The Yoga Blog — photos

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...

Angola, a Southern African nation, and Africa’s 7th largest, is a varied land encompassing tropical Atlantic beaches, a labyrinthine system of rivers and Sub-Saharan desert that extends across the border into Namibia. The country's colonial history is reflected in its Portuguese-influenced cuisine and its landmarks, particularly in Luanda, the country’s capital located on its northern coast.⠀
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As one of Africa's major oil producers, Angola is striving to tackle the physical, social and political legacy of a 27 year civil war which ravaged the country after independence from Portugal in 1975. The cultural diversity is vast, ranging from...

Andorra is the sunniest mountain area in Europe: with an average of 250 sunny days a year. Tucked away in the eastern Pyrenees, the tiny principality of Andorra, a country with narrow valleys and mountainous landscapes.

Yoga retreats in Andorra largely combine the great outdoors with yoga in summer treks or winter ski. Watch wild horses roam freely in the mountains and conquer exciting roads in search of adventure. Or try a night walk in snowshoes up the slopes of Pal under a full moon with snowy landscapes illuminated in the moonlit glow....

Algeria, Africa’s biggest country, and the world's 10th largest, is only a short hop from Europe. With the Saharan desert covering more than four-fifths of the land, there are some truly legendary desert landscapes from the sand seas that surround Timimoun to the vast sand dunes south of Tamanrasset.

The capital, Algiers, is a nostalgic blend of colonial and modernist architecture. Across the north are stunning coastline vistas with lush vegetated rural landscapes and well preserved remains of Roman cities.

A largely Muslim country, yoga practice has only a marginal following with the largest festival, the Yoga Therapy...