Yoga has caught on in South Korea and is now a craze among the people, particularly in the national capital, Seoul. And believe it or not, a young man from India, Abhijit Ghosh, is the most popular teacher of yoga in this city.
Yoga has caught on in South Korea and is now a craze among the people, particularly in the national capital, Seoul. And believe it or not, a young man from India, Abhijit Ghosh, is the most popular teacher of yoga in this city.
Ghosh said he came to Seoul four years back as a yoga teacher at the local university. Yoga is part of the curriculum at the university and is compulsory for its students.
“The demand for yoga teachers has shot up since 2006 as nearly every Korean youth now wants to learn this ancient Indian science,” Ghosh said in a conversation with DNA. “Young people here are very health conscious. Moreover, they have also discovered that yoga is excellent if you want to cultivate peace of mind which, in this highly competitive society, is a must.”
Currently, Ghosh is probably the only Indian teacher of yoga in Seoul.
He said he came here after getting a job as a yoga teacher at the university here. “When I was still in India, I came across an advertisement in the local papers for a yoga teacher in Seoul University,” Ghosh said. “I applied and was selected. Now I have decided to stay here in Seoul with my family as there are many opportunities for yoga teachers. There has been a dramatic rise in the demand for teachers of yoga here.”
The fast and highly competitive life in South Korea is the reason why people here have adopted yoga so enthusiastically. It helps them keep fit, both physically and mentally, with the minimum of effort, Ghosh said. The demand for expert yoga teachers is so great that many South Koreans have visited India just to learn yoga. On returning to their motherland, they have opened private yoga teaching centres in different parts of the country.
“Yoga is a part of the curriculum at nearly every university in the country,” Ghosh said. “The universities have full-fledged departments of yoga and in most universities it is a compulsory subject. Students must attend a certain number of hours in yoga classes and the attendance counts in the final exam.”
The South Korean government has also been promoting yoga in a big way and spends a lot of money on research in this ancient science.
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