The second International Day of Yoga last month saw about 500 locals on their yoga mats in downtown Jing'an Park, all led by Indian yoga master Avinash Mishra (pictured below) on the podium.

Photos: Liao Fangzhou/GT and CFP

Mishra first came to China 10 years ago, settling down in Shanghai after teaching in other parts of the country and Australia. Today, he is doing his doctoral research in Shanghai and travels between yoga events.

He was one of the first to receive a master's degree in yoga from S-VYASA in India, the first ISO standards-certified yoga university in the world, whose mission combines yoga and modern scientific research. He went on to become a yoga professor.

The Global Times talked to the amiable yoga master about yoga learning in China, and his take on tai chi through researching for a PhD at Shanghai University of Sport.

GT: How did you find leading the International Day of Yoga session at Jing'an Park?

AM: I have my own emotions of the event. Being an Indian, I feel proud that yoga has international popularity and recognition today. Secondly, as a yoga professor, I feel yoga is getting more acceptability.

Moreover, long ago the vice chancellor of S-VYASA Yoga University had the idea for an International Day of Yoga on July 21. It is not officially known so much that Indian Prime Minister Mr Modi used to be very close to him, and made this idea happen.

From that point of view, as a student of the vice chancellor, I feel that his dream has come true. It's another attachment for me.

GT: What do you see as a common misconception of yoga in the local scene?

AM: Definitely there are some. It's not in a wrong way, it is still positive. In yoga we talk about holistic approach, which many people are not able to recognize. I feel that is a pity.

When people hear of yoga, their immediate response is "oh, putting the leg behind the neck." Many others come to reduce fat and be slim, and somehow they have a concept that yoga can help them be healthy.

But it seems to me their concept of health itself might not be mature, perhaps driven by fashion.

But if yoga is done holistically, it can really be a kind of magic, and the quality of life can come up. Yoga connects body and mind, people and people, and switches "I" to "we." The switching is the process of happiness.

Once you restrict yourself to a certain idea, say weight loss, you still do your postures and meditations, but that effect will not come.

I have been teaching in China for almost 10 years and I want to see my students getting happier day by day, but it is not happening. It gives pain to me.

It can be the mistake of the yoga teachers in Shanghai. The materialism is becoming too strong. There are a lot of teachers who think yoga is very easy, that you don't need to have a certain degree but go somewhere to train for one or two months and get teacher certification, and that you just need to be flexible.

The basis of yoga is search of happiness. This is a theory or philosophy that most yoga teachers don't understand. Therefore they can only reach postures, something on physical level and can be seen.

Australia is like China, actually. Yoga went to the West from India, and from West it came to China. More or less, there is not much difference in yoga learning in China and the West: the same mistakes are made.

GT: What can we know about your vision on combining yoga and tai chi?

AM: For my PhD from Shanghai University of Sport, I do my project on the immediate effects of tai chi, during which a group of students learn tai chi for three months and then have their blood flows in the brain and etc measured. Through this we find that the left brain is more active after doing tai chi.

Meanwhile there is some other research on yoga, which suggests that yoga activates the right brain. I am thinking of combining tai chi and yoga and to see if both lobes can be equally activated, perhaps for a postdoctoral project and with the support of clinical setup and a platform.

In both traditional Chinese and Indian medicine, it says the seasonal, local-grown food that are most suitable for you.

Tai chi somehow developed in China, and I think that is why flow yoga (a type of yoga that keeps moving) might be more suitable to Chinese bodies. My approach to yoga is you have to find your own yoga.

GT: Are there any yoga music you would like to recommend?

AM: Frankly, I don't personally support music in the class. There are different thoughts in your head all the time, which music can help you reduce.

But then you have one thought in your mind, which is the music, and it becomes the obstacle.

During yoga you need to have only one thought, which is your body and mind. You need to be with yourself. That is why I try to avoid it. If music is there, it can divert you.