Yoga Philosophy

,

Finding ways to stay positive.

,
Finding ways to stay positive.

We talked a lot about the mind's "negativity bias" in my recent training in the Netherlands. I wanted to write a little about it here. We did a lot of work playing with opposites as well. The yogis call this Pratipakshabhavanam. When you have a negative thought, take a moment and hold the exact opposite thought in your mind. Notice what happens. Stay present. Sit with both thoughts for a moment. How does the first thought feel in your body? How does the opposite thought feel in your body? Go back and forth. When you do this you will recalibrate and might break a pattern or get out of a rut or groove that your mind is stuck in. Try holding both thoughts at the same time. What if both thoughts were equally true?

New Article in LA YOGA Magazine!

New Article in LA YOGA Magazine!

When you study yoga philosophy you will see many comparisons between the yoga experience and death. Our practice is filled with symbols. What is the significance of death in yoga? When you experience the state of Samadhi it is as if for a moment there is no body, no mind, no thoughts, no ego

,

Back to Basics!

,
Back to Basics!

I just finished a wonderful week of study at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai, India. I had a great time exploring the Yoga Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita with Mr. V. Srinivasan, working on Vedic chanting with SaiKripa, and learning new meditation practices with Padmini. Sri T. Krishnamacharya is such a big influence on our modern teaching and practicing of yoga. Is there a yogi practicing today who hasn’t been at least somewhat influenced by Mysore Ashtanga, Iyengar Yoga, Vinyasa Krama and the Yoga Therapy teachings of T.K.V. Desikachar? All of the founders of these yoga styles were students of this great yogi. What an incredible figure in our yoga community.

,

Yoga doesn’t ask you to believe in anything.

,
Yoga doesn’t ask you to believe in anything.

So many symbols in yoga to help us better understand some of the complicated philosophy. Yoga doesn’t ask you to believe in anything. You have to take your own journey. No one can take it for you. The teacher can point you in the right direction but it’s up to you to walk the path. Think of yoga as the place where science and spirituality meet. Here’s some pictures from our light ceremony on the first night of the retreat. The candle represents you and your inner light. Samkhya philosophy teaches us that we are on a journey in yoga from darkness to the light, from Tamas to Sattva. Tantra philosophy teaches us that the microcosm is the same as the macrocosm. The way you do anything is the way you do everything. Change your behavior on your yoga mat and you will change your behavior off your yoga mat. Change your relationship to that challenging pose that makes you feel uncomfortable and you will change your relationship to that challenging person or situation that makes you feel uncomfortable. You can change your relationship to the world in one second. The mind is constantly falling down, constantly complaining. Life is filled with many more lows than highs. Yoga teaches us to practice gratitude. Shift your perspective. Lift yourself up. Right now, think of how incredible it is to be right here and right now. Breathe into this moment. You don’t get this moment again. Better enjoy it before it’s gone.

Another Amazing thing about Yoga

Another Amazing thing about Yoga

The thing that always amazed me about yoga from the beginning of my practice is that we do the practice in just an empty room. The thing that always amazed me about yoga from the beginning of my practice is that we do the practice in just an empty room. There’s nothing special there. You get out of your practice what you put into it. If you choose to make that room a sacred space then it will be a sacred space. If you choose to make your practice transformational then it will be transformational. You can choose to just do yoga exercise but why would you? Ride your horse to the destination. You’ve been given this incredible technology to conquer the mind. Don’t waste even one second getting distracted. Concentrate. Go into the fire. Take a journey into stillness and experience the true nature of your self. Yoga can change your life. But you’ve got to be ready to change. Here’s some pics from our opening night dinner and opening ceremony. We set the stage that first night for the week ahead. I love these opening ceremonies. I love hearing from each of the students and getting to know each of them a little better. Thank you, everyone. Thank you for showing up for yourself. What a nice start to the retreat. To survive, science teaches us that we need food and water. But to thrive, we need to also be seen and heard, to feel connected, and to know that we belong. So much of yoga practice is about finding that connection again. Connection to our self. And connection to each other, to our community. We were off to a great start after our sharing circle at the opening ceremony. I could feel that this was going to be a really great group right from the moment everyone arrived that first night and introduced themselves. Thank you, everyone!

Your energy affects everyone around you!

Your energy affects everyone around you!

When you are more focused, you help others focus around you. When you are light and energetic, you help others have more energy. We all know what it is like to practice next to someone who is a long time student of yoga. Their energy can help lift us up. We also know what it’s like to practice next to a beginner who is lazy or has low energy and is not able to push themselves and work hard, or the student who is arrogant and driven by ego and is constantly trying to compete with everyone and push them down. We all affect each other in every situation.

Teaching yoga is challenging.

Teaching yoga is challenging.

You have to be able to hold space and help others go into the fire so that they may experience growth and transformation. It costs you something. I find if I am not tired at the end of a day of teaching then I didn’t do a good job. If I am tired and the students aren’t tired then they didn’t do their part. If we both are tired but feel happy and more calm, more at peace, like we went into battle together and fought a good fight — then we achieved something. And let go of the need to always feel happy. This is intense work.

Stay open under challenging circumstances.

Stay open under challenging circumstances.

The practice asks us to go into the fire, to choose to attempt something challenging, to get out of our comfort zone, to experience the sensation, the pain, the suffering of change that leads to growth and transformation. Breathe into the challenge you are experiencing. Shift your perspective.

,

Great Weekend Intensive at Sun Moon Yoga in Suzhou!

,
Great Weekend Intensive at Sun Moon Yoga in Suzhou!

Such a great Weekend Intensive at Sun Moon Yoga in Suzhou this past weekend! This was a really special group of students. I was so impressed with how everyone was so open and receptive. I kept thinking about how when you get really clear about what you are teaching you attract students who are ready for and are seeking exactly what you are offering.

I experienced a moment of stillness...

I experienced a moment of stillness...

I fell in love with yoga when I experienced a moment of stillness. When I first started practicing yoga I fell in love with how different the practice was to everything else I was doing. I remember sitting at the end of class in stillness and my mind was quiet and I felt a deeper connection to myself than ever before. It was so cool! I wanted to learn more!

,

Great First Shiva Power Class in Suzhou Last Night!

,
Great First Shiva Power Class in Suzhou Last Night!

Really fun Shiva Power class last night in Suzhou!!! I was so impressed with the level of focus of the students, and their effort and hard work, and how open and receptive they were during the class. It was an honor to teach you last night. Thank you to everyone for coming to practice with me.

,

Arrived in Suzhou yesterday!

,
Arrived in Suzhou yesterday!

Had a nice conversation with an Indian teacher named Ramesh who teaches at the studio and we talked about teaching the students that yoga is more than just fitness. I remembered something one of my teachers said a long time ago when I started teaching. He said, even if it appears the students aren’t receptive or ready to hear about the deeper practice of yoga, and you encounter resistance when you try to teach them a little more than just yoga exercise — on some level they do actually hear you and year’s later when they are more open they might remember something you said that they initially resisted. This has been true in my own practice and life and I believe it’s true for all of us. It sometimes takes years but slowly we are all waking up.

,

I hiked for 3 hrs on the Great Wall on Friday!

,
I hiked for 3 hrs on the Great Wall on Friday!

Hi Everyone!

I hiked for 3 hrs on the Great Wall on Friday! So beautiful. My host, Robyn organized a car to take me to this really remote area where there are not a lot of tourists and it’s very quiet and peaceful. The weather was perfect! It was such an incredible experience. The wall is amazing! I can’t imagine how they built it so long ago. It was very peaceful. I stopped several times and just sat down and rested. Very calm and quiet. I only met 3 other people on my hike. Beautiful landscape. It’s so high too. 30 feet in most places. And wide. Sometimes it’s very steep and you are walking up stairs after stairs, almost completely vertical in places, as it climbs up the mountain. What an adventure! I had no idea I would go either. Afternoon off and the suggestion of, “Do you want to go to the wall today?”. Life can be pretty wonderful sometimes if we get into flow and just let go and go along for the ride. If you are one of those people who always over thinks things, practice saying “yes” more often. I think most of our regrets don’t come from trying things that didn’t work out. They come from us missing opportunities because we didn’t say “yes” to something. Go for it! If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out but at least you tried and didn’t get in your own way.

Namaste.

What are you ready to let go of?

What are you ready to let go of?

What are you ready to burn in the fire? Yoga philosophy teaches us that yoga is the practice of restraining the movements of the mind. How do we restrain these movements? The Yogis say through practice and non-attachment. Practice is defined as — effort to focus the mind. Non-attachment is defined as letting go of distractions. Concentrate and surrender. Over and over, this is our practice. Which one do you find more challenging? You can’t have one without the other. Such a big part of our yoga practice is the practice of letting go. Such a big part our life is the practice of letting go. What are you holding onto right now that you are done with and want to be free from? Is it anger? Fear? Jealousy? Is it a person you are attached to? Is it a place? A job? A relationship or friendship that has run its course? When you are driving, have you ever noticed how much smaller the rear view mirror is compared to the windshield. Look forward. Move forward. Time is marching forward. Don’t spend too much time looking in the rear view mirror, or you might end up crashing the car. Let it go. Let it go. Let go. Here’s a few pics from the fire cleansing ritual in our Shiva Yoga 200hr RYT Teacher Training last month. Want to do Teacher Training with me? We have several programs coming up! Visit garthhewittyoga.com or click the link in my bio for more information. Namaste

Samkhya Yoga Philosophy.

Samkhya Yoga Philosophy.

The last 2 weeks of my Shiva Yoga 200hr RYT Teacher Training Program we dive deep into yoga philosophy. The students debate the Karma Theory and reincarnation. We learn about Samkhya Yoga Philosophy and the theory of the 25 Principles. We explore the Classical Yoga practice Sam-Yoga — concentration, meditation and Samadhi. And we contemplate how we can practice the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga in a deeper way, and practice more yoga off the mat!
Yoga philosophy is one of the most challenging things I’ve ever studied but it’s also one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever learned. Once you get it — once you really get it? Once you understand this practice and the incredible technology used in this practice? You feel like you have the keys to the Kingdom. It changes everything. You’ll never go back to doing yoga exercise and stretching again. What would be the point?
I’m grateful to my teachers for helping me to make sense of it all. And for giving me the incredible gift of their knowledge and wisdom. I do my best to let their teachings flow through me when I lead these training programs. And I think I’ve found a really unique approach to sharing some of the more complicated ideas in yoga philosophy. Some of the feedback I was so happy to hear after this training was how much the students enjoyed learning the deeper philosophy and how much it made sense to them because of how we broke it down. I think this is one of the unique gifts that I’ve found as a teacher. This stuff was really hard for me to understand. I think I’ve found some pretty fun ways to help my students figure it out too. I remember leaving my first training program and having no idea what the teachers had been talking about when it came to the yoga philosophy. It’s amazing how your mind opens and expands. Transformation! Are you ready? Time to get on the mat!

We will miss you Mat. Big hug to you, brother.

We will miss you Mat. Big hug to you, brother.

I heard the sad news yesterday that my friend Mat Turner passed away. I don’t know much about what happened but I was told he has taken his own life. Mat was a big hearted and wonderful guy. He always had a warm smile for everyone and moved through the world with a lot of kindness and love. He was the founder of the Elysia Yoga Convention. I got to teach at two of the last 3 conventions. I’m better off because Matt lived. He brought a lot of people together and built a very special community. I’ll always be grateful for him and his special energy. I didn’t know the demons he was battling. Everyone has their own inner life. One of the things that I think yoga is helping so much to do is to help people find community and feel connected. Psychology teaches us that we need more than just food and water to survive. We need to be seen, heard, feel connected, and know that we belong. I think there’s a lot of “Mat’s” out there who don’t feel connected and don’t feel like they belong. We need to make more of an effort to make everyone feel like they are valued in our society and loved and that they belong. It’s ironic that I write this on social media which I think originally intended to be a platform to help us connect and has actually made some people feel more isolated and disconnected. Your memory lives on in my heart, Mat, and in the hearts of the many people you touched. I wish you knew how much you meant to those who loved. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered. We will miss you. Life is short, everyone. Let people know you love them. Try not to judge others. You don’t know what burdens they are carrying. Be kind and compassionate. And for those who don’t feel connected and don’t feel like you belong. You do belong. Life is worth living and living well. The world needs you. If you have not found your purpose try to help others in need. Someone needs you right now. You are a valued part of your community and a valued part of our global community. Don’t give up. Namaste. We will miss you Mat. Big hug to you, brother.

Call 310.800.8614
mail@garthhewittyoga.com