Li Hao

    WITH his white yoga costume and peaceful expression, it is difficult to associate this slim young man with existential angst.

    However, the 30-year-old Hubei native, Li Jun was struggling to find value in his life until he got involved with yoga and voluntary work.

    “Enriching ourselves through helping others is the only way to find value in life,” said Li Jun, a technical engineer in a petrochemical company.

    Li is now an active volunteer in the community who also enjoys yoga.     

    Hardship pays off

    Born into a poor family in a remote village in Hubei Province, Li Jun walked a long way to school each day, and would never have more than two meals a day. His childhood prepared him for the hardships he has endured since.

    Firmly believing college education was the only way to leave the underdeveloped village and change his life, Li studied harder than anyone around him and made it to Jiamusi University to study thermal energy and power engineering in northern China, becoming the second person in his tiny village to make it to college.

    With 5,000 yuan (US$794) borrowed from his family, Li got on the train leading to the university. However, the money would only cover half of his tuition fees.

    Li had no choice but to apply for a student loan and started searching for part-time jobs.

    Holding a paper board saying “mathematics tutor,” Li would stand in extremely low temperatures in densely populated commercial areas near campus, in hope of finding work.

    One week later, Li got a part-time tutoring job, which paid 10 yuan per hour.

    To save money, Li never returned home during his four-year campus life and always rode an old bicycle instead of taking buses to his part-time job.    

    Still puzzled

    After graduation in 2004, Li was employed by a paper-making enterprise in Dongguan, which was considered a great achievement for a young man from the countryside.

    However, Li suffered an existential crisis at this time. He would ask himself questions such as “What is the value of life?,” “Is making money the only purpose of life?”

    One year later, Li switched to a petrochemical company in Shenzhen, his current employer, to work as a technician in the civil engineering department.

    The change of job saw Li making more money, helping him pay off his student loan.

    But an improved standard of living did not stop Li from asking himself whether he was wasting his life. He worried that he would be trapped in what he saw as a soul destroying routing like his senior colleagues.

    Yoga solves problems

    Li’s problem began to be solved after he met Huang Biao, a yoga instructor, on the Internet in 2007.

    Li almost gave up practising yoga early on because the various poses were too painful for a novice.

    But once he got good at it, Li began to understand why yoga is so popular.

    “Like anybody, I encounter a lot of difficulties. Some of these difficulties lead me to blame myself. This leads to stress. But practicing yoga has made me a more patient, grounded person,” said Li.

    Li began to take a proactive attitude toward his problems.

    Besides, Li also learnt a lot about traditional Indian culture while practicing yoga and talking to Huang Biao.

    “The value of life lies in the enrichment of our souls and helping others,” said Li, who realized there are many other things of more importance than the pursuit of material wealth.

    Enjoying volunteer work

    Besides teaching him yoga, Huang also gave Li his first experience of volunteer work at the end of 2009.

    Since then, Li has frequented nursing homes, helped handing out subsidies to low-income families and collected waste for recycling.

    “Volunteer work makes me happy, although it is sometimes challenging. I have learnt to understand and appreciate others while helping them,” said Li.

    “When I chat with old people at nursing homes, they often talk about their children, which reminds me to cherish the time I have with my parents,” recalled Li.

    “Hardship teaches me to cherish what I have, voluntary work makes me understand the importance of helping others and yoga makes me a happier, steadier, more open-minded person,” said Li.