GUERRILLA YOGA

Last week I had the opportunity to photograph one of Busan’s most intrepid yogis in what could best be described as a guerrilla yoga operation. When Mindy—a yoga instructor and co-founder of the new holistic health center Kaizen Korea—first mentioned a guerrilla yoga shoot, I envisioned her in the middle of Jagalchi Fish Market with rubber-suited ajummahs flinging squid in the background.

Alas, when we arrived at Jagalchi we could barely move in the crush of people shopping for Chuseok (Korea’s Thanksgiving). Luckily we didn’t have to look far to locate empty warehouses, loading docks, and the atmospheric nooks and crannies of Busan’s Old Book Alley. Though yoga is catching on in Korea, Mindy’s out-in-the-open asanas quickly drew crowds of confused onlookers. As she balanced precariously on a crumbling ledge of concrete, one particularly befuddled boy asked, “Why here?”

At least to Mindy, the answer is obvious: Why not?