Sunrise breathwork meditation and exercise on a Hong Kong hilltop combines fitness, mind and body detox, and a reset of your circadian clock

Breathwork coach Aigul Safiullina started the Lantau Sunrise Club to promote group exercise, teach the basics of proper breathing and embrace the natural world

Dozens have signed up to practise tactical breathing and learn the ‘rock and roll’ exercise. A club member explains they get his day off to a positive start

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Members of the Lantau Sunrise Club take part in a movement exercise at sunrise on Lantau Island, Hong Kong. The group meets weekly for breathwork meditation and exercises. Photo: Novy Lodder

Published: 3:15pm, 23 Oct 2021Updated: 12:39pm, 29 Dec 2021

Our appreciation for the great outdoors has blossomed during the global pandemic. And we’ve also embraced opportunities for interpersonal connection, especially during periods of lockdown and social distancing.

That is why Jo Lodder signed up to join a new group in his neighbourhood on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island that planned to gather weekly to climb a mountain at dawn.

“I had never done anything like this,” said Lodder. “But I loved the idea of hiking up a hill to watch the sunrise.”

Lodder, the founding partner of real estate company JNW Properties, has been living in Hong Kong for 12 years. He recently made the move to Lantau Island to connect with the beauty and nature it has to offer – to get back into an exercise routine in the great outdoors and deal with the stress and anxiety brought on over the course of the pandemic.

Jo Lodder (left) with certified breathwork coach Aigul Safiullina, founder of wellness company Respira Collective. Photo: Jo Lodder

“Eighteen months ago, I was pretty overweight and lived a poor lifestyle which involved quite a lot of alcohol – I constantly had a cough and was often ill,” said Lodder.

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