Happy New Year to Everyone! 

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.

End of year connection!

End of year connection!

We had a big bbq celebration on NYE on our yoga retreat in Chiang Mai! I love these group shared meals on retreat. When I was a young boy I wanted to have a big family as an adult so I could enjoy the company of connecting with lots of people over dinner. I loved when we would have big meals at holidays with all my family attending. I wished at the time my own immediate family was bigger. Sometimes our meals were very quiet and while I do enjoy my solitude and quiet it is also so nice to connect with everyone. I’m so grateful that I get to experience these big family style meals not just on holidays with my family but every time we go on retreat. It was so wonderful to share this meal with my retreat family. Thank you to everyone for the special memory. 31/12/2019!

Midnight Fire Cleansing Ritual - NYE!

Midnight Fire Cleansing Ritual - NYE!

We did a special meditation and fire cleansing ritual on NYE at midnight. What are you ready to let go of this year? What do you want to leave behind? Burn it in the fire. Yoga is a practice of cleansing. Cleansing the body and purifying the mind. There’s a connection there too. All the layers are connected, and when you affect one layer it affects the other layers as well. When you release tension from the body, you release tension from the mind. This was a really special ceremony. I’ve participated in a lot of fire cleansing rituals and I’ve led many of these rituals over the years. I’ve never led one on NYE, though. There was something extra special about doing the ceremony as we said goodbye to 2019. Powerful experience! Thank you for being so open to this experience, everyone! It was a very special way to end the year.

The more you put into your practice

The more you put into your practice

The more you put into your practice you get out of your practice!
The more you put into your life the more you get out of your life!
Thank you to all the students who came to practice with me at Pure Yoga in Hong Kong last week. It was a really wonderful time sharing the teachings of my teachers.
So much fun to lead this practice at the Peninsula.

The power of your yoga practice is that the class is a microcosm of your life. Change the way you move on your mat and you change the way you move in your life.
Don’t bring your habits onto the mat. Use your time on the mat to identify your habits and the patterns that aren’t serving you and let them go.
What if you could change your relationship to that challenging pose? What if you breathed into discomfort instead of running away from it? What if you didn’t distract yourself? What if you chose to practice gratitude and stopped complaining?
How different might your life be with a little shift of perspective.

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Deep back bending workshop at Sunya Yoga!

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Deep back bending workshop at Sunya Yoga!

Why do we backbend in yoga? To provide nutrients to the spinal discs, to strengthen the back of the leg muscles, buttocks, spinal erectors, and mid back muscles, and to stretch the hip flexors, core muscles and chest, and the shoulders in either flexion or extension.

Sunya Yoga in Shenzhen!

Sunya Yoga in Shenzhen!

My student, KiKi owns the studio Sunya Yoga in Shenzhen! I had so much fun teaching at her studio last weekend. We had a really fun Shiva Power master class on Saturday morning. I led a Deep Back Bending workshop on Sunday morning. Thank you to everyone who came to practice with me. The students were so open hearted and very receptive and I think this had a lot to do with KiKi and the energy she is putting out into the world.

A Very Special Vegetarian Restaurant!

A Very Special Vegetarian Restaurant!

A week ago the producer from Yoga Journal took me to this really special vegetarian restaurant in Guangzhou after we finished our first day of shooting. Such a cool place. The menu was designed with Chinese medicine in mind. The food changes on the menu each month with the change of the season. Each course the waiter brought to us he took the time to explain all of the ingredients, where they were from, why they were chosen and how they will affect our body.

The Botanical Garden in Guangzhou.

The Botanical Garden in Guangzhou.

I got to shoot last week with Yoga Journal China at the Botanical Garden in Guangzhou. Here’s some pics from the shoot. Yoga Journal China wanted to do a profile video with me. The theme of our shoot is the connection between hiking and nature, and yoga.

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.

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Great Weekend Intensive at Sun Moon Yoga in Suzhou!

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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!

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Great First Shiva Power Class in Suzhou Last Night!

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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.

Wonderful week in Shanghai at Space!

Wonderful week in Shanghai at Space!

hank you to all the students who came to practice with me this past week. You really went into the fire! I enjoyed sharing these teachings with you. My teachers would be very proud of you. Some great conversations and questions after class. Thank you for being so curious and for doing the deeper work. It’s easy to get distracted by the fancy Asanas or the superficial shape of the body. If you are only focused on the physical you are missing what the technology of yoga can really provide — peace of mind.

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Arrived in Suzhou yesterday!

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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.

Call 310.800.8614
mail@garthhewittyoga.com