Who Is Huiping Mo? A former professional ballet dancer in the US, Huiping moved to China in 1997 to continue her dance studies. She began fitness coaching and started studying yoga and in 2000 she returned to the US to begin formal yoga training with renowned yoga masters. This also when she met Emmy Cleaves, a US yoga master in her own right and nutritional specialist. In February 2005 she was crowned Women's World Yoga Champion in an international competition held in the US. She has been featured on China Central Television (CCTV), Beijing Television, Beijing Radio and numerous magazines and newspapers. She is currently chief instructor and health advisor for a Beijing yoga studio. She is also involved in writing projects and will be producing a health and wellness video series filmed in China. She is fluent in Mandarin and English.
Born in Kaoshiung, Taiwan —at an early age Huiping had an affinity for the performing arts especially dancing.
She caught the eye of one her middle school teachers who promptly placed her in special dance classes. Huiping did well and was asked to audition for a school dance program.
She went on to win numerous dance awards during high school and it was at this time she started studying classical ballet. By the urging of her teacher, she applied and received a scholarship to study at the renowned Joffrey Ballet School in New York City.
Her parents had mixed emotions about letting their 17 year old daughter who spoke no English, leave home but determined to follow her dream, she went anyway, and through hard work and perseverance again finished at the top of her class earning the coveted role of the "Swan Queen" in Joffrey's graduation performance.
Recruited by the Colorado Dance Company, she was a principal dancer for touring the country. It was during home visits to Taiwan that Huiping tried her very first yoga class. She found the classes interesting but “too slow” and never gave yoga much thought after that. She found the philosophy of yoga interesting and started studying its history and many different forms.
Huiping eventually moved to Beijing, to further her dance studies. During this time she began fitness instructing including teaching various fitness classes. She continued to take yoga classes during her home visits to Taiwan.
A frequent visitor to the US, it was in California that opened Huiping to the world of modern yoga and thus her yoga odyssey began. California was a goldmine of yoga styles and lifestyles. There she found every style imaginable and teachers from all walks of life, including Indians who had immigrated from India.
Classes varied greatly from school to school and teacher to teacher. Specifically, Huiping was looking for a style that was more physically active and could help her stay in shape as she was interested in fitness instructing. After a few years on another California trip, she noticed a sign that said “Bikram's Yoga College of India.” She got out of the bus and went promptly into the studio which featured Bikram Hot Yoga. The receptionist told her this was a different type of yoga because it was done in a heated room. She went ahead and took the class and immediately felt this was something different.
Huiping returned to China where she started practicing Bikram Yoga using space heaters to heat the studio. This was the first introduction of hot yoga into China on record. A year later she enrolled in Bikram's Teacher's Training program at Bikram World Headquarters in Los Angeles, California.
In her class of 210 students from all over the world, Huiping was awarded “outstanding posture” for her exemplary form and technical skills. She was invited to teach at Bikram Headquarters in Beverly Hills, California, USA and has taught in various locations in Southern California, Hawaii and Taiwan.
In 2002, Huiping went on to further her yoga studies at the Yoga Research Education Center (700 hour course over a two year period) where she studied under Georg Fuerstein, renowned yoga researcher and scholar.
In February 2005, she competed and won a world yoga competition held in the US. Huiping has appeared on CCTV3, CCTV4, CCTV5 (sports and life documentary) & BTV. She has also appeared in numerous magazine and newspaper articles.
