China Chooses Long-term View with the Bowspring Method

The best news from our latest 2-week excursion to China is that increasing numbers of yoga students in the mainland are committing to a regular Bowspring practice. Through our tireless translator, Vicky from Beijing, we talked with many of the 90+ yoga teachers who attended our 5-day training in Xi’an about their experience of learning the Bowspring method. Many of the trainees acknowledged from their direct experience of practicing Bowspring over the last 4 months (since our previous visit in September of ‘17) that although it is not easy or comfortable to practice at first, the Bowspring’s wavy, dynamic alignment greatly improves health and is very therapeutic. More and more yoga teachers in China are moving away from a steady diet of the standard model linear alignment of modern postural yoga (MPY) and embracing a wavy, dynamic alignment of the Bowspring. It was encouraging to hear that so many Chinese students were willing to wisely choose a healthier, yet more challenging long-term path of the Bowspring, than the short-term comfort and career-stability path of the status quo of teaching MPY.

Over the last few decades, as China has become a superpower in the global geopolitical landscape, its focus has unfortunately been on short-term economic development over long-term spiritual growth and environmental sustainability. After Mao’s Cultural Revolution (1966 – 1976) the orientation of the country turned toward “material progress” and away from prioritizing spirit, religion, or free-thinking individuality. Over the last few decades, China has become an authoritarian, capitalist and anti-labor “Communist” state, which encourages success in life mainly through being productive, particularly reflecting in the generation of profit. As a Communist country, China does not promote religion. With only about 1 in 6 citizens claiming that they are “religious”, and without a strong continuity to traditional spiritual lineages, making money and increasing professional status have become a leading priority for the generalChinese populace.For our week in Xi\’an, the air quality was officially listed as \”hazardous\” – the worst level of air quality, categorized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an emergency condition affecting the whole population of a city. A ubiquitous grey dust or toxic soot coats parked cars and buildings throughout the city. The sun\’s dim rays barely visible in the smoggy sky creates an apocalyptic mood for more than 9 million citizens of Xi\’an. The Chinese government is working to reduce the terrible air pollution in its major cities, efforts of which are evident in the improved air quality of Beijing, but Xi\’an\’s air is still horribly unhealthy.

The future forecast for our Earth\’s biosphere is dark if China continues on the path maximizing short-term material gain, modern comforts and technological conveniences. The same holds true for the US and any other country which holds its cultural orientation toward short-term gratifications of the individual over the long-term health and harmony of the whole – humanity, all creatures, and the Earth itself. However, there is hope in the expanding global awareness of the interconnectedness between all life forms on Earth reflected partially in the growing numbers of people worldwide practicing meditation, yoga, veganism, and an environmentally sustainable lifestyle. As yoga becomes more mainstream in China and a few more health-conscious Chinese choose and demand non-GMO, organic plant-based food, and natural materials instead of animal products and synthetics, ripples of awareness expand into the overall culture.

The hope to change the course of a behemoth mainstream culture, especially when its directed by an increasingly powerful authoritarian government, lies in the choices of a few courageous individuals who have a collective, long-term harmonious vision for the planet. Witnessing the growing trend in yoga, health and wellness in China enlivens this hope. It also encourages our work to support the fledgling postural paradigm shift of the Bowspring method in Xi\’an and other cities in mainland China. The big shift in collective awareness starts with only a few people making the choice toward a long-term, sustainable vision like a small pebble thrown high up in the air into a placid pond.

Thankfully, modern Chinese culture retains some of its ancient roots in Confucianism and in Taoism, so the importance of family, teachers, and harmony in community is still highly valued. When we present the Taoist teachings of Yin and Yang, the balanced flow with Nature, and breathing techniques of Qigong in the context of the Bowspring method, the Chinese students respond with a seemingly innate understanding. Deep in the cultural DNA of China is an inner knowing of Nature’s flowing forms (the Tao) that bring health and happiness to life. When they hear about the spiraling balanced flow around the infinite central channel between Sky and Earth, the Chinese students assimilate these teachings without resistance. They are proud to know that these ancient Chinese teachings are pragmatically utilized today in the Bowspring method as well as in the practices of Tai Chi and acupuncture (ancient Chinese medicine) worldwide. When they hear the teachings of long-term fulfillment of aligning with Nature versus the short-term gratification of ego-centric desire, the Chinese students openly admit which is the wiser choice.One way to make a big splash and long lasting ripples in the status quo is through increasingly popular mainstream professional schoolings like Yoga teacher trainings. As more and more middle class Chinese are looking to make a career move in a booming health and wellness industry, the hope rises that these ripples of rising consciousness will move into the mainstream and big positive changes in society may naturally occur.The general intention of yoga teacher trainees is certainly good, yet many of our Xi\’an students who are deeply influenced by mainstream culture wanted to know how soon they could start charging for teaching Bowspring classes! In response we explained that our highest intention of teaching the Bowspring method – wishing to help bring greater freedom to each student through fostering their awakening of how to harmoniously align with Nature – is achieved through the development of personal accountability, mindfulness and compassion, which is a long-term process. In our Xi’an Bowspring training, we emphasized a long-term approach to studentship and developing self-mastery instead of teaching yoga to quickly make some money, gain popularity and going for what is quick and inside our personal comfort zones. The Bowspring method is a particularly beneficial daily practice for the Chinese since it requires heightened sensitivity to life and conscious alignment with Nature over an extended period of time.The good news for China, and in turn the world, is that there are growing numbers of young people who are willing to defer short-term comforts with a focus on money, in order to gain health and happiness through a long-term view that considers our biosphere on Earth as an integrated system of life. Just as the British empire greatly defined the 19th century, and the US became the dominant world power in the 20th century, China is moving toward being the main superpower of the 21st century. In this way, as China goes, so does the world. Therefore, may the people of China and all of us start to choose a long-term view of environmental sustainability, cooperation over competition, and compassion and sensitivity to the interconnectedness of all life on Earth. Our daily choices – informed by a long-term vision of collective harmony instead of a short-term, myopic individual view – contain the power to avert imminent global catastrophe and bring in a new epoch of expanded world consciousness and peace.The good news for China, and in turn the world, is that there are growing numbers of young people who are willing to defer short-term comforts with a focus on money, in order to gain health and happiness through a long-term view that considers our biosphere on Earth as an integrated system of life. Just as the British empire greatly defined the 19th century, and the US became the dominant world power in the 20th century, China is moving toward being the main superpower of the 21st century. In this way, as China goes, so does the world. Therefore, may the people of China and all of us start to choose a long-term view of environmental sustainability, cooperation over competition, and compassion and sensitivity to the interconnectedness of all life on Earth. Our daily choices – informed by a long-term vision of collective harmony instead of a short-term, myopic individual view – contain the power to avert imminent global catastrophe and bring in a new epoch of expanded world consciousness and peace.NOTES:

In the 21st century, China has been one of the world\’s fastest growing economies and just behind the US and the EU in terms of nominal GDP. In terms of purchasing power, China became the world\’s largest economy according to the IMF in 2014. China is widely regarded as the world’s largest manufacturing economy and exporter of goods. With so much money going into the country from its tremendous product sales, China is also the world\’s fastest-growing consumer market.

With a population of over a billion people, there are now over 1.5 million wealthy Chinese who are millionaires. However, the average median net worth for a Chinese adult is less than $7K (compared to $229K in Switzerland and about $59K average for Americans). Most importantly, there are over 25M Chinese living in extreme poverty. So, although much of China is enjoying a new found wealth and the conveniences of high-tech living in the 21st century, life is still very tough for millions of Chinese.