namaste.

I've been searching for a decent yoga studio in Taipei and while yoga seems to be quite popular here, it is also very commercialized. I signed up for a free trial class at a studio called Pure Yoga. I was surprised to find that it was a 9-story, 33,000 square ft building with 10 studios and snobby employees. Definitely not a typical yoga studio. My trial "hot yoga" class was actually a modified 60 minute version of a Bikram class (as opposed to 90 mins). The instructor was white and taught in Mandarin. I couldn't understand what he was saying with his heavy accent. I didn't know how the students could understand him either. Fortunately, I've gone to enough Bikram classes to know all the poses. After class, he asked me a few questions in English and he told me he was from Vancouver and that he learned Mandarin after moving here 5 years ago. I told him I couldn't understand him. Apparently, traditional Bikram classes were taught when the studio first opened, but students complained about how hot and tiring it was to be in there for 90 minutes. He said that we (asians) just don't like to exercise very much and that it's just how the culture is. Therefore, modifications had to be made. I think he's right. We only like exercising our mouths for eating and gossiping.

Googled "asians doing Yoga" images and this was one that popped up