Kunming festival shows growing following for yoga

Chinese women perform yoga. [Photo/IC]

Om Prakash Tiwari, the secretary-general of the Kaival-yadhama Yoga Institute, says that compared with Western practitioners, the Chinese learn and accept yoga more easily because China and India share the culture of Buddhism, which is the philosophy behind yoga.

"The maximum response for yoga now is from China. We understand each other better since we have lots in common," says Tiwari.

The 84-year-old yoga guru started visiting China 10 years ago, and now visits many times a year. He attends the China India Yoga Festival every year.

Referring to the problems being caused due to yoga's popularity in China, he points to the problem that many yoga teachers in China do not know how to teach properly.

For instance, he says, they do not know how to advise people on who should practice yoga and who should not, and which posture should be taught and which should not.

Hao, the yoga club owner, says many Chinese still think that yoga is done to enable one's body to perform difficult postures, such as putting one's leg on one's neck.

"A true yoga guru never tells you to put your leg on your neck. He teaches you the basics. That's what many Chinese yoga teachers lack," says Hao.