoga is considered a path to greater mental and physical fitness
and is now experiencing a surge of popularity in Guangzhou.
The art, an intrinsic part of Indian life and culture stretching
back thousands of years, is coming into its own, with many
dedicated yoga centers opening in Guangzhou. The activity is
becoming a standard feature in many of the city's best-known
fitness clubs.
A quick survey of the most popular of these suggests there are
between 5,000 and 10,000 regular practitioners of yoga. This number
is likely to grow in coming years, said those closely involved.
A yoga enthusiast in Hangzhou, East China's
Zhejiang Province, moves to a meadow to practise her
exercises.??
The sudden surge in interest could be attributed to the stress
of living in a big city like Guangzhou, said Harmony Ling, of Yogi
Yoga.
"In their everyday lives, people have a lot of pressure - to
work hard, make money, find a partner - there are many
demands."
Through yoga, "people can take their minds off their worries.
They learn to relax and forget about their problems".
As well as the desire for some respite in busy lives, a strong
economy and better salaries mean more middle class workers can
afford to take classes, while many people, especially women, are
discovering yoga as a means to slim and tone their bodies.
Of Yogi's 300 or so members, most are women aged between 30 and
40, said Ling. Around 70 percent of the total are local
Chinese.
This is also the case across town at Brahma Yoga, where members
are usually between 30 and 60 years old, said Ouyang Guang, a
supervisor and advisor at the club.
At Essence of Life Yoga Club, the proportion of female members
is around 90 percent, said general manager and yoga instructor Ally
Chan. The most popular forms of yoga at the centre are Hot Yoga,
Power Yoga and Slimming Yoga.
Meanwhile, at Total Fitness and Zone Action, the city's leading
fitness center, around 90 percent of yoga students are female, said
membership supervisors Lulu Wang and Rody Wang.
The popularity of yoga is only going to increase as more people
seek a healthier, balanced lifestyle, said Ouyang. However, the
10-year veteran, a self-described yoga "purist", is unhappy to see
the trendy styles that have emerged in recent years. He misses the
deeper spiritual and philosophical message of traditional or "real"
forms of yoga.
Despite such debate, all this interest is driving demand for
skilled yoga teachers, arguably the most sought after of which come
from India, where Yogi's practitioners who have devoted their lives
to the art, originate.
"Coming to Guangzhou has been a great opportunity," said Dhiren
Bhandari, resident expert at Yogi Yoga.
"I want to let others know about the (true) benefits of yoga.
Yoga is more than exercise. It is also having a peaceful outlook on
life and having a healthy lifestyle," he said.
Only 25, he has been practising yoga since 12, and honed his
craft in Rishikesh, a city in India's north and long considered the
country's yoga capital.
Like many of his counterparts, Bhandari made his way into China
and Guangzhou, now well known as a growth market, to develop his
career and fulfil his dream of teaching.
And like many of them, he was invited here by center owners and
managers, who are almost longtime yoga devotees and keen to offer
their students an authentic and holistic yoga experience.
But while Guangzhou is providing such teachers the chance to
travel and earn a living in a buoyant market, this was not the
prime motivation for coming here, said Bhandari.
"China and India are two great cultures and the same in many
ways. To teach yoga here is a good chance for me to bring a part of
Indian culture to China. This helps bring us even closer."
(China Daily March 24, 2007)
