Yoga Practice

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Teaching Others.

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Teaching Others.

When you practice teaching others, you learn so much about what you know and what you don’t know. Our students, and teaching itself, is such a good mirror for us. Just like in your own practice, the yoga mirror shows you the things you need to look at, and the areas that are disconnected. Are you being effective when you are teaching, or not? Are you communicating with your students? Do they understand the things you are sharing? The real measure of a good teacher is not what you can do on your mat yourself, but how effective are you at connecting with your students, helping them to grow and transform. Show me pictures of your students. I want to see them. I want to see what they have learned. I want to meet them. Are they closer to balance? Are they more Sattvic? Do they have a deeper relationship with themselves, and deeper relationships with other people and the world around them?

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When You Are In the Fire.

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When You Are In the Fire.

We really went into the fire in this workshop. And a lot of stuff bubbles to the surface when you are in that fire. Yoga is the practice of slowly dissolving the ego. And it’s a painful process. It’s not easy and it’s not about rainbows and unicorns and sunshine. It requires a lot of courage and it’s intense. But it is so worth it! Remember — it gets messy before it gets clean. We’ve gotta do the work and go through the discomfort to get to the other side. There’s no spiritual by-pass. Get on your mat! Dig in. And stand your ground. You can do this!

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Sun Salutations.

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Sun Salutations.

Kula Yoga crew working on Chatturanga in our Sun Salutation Workshop on the weekend! Check out the beautiful alignment on Amanda Gammisch. Fun day! So great to see you all. Thank you for coming!

The Sun Salutations are a big part of yoga. The Sun is another symbol of our inner Light. We connect the idea of the lightest and brightest thing in our world with the lightest and brightest (and most subtle) aspect of who we are.

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Hatha Yoga

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Hatha Yoga

Hot and sweaty twisting themed Shiva Power® class! We are exploring a lot of cleansing, mudra, bandha, and pranayama this week in my Shiva Yoga 200hr Teacher Training program.

Hatha Yoga uses the physical body and the energetic body to move beyond the mind and ego and experience the Ultimate Reality. Tantra philosophy tells us the Universe is a balance of masculine and feminine. When you find perfect balance in yourself you get to experience the Ultimate Reality! Before you practice mudra, bandha, and pranayama — first use the cleansing practices and asana to purify the physical body. Remove excess mucous (kapha) from the respiratory system, remove excess wind (vata) from the digestive tract, and stoke the digestive fire (pitta) to help remove excess body fat and prevent digestive problems. Awaken the subtle sense perception with Trataka. When the body is ready — use mudra, bandha, and pranayama to bring the masculine and feminine energy together, unite the opposite upward and downward forces, and balance the nervous system.

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Sometimes we support others.

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Sometimes we support others.

Sometimes we support others and sometimes they support us! Community is so important. Feeling the love and support from those on a similar path. Connecting with others who share our struggles. Celebrating our triumphs together. One of my favorite things about being a part of a yoga teacher training is the powerful bonds of friendship that form.

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So much pressure.

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So much pressure.

There is such pressure on us these days to always be sparkly and bright. Isn’t there? I was feeling that pressure yesterday. I was feeling a little overwhelmed. Lots on my plate right now. Trying to breathe into it. My body was feeling tired and my brain was exhausted from a day of editing one of my training manuals. I didn’t feel like holding space for anyone and I was glad that I didn’t have any classes to teach after teaching one private lesson in the morning. When I get really tired like this my mind goes very negative on me. I battled through a practice last night and that helped a little. I watched some comedy on Netflix and that helped too. I did some reading. I knew I really just needed some alone time and a good night of sleep and I’d feel better today. And I did.

Head Balance & Shoulderstand.

Head Balance & Shoulderstand.

Head balance and Shoulderstand workshop at Baja Soul Yoga! The end of an incredible 35 hrs of Shiva Yoga training.

The Head Balance and Shoulderstand are unique asanas. They are two of the original Hatha Yoga poses. The goal of these two poses is not to have an affect on the body. They are mudras. A mudra is a position that we put the body in to have an affect on the nervous system, the energetic body. A mudra is sometimes called a seal too. Mudras act on energy the way a mirror acts on light. Energy that is normally moving down and out is turned back in and up.

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Is your practice sacred?

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Is your practice sacred?

What makes your practice sacred? You get to choose how sacred your practice is to you. It's up to you. Sacred ritual is one of the ways that we can define when something is special to us. We inject our energy into these sacred rituals and into our practice. What you are training yourself to do is to also inject your energy into your life. It's up to you to make your practice special and to give it meaning. It's up to you to make your life special and give it meaning.

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Get out of your comfort zone!

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Get out of your comfort zone! No one in the history of the world ever said... I never challenged myself, always stayed in my comfort zone, and when things got intense, I avoided them and often ran away and hid under the bed, and I’ve lived a very fulfilling life, and I think I achieved my full potential...

You know all the good stuff happens when you are vulnerable, when it’s intense, when you are out of your comfort zone. So, you’ve got to override that voice that keeps telling you to get back in your comfort zone. The yogis know that if you feel vulnerable, you’re in the right place. If you are afraid and there’s some resistance, you’re in the right place. You’re job is to dance with the fear, push through the resistance, and go there. Show up for yourself. Courage in yoga isn’t about doing some fancy pose. It’s about sitting in the fire and letting it burn. The hotter the fire, the sharper the knife. The stronger you are, the more intensity you will be able to handle, the more vulnerable you will be able to be. Are you ready to feel vulnerable? Are you ready for the temperature to rise? Are you ready to get on your mat and get to know your Self?

Pranayama today!

Pranayama today!

We started our practice with lots of pranayama today! And before that we even did some simple breath work. This was our last class together on the retreat. This class was in honor of my teacher, Dharma Mittra, and modeled after his Maha Sadhana practice. These classes offer what Dharma calls the "best of the best", with a sampling of different yoga practices. Breaking down how you are breathing can bring into focus areas where you are creating tension and magnify things you are doing that are making it harder for you to breath. These patterns of tension and things you are doing that are inhibiting the breath need to be undone and let go of before you can make progress in your yoga practice.

Arm Balancing Exploration

Arm Balancing Exploration

Sequencing -- The arm balances are advanced warm up poses. They are closely related to the standing warm up poses. Take a look at arm balances you are working on in class. Each one contains the actions of the plank pose and the low plank. Look at what is going on at the hips, in the pelvic girdle. Does the arm balance look like a triangle married with the plank or low plank? Does it look like the single pigeon married with the plank or low plank? The standing warm up poses produce tapas, helping us to train the mind to concentrate, and also help us to warm the body up for the deeper practices. When you are an advanced student the arm balances do the same thing for you.

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Are You Just Doing Exercise?

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Are You Just Doing Exercise?

I was talking today before my event about the difference between practicing yoga and doing yoga exercise...

There's nothing wrong with a class that is simply a yoga exercise class but it's very different than a yoga class. The goal of yoga is to quiet the mind. In stillness, we have the opportunity to experience the deepest aspect of who we are. Yoga is really answering the question: Who am I?

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Go deeper!

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Go deeper!

It’s through deeper concentration on an object that MORE is revealed. This process of concentration, meditation, and Samadhi can be applied to anything. You have to sit with something. You have to dig deeper. There’s MORE there. You just can’t see it yet. You have to do your practice, over and over again, and you have to be curious, open, and receptive. The ego loves to have us believe that we’ve got it, we’ve figured it all out, there’s no more to learn. The mind says, "I’m bored. What’s next? Give me something else. Give me something harder. What’s next?" There is NO NEXT. This is it! Right here. Right now. And you haven’t come close to figuring this out yet. You’re ready to move on already? You’re barely scratching the surface of this place. There is no place to go. And if you are constantly thinking about the destination, and what is coming next, you aren’t really right here and right now. Pay attention!

Call 310.800.8614
mail@garthhewittyoga.com