The Indian government is planning to open up a first-ever yoga resource centre in China as part of a new move to capitalise on the fast-growing popularity of yoga in a country where there are an estimated several hundred thousand practitioners.

On Saturday, Beijing hosted a first-ever yoga festival, with an expected 5,000 Chinese set to take part in four days of workshops, covering everything from breathing exercises and specific asanas to meditation lessons.

With a rapidly growing following for yoga in China almost every major city now has several yoga centres India is hoping to more clearly link the widening interest in yoga to Indian traditions.

For many Chinese, yoga first came here in some ways as an American export, people saw celebrities like Madonna doing yoga and then started getting an interest, said Yin Yan, who founded YogiYoga, Chinas biggest yoga teaching centre, which holds classes in 57 cities and has trained more than 15,000 Chinese as yoga teachers.

Ms. Yin said what was often missing in many Chinese yoga classes was the meditative aspect. yoga is not just a physical exercise, so what we are trying to do is give Chinese an authentic learning experience, said Ms. Yin, who runs YogiYoga along with her husband Manmohan Singh Bhandari, a yoga teacher from Rishikesh.

The Indian government is hoping to play a role in that exercise, starting with bringing renowned teachers from India to visit yoga centres in Beijing.

This week, the Health Ministrys Department of Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) arranged for two teachers from the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga and one expert from the Central Council for Research in Yoga & Naturopathy to hold workshops as part of the four-day Beijing festival.

Ambassador Ashok Kantha, who launched the yoga festival, said the idea was to engage in a dialogue that will help disperse all the doubts of the practitioners and helping them align with the roots of this ancient Indian practice and popularise yoga in China with Indian traditions.

Yoga teachers such as B.K.S. Iyengar whose books have been translated into Mandarin and sold tens of thousands of copies have wide following here. Mr. Iyengar told The Hindu during a visit to Beijing that he saw China as a future home for yoga. When he travelled to Guangzhou to give a lecture, he was stunned to find that organisers had rented out a stadium more than 1,300 students had come to listen to him.

Ayush is planning to open a resource centre at the Indian Embassy in Beijing, which will liaise with Chinese yoga centres such as YogiYoga, arrange for Indian yoga teachers to visit and provide resources on teaching yoga and on Ayurveda.

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India to open yoga centre in China

LAPLACE Free swimming lessons and water aerobics classes are two offerings St. John the Baptist Parish made available to residents this summer.

For the third consecutive year, St. John Parish offered the Ashley Kelly Swim Program through a collaborative effort with the American Red Cross and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation.

By its conclusion next week, the program will have given over 200 parish youth the opportunity to receive life-saving swimming skills and learn about safety in and around swimming pools and other bodies of water.

Through the program, certified instructors teach participants water skills through fun activities.

Traditionally offered to youth 5-17 years old, Instructor Anita Hefler said several adults signed up for the lessons this year.

A lot of people were saying they were signing up their kids to learn how to swim, especially since they didnt know how, Hefler said, adding this was the first year adults were allowed to sign up.

She noted how important it is for St. John Parish residents to know how to swim, since there is water saturating many areas of the parish.

Girtie Byrd said her three granddaughters were having a lot of fun at this weeks lessons. She said her family found out about the lessons through letters sent home from school in May, and she is excited the children were learning proper swim techniques, especially since she has a pool at her house.

Hefler said the lessons have been a great success, and she hopes they will help to prevent water-related tragedies.

The Ashley Kelly Swim Program provides astronomical benefits to the youth of our community, said Parish President Natalie Robottom. If one life is saved as a result of this program, it will be a success.

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Hundreds learn water safety in St. John