Sami Hewinson on Fifty-Four Letters
Sami Hewinson teaches yoga online from the Gold Coast and the practice changed her life when she was nineteen, and from that point on she wanted to share it. Her first teaching opportunity arrived after she sent fifty-four letters to kindergartens across Sydney offering her services, and one came back with a yes. That one yes was the start. She went on to teach in schools, gyms, and private studios across Sydney, then internationally at festivals and conferences, and now runs her own retreats in India and around Australia.
Alongside the teaching she has been raising four children and homeschooling them, which meant she had to work out a way to keep sharing yoga while staying close to the kids. Around 2012 the online space was just starting to come together, and being a yoga professional through a screen was uncharted territory at the time, and she went in curious about what it might look like. Over time the offering expanded into Āyurveda, coaching, mentoring, and education, and she drew on a family background in magazines, events, and marketing to build out skills in business and communications, which she has since put to work supporting other yoga organisations including Yoga Australia.
The opportunities, in her telling, came from being willing to contribute, watching for places where there was a need or a problem to solve, and staying dialled into the community she serves. Eighteen years of teaching has shown her that there is more than one right way to operate as a yoga teacher, and that her services can evolve alongside her life and skills and the changing needs of the people she teaches.
She is now studying yoga therapy and looking at how to make therapy more accessible through the online space, which has led her into developing programs with integrated software, online content, education systems, and coaching. The community she has in mind is women who would otherwise struggle to access a studio or one-on-one classes, women carrying full-time work alongside parenting or caring duties, women in regional places, and women navigating busy modern life. The online space brings yoga directly into their homes, which is why she has chosen that route.
Visit or follow Sami:
Website: livetoserve.com.au/
Instagram: instagram.com/livetoserveacademy/
Facebook: facebook.com/livetoserveacademy
We’re celebrating yoga teachers who have
transformed their love of yoga into a thriving career.
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