New Year, New Blog

Greetings from Haikou, Hainan in the south of China! Welcome to the first post of my yoga blog (bloga?) for the year. I am currently in Hainan for Chinese New Year to escape Shanghai's frigid, central heating-less winter. Even beyond the weather, (LA-like at 65 degrees and sunny) yoga in Hainan has been amazing. A small community of dedicated yogis roams about Haikou, happily growing with the city's mellow (by Chinese standards) vibe. For the most part, the students and teachers have gathered their knowledge from Chinese translations of Patanjali's The Yoga Sutras and B.K.S. Iyengar's Light On Yoga. As a result, the teachers employ a gentle, flowing and exceedingly healing hatha approach to teaching their students. The classes are much more akin to restorative classes in Los Angeles. Next week, I will head to Sanya in the southern part of the island for white sand beach yoga. Until then...