Why Practice Yoga Abroad?
We experience lots of “new” while traveling. New ways of doing things, new people, new smells, new language, new, new, new! That’s why we love it. Traveling shakes the snowglobe of our minds as we observe the unique snowflakes fluttering down around us. Consideration and integration of these new perspectives gives us the opportunity to be empathetic and well-rounded.
However, the winds of experience have a tendency to sweep us away; we sometimes forget to consider what we’re learning as we move from experience to experience. For example, here I am at 31 years old, writing this in an effort to comprehend and integrate my travel experiences from 10+ years ago as an undergrad.
The practice of yoga brings me back to the present moment, and gives me an opportunity to check in with my body, mind, and spirit. It requires discipline to practice, and encourages me to be a healthier, perceptive, and kinder version of myself. It’s a healthy practice to do at any time; especially while abroad.
When I talk about “yoga” in this article, I’m mostly referring to hatha yoga; a practice that utilizes a series of postures, or asanas, that aim to strengthen the body while creating flexibility and ease of movement.
From “Mindfulness Yoga” by Frank Jude Boccio:
“asana practice is said to purify or cleanse the body, promote healthy digestion and elimination, balance hormones, and calm the nerves. With the application of concentrated awareness, deep emotional and mental habits can be seen into, and self understanding and transformation can be cultivated.”
I believe a yoga practice supports the integration of profound experiences like studying abroad.
My Yoga Introduction
I was motivated to go to my first yoga class when a girl invited me to go. I wasn’t particularly interested in yoga; I was interested in spending time with her. She probably could have invited me to go jump off the Avila pier into the cold Pacific Ocean and I would have joined! And so it was; I took my first yoga class (from a guy who is now my neighbor) at the Cal Poly Rec Center in 2012.
I remember feeling physically challenged in the class. Not from moving from pose to pose, but from holding the postures for longer periods than I was used to. Holding a Warrior II for a few minutes presented a new challenge of muscular endurance, much different than pure strength. That first class incorporated a variety of physical disciplines I was interested in: flexibility, strength, balance, endurance, and connecting postures together with fluid movement. It invited me to exercise my body awareness, something I’d done in the past out of instinct, but never with deliberate intent.
When Shavasana (final resting) pose came in that first class, I felt a full body and mind relaxation that I had never felt before. I also recognized that the more I challenge myself during the asana practice, the more relaxed I would feel in Shavasana.
I continued practicing yoga after that first class, but now I was more motivated by the instruction and experience, and less motivated by who was there. I found that I was able to perform some of the tougher arm balancing postures, and I thought they looked very cool. My ego liked very much for me to climb mountains and take pictures of me doing arm balancing postures on top.
A few months after that first yoga class, I was off to Shenzhen, China, after accepting the challenge of a six month internship at Mission Hills, the world’s largest Golf Club.
Yoga in China
I didn’t find yoga for a few months after arriving in China, and I wasn’t really looking. It was only until I met Lucy, a Chinese co-worker at Mission Hills Golf Club, who told me about a yoga studio in the nearby town which was run by a former caddie at the Golf Club. We hopped on a bus together towards my first class. The bus left the dormitory and passed restaurants and shops for a few miles. We disembarked and walked past an auto body and tire shop and up the stairs to the third floor of a building. She translated with the teacher who I addressed as Wu Tian Shi Fu. “Shifu,” meaning “Master.”
I bought a mat from the studio and started training what felt like hot yoga in the humid Shenzhen summer. By the end of classes I was dropping sweat and sliding around on the mat, but even more relaxed come Shavasana. I learned that the deeper I went into the postures, the more open I felt in my body, and the more relaxed I felt. The heat gave my body more mobility as well.
Wu Tian was very pretty with an innocent face, but a powerful and flexible body. Though I could only understand every 5th word or so, her voice triggered a focused ease in me. I had to sit in front of the studio so I could see her movements better and follow along with the class. Sometimes when I thought I was doing the poses correctly, I would hear her voice: “Jason, like this…” and I would find that I was doing the completely wrong posture or had mixed up the left and right.
Wu Tian was physically gifted and could do some crazy postures. However, when it came to strength, she was impressed. During some of the arm balancing postures she would look over and say, “oh Jason, POWER!”
The other yoga practitioners were all female, and we had between 8-12 people practicing per class. I may have been the only male to come into that class, and likely the only foreigner too. That was until I brought in my friend Stuart, a curious lad from the UK. I think that was a fun day for everyone who posed with us for a photo at the end of class. I don’t have a copy of that image, unfortunately, but I’m sure it exists somewhere in the Great Firewall of China.
After yoga, we would go downstairs and eat Cart Noodles. There was literally a wooden cart that the owner would wheel around with what seemed like over a 100 topping options. You would tell the owner what kind of noodle you wanted and what toppings, and they would bring you your very inexpensive bowl of noodles. Wu Tian called this the “Deng Xiao Peng” cart because apparently the late president really enjoyed eating his cart noodles! We sat in plastic chairs at a plastic kids table and ate our noodles with distant sounds of the auto body shop and cars, busses, and motorbikes whizzing by on the main road.
My Yoga Journey Thereafter
My yoga experiences in China led to an exciting yoga journey thus far. I did not practice yoga formally during my next study abroad experience in Brazil, but I thought about it and had a personal practice.
However, yoga played a part in my life after that. I participated in a Teacher Training program where I deepened my practice and became a 200-hour RYT certified instructor. I furthered my training by twice attending the Prison Yoga Project teacher training, and have since led yoga classes in the juvenile hall, men’s and women’s jails, and a men’s prison. I started an online free class during COVID-19 pandemic, and led a series of classes that were Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specific at my martial arts school. I’ve met with Eva Seilitz, former national coordinator in the Swedish Prison and Probation Service. And, I’ve continued to practice and drop in on classes when I’m traveling abroad.
I’m looking forward to deepening my yoga practice in the future, abroad and at home.
Wrapup
My experiences with yoga in China allowed me to deepen my yoga practice while while abroad. Through yoga, I built local community and a stronger command of the language and culture. My practice supported quality sleep, self-discipline, and mental and physical wellness while away from home. It offered me the opportunity to interact with others who were interested in disciplining their minds and bodies.
Yoga gave me an opportunity to challenge and exhaust myself physically and mentally without the need of much space or equipment, and its universal postures are understood by people regardless of the culture they were raised in.
Most of all, a yoga practice brings me back to the present moment, a simple, yet important exercise when I’m traveling abroad. It gives me the chance to soak in the new stimulation that comes with traveling and appreciate the perspectives of others, in support and pursuit of my independent thought. Yoga is an important tool for experience integration and making the most of time abroad.