THE FIRST SHOCK I receive upon meeting Sunder Jivan is that he is about as Indian as I am. I had expected, perhaps naively, that a teacher of 'sacred gymnastics' from the free-loving commune of the late Bhagwan Sree Rajneesh in the city of Pune in Maharashtra - particularly a teacher with a name like Sunder Jivan - would be some sort of loose-limbed, dark-skinned, saffron-wrapped sadhu.
Instead, I'm greeted by a skinny bloke with a beard and posh London vowels who, after some prompting, admits his real name is Michael.
He changed his name after taking a vow of sannyass - renouncing material possessions - when he joined the Bhagwan's commune 20 years ago. (It's a concept which the Bhagwan, or Osho, as his followers now call him, never seemed fully to grasp, given his palatial quarters and fleet of 93 Rolls-Royces.)
It was on the commune, in Maharashtra state, that Jivan first saw a performance of Gurdjieff Movements and was immediately smitten. 'Gurdjieff Movements are a kind of sacred dance gymnastics,' he explains as he sinks to the floor and gracefully folds his legs into the lotus position. Lumberingly, in a painful attempt to get into the spirit, I attempt to follow suit, settling for what could be politely called a half-lotus.
'Unlike most dance forms, which are a purely aesthetic or artistic experience, these movements are more concerned with the spiritual-mystical experience - to bring about a higher state of consciousness and awareness,' he says. 'The dance becomes a meditation.'
Jivan has been in Hong Kong to spread the Gurdjieff gospel at the behest of Eostre, a new Tsim Sha Tsui 'spiritual growth' centre responsible for a steady stream of chakra checkers and crystal botherers coursing through Hong Kong in recent months. Named after the ancient German goddess of spring, Eostre perches on the 20th floor of a new tower in Knutsford Terrace and offers a bewildering range of life-enhancing courses, therapy sessions, spiritual and new age classes. Everything from reiki to tarot reading is covered. Including, for the duration of Jivan's recent stay, Gurdjieff Movements.