Deeping the relationship with yourself.

Deeping the relationship with yourself.

If your yoga practice is helping you get into a deeper relationship with your Self, then you will notice your relationships changing. When you experience your Self in that deepest state of meditation, called Samadhi -- what flows through you are feelings of love, compassion, and kindness. The awareness of your inner light shines through you. It's impossible to not care more about the people and things around you, once you experience this deeper connection to your Self.

It is when we are not in touch with this inner light that we live from a very small place. The ego governs our thinking. We look out at the world very selfishly.

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Handstand Workshop in Beijing!

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Handstand Workshop in Beijing!

We’ve got a Core Strength Workshop coming up this weekend at Space in Shanghai! If you want to be able to do arm balance poses and handstands you need to have a strong core, and this doesn’t just mean the superficial abdominal muscles. Join me this weekend and learn about the function of all the core muscles on the front, back, and sides of the trunk. We touched on a little of this work in the Handstand Workshop. We even did 108 Yogi Bicycles! A very auspicious number! Thank you to everyone who came out to practice and went deep with me in this Handstand Workshop! Hope to see you in class or at a future workshop!

Hip Opening Workshop at Space in Beijing!!!

Hip Opening Workshop at Space in Beijing!!!

Why do we open the hips in yoga?
1) To protect the low back.
2) To protect the knees.
3) To find balance.
4) To prepare the body to sit comfortably for deeper pranayama and meditation practices.
5) To release tension in the body and tension in the mind.
If the hip flexors are tight the back will suffer in backbends. If the back of the legs and buttocks are tight the low back will suffer in forward folds. If the hips are tight the knees will suffer when the hips are externally rotated in seated postures.
When the body is out of balance this will be a distraction and eventually lead to injury. This is also an indication of imbalance in the mind.
The body being uncomfortable will be the biggest distraction to your pranayama and meditation practice.
Releasing tension from the body releases tension from the sub conscious layer of the mind. This is why the asana practice is so cleansing for the mind. And why we need to go into the fire and hold the poses for so long.
There’s a few other reasons we might want to open the hips but these are the main ones.
I love that in every workshop I teach when I ask this question the students always come up with a few more reasons that I have never thought of and that I add to my list.
Thank you for coming, everyone! It was fun to practice with you and go deep into the hips. Hope to see you at the next workshop!

Sharing these wonderful teachings!

Sharing these wonderful teachings!

Some more fun pics from this past weekend! Doing what I love to do. Sharing these wonderful teachings! This practice is so simple and so powerful. It can and will change your life. You’ve just got to show up and get on your mat. Learn the technology. Do the work. Practice. And then repeat. It works if you show up for yourself and do the work! I’m constantly amazed at how simple it is to use yoga to shift my perspective and have a different experience of the world around me. Hope to see you in a future class or at a future workshop! Namaste.

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

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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.

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Challenging Shiva Power class on Sunday morning.

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Challenging Shiva Power class on Sunday morning.

We dove deeper into our pranayama practice after class. The afternoon was a fun breakdown of sun salutations A and B from Mysore Style Ashtanga and some variations on these 2 sequences.
We spent a lot of time working on the transition from Plank Pose to Low Plank. This is a challenging transition that most of us aren’t doing properly. If you clean up this transition you can prevent a lot of future shoulder injuries.


I taught the students how to jump forward and how to jump back in their sun salutations too and we worked on these transitions together. I think the best advice I got when I was first learning to jump in my sun salutations is to jump up and then down. Break it into 2 parts. Don’t think about jumping forward or jumping back. Just think about jumping up first.
Thank you, everyone! What a fun weekend. I look forward to seeing you all again. Good luck with the rest of the training and great job this past weekend!

. 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!

Congratulations to the Haipoo Yoga Trainees!

Congratulations to the Haipoo Yoga Trainees!

I remember seeing an inspirational video tribute to my teacher Dharma a few years ago for the first time. Dharma says at some point, in the video that, “teaching yoga is the greatest job in the world.” I think everyone who has had the experience of teaching yoga and helping someone to grow and deepen their practice feels this same way. It’s incredible!

I’ve been back in Qingdao this week!

I’ve been back in Qingdao this week!

I’ve been back in Qingdao this week! Really fun group of students came to take 2 Shiva Power Master Classes with me. A hip opening and shoulder opening class on Wednesday night and a deep twisting and core strength class on Thursday night. Thank you to everyone who came out to practice. It was nice to see you all and practice with some of you again. Looking forward to next year!!! I think we are going to plan a longer training program if I can fit it into my schedule. Thank you to my student, Faye who graduated my Shiva Yoga 200hr RYT Teacher Training Program 2 years ago for organizing these classes. And thank you to Belle for translating. It’s been a long time my friend. Have missed you. Namaste

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.

Everything has a beginning, middle, and end.

Everything has a beginning, middle, and end.

Everything has a beginning, middle, and end. The yogis understood this well. These three energies are represented by Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. There’s a beginning, middle, and end to everything. A yoga class, a day, a life. The yogis recommended three stages of yoga for these three stages of life. We talked about these three stages of energy during our opening and closing ceremonies. Our training too had a beginning, middle, and end. And every ending is followed by a new beginning. We are on a circular journey. We go from darkness to light and then back to darkness again. And the cycle starts all over. Sad for this training to end. It was a wonderful week with this new group of students but excited for the next adventure. Learned a lot and had a wonderful time. I think the students did too. See you again soon, everyone! The light in me honors the light in you. Namaste.

Gratitude practice.

Gratitude practice.

We finished the 3rd week of my Shiva Yoga 200hr Teacher Training, with a 108 Sun Salutations morning practice, in the park, near the studio.
The Sun Salutations are essentially a gratitude practice. Practicing gratitude helps to lift the mind up. The yogis understood that the mind was constantly falling down and never satisfied. Modern psychology is starting to recognize this as well. Recent studies have shown that practicing gratitude changes your brain chemistry. Grateful to be right here in this moment!
The Sun Salutations also help to warm the body up, connect body, breath, and mind, balance the nervous system, and help us to connect the idea of the sun as the brightest thing in our world to the idea of our journey in yoga inward to experience the brightest part of ourselves.

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Last week of 200-YTT!

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Last week of 200-YTT!

I’m a little slow to post. We are in the final week of my Shiva Yoga 200hr Teacher Training. Putting out a huge amount of energy. Have barely had time to look at all the pictures and videos from the training. Every day is just so packed and there’s so much to do!

These pics are from our 3rd week. Wrapping up our deeper exploration of Hatha Yoga — Cleansing, Asana, Pranayana, Mudra, and Bandha.
The students are learning how to separate the breath and isolate as much as possible the diaphragm, intercostal muscles, and secondary breathing muscles. These three types of breathing are often called Diaphragmatic breathing, Costal breathing, and Clavicular breathing.
We mostly want to focus on diaphragmatic and costal breathing in yoga. Clavicular breathing is not ideal, as it stimulates the right nostril — sympathetic nervous system. A lot of people are doing this in everyday life without realizing it and creating a lot of stress and tension around their neck for no reason. Teaching about breathing and pranayama is one of my favorite parts of these trainings

The student’s practices are getting so strong!

The student’s practices are getting so strong!

It’s wonderful to see growth in your students. It’s one of the most amazing things about being a teacher.
When you are a Sattvic teacher you are trying to share everything you can with your students. Eventually the goal is to give them all your knowledge and all the tools they need to do the work themselves. That’s the job! Share everything you can. There’s an old yogi saying — one who practices but doesn’t teach is a a thief, and one who teaches but doesn’t practice is a fraud. Don’t be a thief or a fraud. Be the Guru— heavy with knowledge, and share your knowledge with your students — help remove the darkness and lead them towards the light

Call 310.800.8614
mail@garthhewittyoga.com