The Yoga Blog — asia

Japan: The Land of the Rising Yoga Scene

It’s fair to say that Japan’s history of yoga is an interesting but blemished one: Accounts of alleged sexual misconduct of Bikram Choudhury and the terrorist activity of the religious cult Aum Shinrikyo have somewhat tainted and stalled the yoga scene in Japan.

Bikram Choudhury, an Indian yoga teacher and yoga champion, opened his first yoga studios outside of India in Japan in the 1970s. In the depths of Japan’s cold winters, he found himself shivering through his asanas and so added...