It’s really important as a teacher to do your practice. You want to be in the most Sattvic, balanced, state possible so you can be of service to your students.
How to Stay Positive
Dharma’s Master class at the Dharma Yoga Center!
Deep Relaxation with Shiva Meditation
Arm Balance and Hip Opening Workshops!
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.
Shiva Meditation in Chiang Mai
Deep relaxation with Shiva Meditation! Pranayama, yoga nidra and seated concentration. Concentration, meditation, and Samadhi are hard. Most of us need to work on the lower limbs to prepare the body to sit, prepare the mind to concentrate, and learn to turn inward and let go of the outer world. If you are not sure of what direction to take in your life? If you are not sure what intention to set and use in your practice? If you are not sure about your purpose? Start to do some more investigation and get to know yourself a little better. Start practicing! Get on your mat and the answers will come. A good practice is also to look at the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga and think of how you could practice each one a little more than you are doing right now. Could you be a little more kind? Could you tell the truth more? Could you stop stealing on a more subtle level? Could you clean up things in your life a little more? Practice more gratitude? Could you work a little harder and go deeper into the fire? Could you study the mind a little more? Could you let go of something you’ve been holding onto? How could you deepen your asana practice this year? Maybe it’s time to introduce a pranayama or a pratyahara practice too? How could you simplify your life? The yamas and niyamas are very helpful at reducing conflict and eliminating distractions. The asana practice will help you to find more comfort in your body, cleanse and release tension, and help train your mind to focus. Pranayama will purify the energetic body and make the mind clear and sharp. How will you take your yoga off the mat this year? My teacher, Mr. Ramaswami used to say that eventually you have to take your yoga off the mat because one or two hours of practice a day will never compete with 22 hrs of living in chaos. Yoga is not asking us to be perfect, just to move forward one step at a time. Put in the effort and don’t worry about the results. Just show up and do the work.
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!
A magical yoga retreat in Chiang Mai
Yogi’s! We’ve just finished a very magical yoga retreat in Chiang Mai. 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!
Chiang Mai Retreat - Day 3
Day 3 on our yoga retreat to Thailand! Another strong Shiva Power class to start the day! Lots of deep twisting, and some work on Mayurasana, the Peacock Pose. The Peacock represents Sattva, a state of balance and equilibrium, illumination, a state where the light can move through you. When you check in at the end of your practice, hopefully you are closer to a place of balance than when you checked in at the beginning of your practice. Maybe your body is a little more open and a little more relaxed, your breath is flowing a little more evenly, and your mind is a little quieter. You might even feel a little more calm and a little more at peace. You might even experience a deeper connection to your Self. During the practice, though, as you work on finding balance you might not feel balanced at all. The practice is supposed to take you out of your comfort zone. You’re supposed to feel vulnerable and uncomfortable, and your “stuff” is supposed to come to the surface. That’s the point. That’s the cleansing part of the practice. Yoga then asks you to shift your perspective. Sit in the fire. But try to stay calm in the middle of all that intensity. Walk to the center of your wheel. Stop asking the wheel to slow down. Stop asking the world to change for you. Change your relationship to the world. Change your relationship to the movement of the wheel. Move from Tamas, through Rajas to Sattva, and experience the true nature of your self.
First Shiva Power class in Chiang Mai!
Shiva Power class! Here’s some pictures from our first morning practice together in Chiang Mai! After this class I felt like we had really arrived. I remember my teacher, Mr. Ramaswami teaching us the yoga sutras in my teacher training program with him. So clear! So easy to understand. And I’ll never forget him saying that if you understand the first 4 sutras then you understand the whole book. The rest of the book just elaborates on these first four sutras. Sutra 1.1. Now, time for yoga instruction. Sutra 1.2. Yoga is the practice of quieting the distractions of the mind. Sutra 1.3 Then, (when the mind is quiet) you experience the true nature of your self. Sutra 1.4 The rest of the time you are caught up in the distractions of your mind (and you never get to know your self). So simple! So clear. So easy to understand. Now, we know the goal. And the rest of the book systematically breaks down how to quiet the mind, how to reach the goal. The students were so focused and dedicated on this retreat. It was a lot of fun to hold the space for them and share the teachings. Really, they did a great job holding the space for themselves. My job was easy. Thank you to everyone for your hard work this past week and for going into the fire with me!
Yogis! It has been a busy month.
Yogis! It has been a busy month. I will try to catch up on some posting and share some of the things I’ve been working on this last month. A few weeks ago I traveled to Beijing to shoot a 7 part Hip Opening Series for the online platform Heart Yoga which used to be called Keep Yoga. Thank you to Rae from Heart Yoga for inviting me to shoot this 7 part video series where we explore the anatomy of the hip joint and look at the full range of motion at the hip joint. Thank you to Shera who assisted me and did a really great job demonstrating poses while I explained key anatomy or directions of movement. And thank you to the Heart Yoga team. I’m looking forward to seeing the final product. The videos will take some time to edit and should be available on the Heart Yoga online platform in the spring. I’ll let you know when they are ready. Enjoy! It was a lot of fun shooting these videos and breaking down the 360 degree movement at the hip joint. Learn how to open your hips in all 6 directions and how to protect your low back and your knees. Learn why we want to have open hips and how to stretch and strengthen different muscles of the pelvis and the upper legs. Looking forward to practicing with you all in 2020. Lots of workshops, trainings and festivals are already scheduled. If you can’t make it offline to practice with me in person some of the online courses I have been shooting will give you the chance to practice a little with me online. See you soon. Namaste.
First Workshop in Jiaxing
Just before Christmas I taught my first workshop in the city of Jiaxing! What a great group of students at YogaWorks! Thank you to Michelle for inviting me to come and teach your students. Thank you to Skye for doing such a great job translating. And thank you to everyone who came to practice with me! We had a deep hip opening workshop and the studio was packed. I loved digging into these practices with you all and helping you find more range of motion at your hip joint. December turned out to be all about the hips! Why do we want to open the hips? To stretch and strengthen the muscles of the upper legs and pelvic region, to protect the knees and the lower back, to increase blood flow to the pelvic region, to connect the upper and lower body, to keep energy flowing smoothly to the lower extremities, to find balance and prevent injuries, to prepare the body to sit for deeper pranayama and meditation practices, and to release tension from the body, which allows us to release tension from the mind. Are your hips tight? In which direction of movement? How is this affecting your body? What are you holding onto? Do you know how to open up, which muscles need to be stretched and which muscles need to get stronger? Do you know the poses that will help you? Do you know how to protect your knees and your lower back? Look forward to seeing you at a future workshop. And hope to see you all again soon in Jiaxing! You did a great job YogaWorks yogis! Very auspicious! I practiced for years in Santa Monica with my teacher @anniecarpentersmartflow at another studio called YogaWorks. Namaste.
Happy New Year to Everyone!
Happy New Year to Everyone! It’s been an incredible 2019! I hope you all had a great holiday and your 2020 is starting off in the right direction. Did you set an intention? What old habit isn’t serving you that you want to let go of and leave behind this year? What seeds did you plant for the new year?
Our master teacher, Sri T. Krishnamacharya, the teacher of several of my teacher’s says, “Yoga is the practice of replacing old patterns that aren’t serving you, with new patterns that will lead you in a more positive direction”. What are your old patterns that aren’t serving you? How are you getting in your own way? It’s time to make some changes. Now, is the time for yoga. It is up to you to do the work. It is your responsibility to shift your perspective. The ego part of us says, ‘I want the world to change for me’. One of my teacher’s used to call this the “Arrogance of specialness”. Yoga says, ‘Change your relationship to your Self and your relationship to the whole world changes. Shift your perspective and you will have a different experience of the world’. There’s a well known modern quote that I love that explains this well. “Yoga isn’t about making the waves go away. It is about learning how to surf”. The teacher can show you the door and encourage you to follow them down the path but you must decide to follow them. You must decide to walk through the door. It’s time to wake up, everyone! Are you still running into the same brick wall? Maybe there’s a better way. Where do you want to go? What shift do you want to make in your life? Create a simple statement. Repeat it to yourself over and over again. Try to see it already happening. You’re already there. You’re already living this intention.
I have just finished leading an incredible yoga retreat in Thailand. It has been such a memorable experience. Thank you to everyone who joined me walking this path in 2019. I look forward to our continued practice together this year. I hope to see you in a class, workshop, on a future retreat, or in an upcoming training program.
Lots of love to you and best wishes to you and your family!
Namaste,
Garth.
Deep back bending workshop at Sunya Yoga!
The Botanical Garden in Guangzhou.
Shiva Power class in Guangzhou!
Look at the Yogic Mirror.
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.
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.
