"Every day you must walk that fine line between courage and caution."

- BKS IYENGAR

PHOTO BY TAI KERBS

GARTH McLEAN

Garth is a Senior Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher (CIYT, Level 3, Intermediate Senior III), a Certified Yoga Therapist with the International Association of Yoga Therapists and a Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 500) with Yoga Alliance.
Based in Los Angeles, Garth teaches public classes, and specialty workshops in the US and internationally. All classes are taught in the Iyengar tradition.  Private instruction is available.

Photo by Tai Kerbs

Certified Iyengar
Yoga Teacher

E-RYT500
YACEP

WHAT'S NEW?

 

What Are You Becoming? 

Are you becoming what you want?

These profound yet simple questions are ones that Prashant Iyengar presented several years ago in a yoga class I was attending in Pune, India.”What are you becoming?” and “Are you becoming what you want?” certainly hold potency for self-reflection and change, while also potentially igniting one’s motivation and drive to realize one’s goals.

At the beginning of the year, many of us find ourselves steeped in self-reflection, personal goal-setting, resolve, and taking action to create better and happier tomorrows for ourselves. As I ask myself these questions, I find myself in a deep state of meditative self-discovery, reevaluation, and self-motivation. In the spirit of self-study (svadhyaya), I share this with you should these same questions serve to enhance your meditative process as you ponder personal goals and self-directed action for 2023.

Regardless of whether or not you are setting personal goals for the new year, as living, breathing beings, we are constantly in a state of evolution and change.

To mark the annual change from the old year to the new one, in the early morning hours of Jan 2, I was deeply grateful to be able to catch a sunrise from the top of Haleakala Mountain in Maui, Hawaii. The picture above was taken just as light of the sun was starting to make itself known on the horizon.

Bearing witness to the transitional light of dawn and feel the warmth of a new day breaking at the start of the new year is nothing less than phenomenal. The transition out of darkness into light is a poignant reminder of the daily potential for transformation possible through yoga.As we are still in the early days of the year ahead, Prashant’s words for self-investigation, are further bolstered by his sage counsel to “begin your endeavor with awareness.”

All that said, I hope your year is off to an amazing start! May you be blessed with success in reaching your goals, good health, happiness and unconditional love as we venture forward in 2023!!

Should your plans for 2023 include deepening your yoga practice, I am grateful to offer the following in-person workshops and online classes January through June.I hope you can join me!

Online Classes

Should your 2023 plans include yoga,

I am happy to continue to offer the following online classes and in-person workshops!

 

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Saturday MS and Movement Challenges Class
Saturday mornings 
9:00am-10:30 am (Pacific Time)
(on hiatus April 1-June 30)

 

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 Wednesday MS and Movement Challenges Class 

Wednesday mornings through March 29

8:00-am-9:30am (Pacific Time)

(on hiatus April 1-June 30)

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Register for all online classes through Punchpass

 

Reminder:

Links to online classes for which you are registered are automatically emailed the DAY BEFORE and again about an HOUR BEFORE the class starts.
 

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Private Sessions and Consultations

ONLINE and IN-PERSON

 To schedule an online Private Session or Consultation
Click here 
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 In-Person Private Sessions in Los Angeles!

Please be Covid vaccinated. 

Contact me at yogarthman@gmail.com with questions or to schedule an in-person session.
 
 

Upcoming In-Person
Workshops

 

APRIL 21, 22, 23 – PLACE CENTRUM GENERACE
SLANY, CZECH REPUBLIC 
Click here for info

MAY 4, 5, 6 – IYENGAR YOGA ASSOCIATION ISRAEL
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL 
Click here for info

JUNE 2, 3, 4 – ANANDA YOG
SILKEBORG, DENMARK
 
Click here for info

JUNE 9, 10 – YOGA INVERNESS
INVERNESS, SCOTLAND 
Click here for info

JUNE 16, 17, 18  THE YOGA EXTENSION
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND 
Click here for info

JUNE 23, 24, 25 – MANCHESTER DISTRICT IYENGAR YOGA
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND 
Click here for info

SEPTEMBER 15, 16, 17 – iYOGA UTRECHT
UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS 
Click here for info

SEPTEMBER 22, 23, 24 – PARIS – LOCATION TBA
PARIS, FRANCE 
Click here for info

SEPTEMBER 29, 30, OCT. 1 – ISTITUTO IYENGAR YOGA FIRENZE

FLORENCE, ITALY
Click here for info

NOVEMBER 10, 11,12 – CENTRO IYENGAR YOGA SÃO PAULO
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL 
Click here for info

NOVEMBER 17, 18, 19 – YOGA MUKTI
SANTIAGO, CHILE 
Click here for info

NOVEMBER 24, 25, 26 – ESTUDIO de YOGA IYENGAR SAN TELMO
 BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
Click here for info

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Book Review

” … a little masterpiece”

 Honored to be reviewed by the New York-based, internationally recognized neuroscientist, Dr. Patrizia Casaccia, in the Spring 2021 issue of Yoga Therapy Today.

Originally published in Yoga Therapy Today, a publication of the International Association of Yoga TherapistsReprinted with permission.

Resources Page

Check out my

RESOURCES PAGE

to
Order books,
Find vendors for yoga props,
Info on vaccines as they specifically relate to MS,  
Asana Sequence for Immune Enhancement, 

Recent Interview

and more….

Yoga, MS, and Health

With my direct personal experience of overcoming some of the most frightening symptoms associated with MS, I can wholeheartedly attest that the practice of Iyengar Yoga offers the practitioner a pathway to manage many symptoms associated with MS, and to also navigate the challenges of life.

Through the practice, some of the symptoms I’ve managed to ease and work through include: gait abnormality and imbalance issues (ataxia);  drop foot;  muscle weakness; inability to judge distance or scale with arms (dysmetria); burning neural pain in arms hips and feet;  numbness and tingling in limbs (parasthesia); optic neuritis; double vision (diplopia); spasticity (paraparesis) of legs & MS hug in torso; bladder and bowel dysfunction; crushing fatigue;   LHermitte’s symptom (an uncomfortable electrical charge in the spine when bowing the head); Uhthoff’s phenomenon (heat intolerance which can temporarily worsen symptoms); and depression. 

The result, I’ve found, is a more balanced life —  physically, emotionally and psychologically.

Health is simply a by-product of proper yoga practice. Through iconic alignment of asana (physical postures) and pranayama (breathing) we can fortify stability, keep mobile and endure with relative ease what may not be able to be cured.

Disease implies an absence of ease or imbalance. An internal storm. A perfect breeding ground for fear, uncertainty and doubt, all of which seem to resonate in our current global climate. 

When we are diagnosed with a chronic incurable disease, it can be a life-altering, calamitous event. In addition to dealing with whatever physical adversity we may have to face, we may also have to face how to navigate a previously unknown landscape of uncertainty, fear, grief, isolation, anger and depression. It makes sense.

When I was diagnosed as a younger man inhabiting a body I could not feel or control, I was scared, unsure and filled with trepidation about an uncertain future. BKS Iyengar opened up a door to possibility for me through the practice of yoga and gave me the tools, and a good dose of realistic hope, to take the necessary action to move beyond my limitations with courage and caution.

Committed to helping others through yoga, I became a teacher of the subject to share what has so profoundly helped me. 

Since teaching, it has been a great honor and privilege to work with so many people across the globe with all ranges of ability in the various stages of MS, Parkinson’s, post-stroke rehabilitation and other neurological and movement challenges. Though it’s not a cure, the yoga practice has helped so many.

To offer further insight, I penned a book based on my experience, to perhaps serve as a reference for others on the path who seek health and well-being through the applied practice of Iyengar yoga.  The book is intended as a starting point for self-ambulatory people with MS who are able to self-transfer, either to the floor or a second chair, and willing to utilize yoga props or common household items for support.

The book includes photos to demonstrate a range of traditional yoga poses, as well as adaptations, to accommodate varying degrees of physical challenge.

Though it is impossible to address every possible scenario and degree of challenge with MS, in this book I hope to offer a reference for others with MS, in order to keep mobile, hopefully slow progression of the condition and maintain reasonable functionality.    

Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis, A Practical Guide for Persons with MS and Yoga Teachers” is available worldwide.

My hope is that by offering this book it may serve as an additional resource for reasonably ambulatory people with MS to help ease their situation.
 
Also available on:
Amazon.co.uk,  Amazon.ca and Amazon platforms worldwide.  Check the country specific Amazon platform for  your region. 
  
It is also available directly through Singing Dragon Publishing
and in local book stores.
 
Singing Dragon is an imprint of Jessica Kingsley Publishers – Academic, Educational and Professional Publisher of the Year, British Book Awards 2020
 
 

Online Consultations

If you are interested in an online consultation, I currently offer 30 minute consultations.

Have questions on your practice? Or how to begin or maintain a practice?

If you wish to coordinate a time that is not currently listed, and that may work better for your time zone and schedule, email me at yogarthman@gmail.com so we can coordinate a mutually convenient time to meet.

 The practice of yoga helps one to face times of fear and uncertainty with poise and presence of mind.

 I look forward to seeing you soon!!

 

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