中国悄然兴起的瑜伽热Quiet rise of yoga in China

I was returning to Beijing from the southern city of Nanning a few weeks ago after a story trip when I found a woman in all-white clothing and high heels sitting next to me on the plane.In my experience, the odds of having to jostle for elbow room on a slim, shared armrest are considerably lower with a female co-passenger than a male. 几周前，我从南宁采访完回北京的飞机上，身旁坐着一位一袭白衣，穿着高跟鞋的女士。根据我的经验，如果身旁坐着一位女性，那么与她肘碰肘争到那个狭窄扶手的几率要远低于身旁坐着一位男士。 That the flight was taking off just 20 minutes or so behind its scheduled departure time had already put me on peppy mode. So, Miss Wei (as she introduced herself) and I launched into a conversation.She said she was visiting Beijing to participate in a yoga camp along with a few other women, who were seated in rows behind us and like her were fashionably dressed. 飞机起飞仅仅晚点20分钟，这让我感到非常愉快。所以我和这位魏小姐（据她本人介绍）开始聊天。她说和其他几个女同伴要去北京参加一个瑜伽训练营，她们坐在我们身后几排，和她一样穿着时尚。 Many Chinese assume I practice yoga since I am from India. This is akin to the notion some Indians hold that most Chinese are into tai chi. 许多中国人认为我练习瑜伽，因为我来自印度。这类似于一些印度人认为大多数的中国人都会太极。 But some scholars say the growing popularity of yoga in China, especially among women aged 25 to 40, is in part due to perceived similarities between the two traditions. 但有些学者说瑜伽在中国的日益普及，特别是在25至40岁的女性中间，一定程度上是由于人们对这两种传统的感知有相似之处。 Zhang Yongjian, a researcher on yoga in China, told me last week that learning the ancient Indian discipline requires money here. 张永健是中国一位瑜伽研究人士，上周他告诉我在中国学瑜伽需要交学费。 “In recent years, more and more people in China have started to learn and practice yoga because their incomes have risen.” “近年来，中国越来越多的人开始学习和练习瑜伽，因为他们的收入增加了。” And while there is greater health awareness in the country today, Chinese women mostly view yoga as a way to stay fit and look youthful, he added. 如今中国人的健康意识也比以往更强了，中国女性大多认为瑜伽是保持健康的一种方式，能够让她们看起来年轻有活力，他补充说。 Zhang works for the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, an influential think tank that produces reports on a variety of topics. 张永健在中国社会科学院工作，这家中国非常有影响力的智库研究的课题十分广泛。 The CASS report on China’s yoga industry is likely to be released ahead of the International Day of Yoga in June. 社科院对中国瑜伽行业做的研究报告预计将在六月国际瑜伽日前夕发布。 In India, there is a spiritual side to yoga that involves meditation. In many parts of the world, it is more about prescribed postures and controlled breathing. 在印度，瑜伽涉及到精神的一面是冥想。在世界的许多地方，瑜伽更多的是规定的姿势和控制呼吸。 There are more than 10,000registered venues that offer yoga courses in China. But why has yoga suddenly become so popular in the country? After all, over the decades, it spread from India to the United States to the extent that some people, including Chinese, believed it originated there. By some accounts, pop yoga is a multimillion dollar industry in the US. 在中国，有超过1万个提供瑜伽课程的机构。但是为什么瑜伽突然在中国变得如此受欢迎?毕竟在过去的几十年里，瑜伽从印度传播到美国，在某种程度上，一些人，包括中国人,认为瑜伽起源于美国。有人说美国的大众瑜伽是一个数百万美元的产业。 According to a Chinese woman, who organizes yoga events, some Chinese have been practicing it for the past 20 years although the numbers have lately increased. 一位组织瑜伽活动的中国女士说，在过去的20年里已经有一些中国人接触并练习了瑜伽，尽管练习瑜伽的人数最近才上升。 The need for qualified teachers is also expected to rise in the country. 对合格瑜伽教师的需求也将上升。 Ma Huiying, a 30-year-old woman from Shenyang in Northwest China’s Liaoning province, told me that she has been teaching yoga at a sports institute in her city for the past five years and that her students, in their teens and early 20s, include boys. In her opinion, yoga practitioners in China fall into two broad categories —serious and lifestyle. 马慧颖，出生在辽宁省沈阳市，今年30岁，她告诉我她已在沈阳的一所体育学院教了五年的瑜伽了，她的学生们基本是青少年或刚刚20岁出头，其中还包括一些男孩。在她看来，中国的瑜伽从业者分为两大类——严肃型和追求健康生活型。 The first pursue the holistic approach of “change from within” and the second roll out colorful mats for lighter workouts. 第一种人追求的是“由内而外的改变”，而第二种人铺开彩色的瑜伽垫为的是用一种更轻松的方式锻炼。 As for me, the mat seems within reach. 至于我，第二种似乎更容易实现。