About Tomasz Goetel

Tomasz Goetel is a certified Hot Yoga teacher, who specializes in a “fitness” style of Yoga, where a set sequences of Yoga postures are practiced in a lightly heated room.
He has been well-known for the unique way of connecting with each student, through a light-hearted approach, rich in personal attention. His classes are challenging and fun!

"To love what you do and feel that it matters - how could anything be more fun?"

My Hot Yoga Certification:
---Barkan Method Hot Yoga, Level I, 200-hours, recognized by the Yoga Alliance, (Jimmy Barkan, Florida, USA), class of 2004.
---Barkan Method Hot Yoga Level II/III Advanced Class and Hot Vinyasa, recognized by the Yoga Alliance, (Jimmy Barkan, Florida, USA), class of 2005.
---Yoga Alliance RYT 200.

I have been curious about the body-mind-spirit connection for as long as I can remember. At the young age, I got into martial arts and carried on training in my teenage years. As I grew more mature, my interest and focus started slowly shifting from the body to the mind and, eventually, toward the Spirit. This way I've moved on from basic "hard" physical training - via "soft" taoist practices - to meditation and spiritual living. It wasn't until I found Yoga that I could fully work the deeper connection between the "three treasures" of Body, Mind and Spirit. For me, the daily Yoga practice has become a foundation for a new way of conscious living and brought a new outlook on well-being.
I was invited to my first hot Yoga class by a friend (Lisa, thank you!) some time in 2001 or 2002. After the class, I felt AMAZING. After the series of a few classes, I realized how powerfully the heated room-yoga posture combination works. At that time I was quite involved in qiqong and martial arts and also worked a full-time casino job. I did not want to sacrifice any valuable spare time for practicing Yoga, so I put the idea aside.

I didn't come back into the hot room until 2003, when I joined Jimmy Barkan's Yoga College in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. This time I decided to "dive in" deeper into Hot Yoga and went on taking classes once and sometimes twice daily for about a year. I reduced my daily qigong training to the basics; I adjusted my work schedule, nutrition and pretty much the whole lifestyle around my Yoga practice. My previous experience with the taoist energy work and fighting arts has been very beneficial to my deeper understanding of how the body alignement, breathing and concentration work throughout each sequence of postures. Two of the main things that a beginning student struggles with are the difficulty breathing and inability to pay attention. I was already "a conscious breather" and well able to concentrate on what is happening to me - that proved to be a blessing and I made steady progress in my practice.

I graduated from Jimmy Barkan's Hot Yoga Teacher Training program in 2004. After that, many peculiar events started taking place in my personal life and very soon I retired from casino work. The Yoga teacher training marks the beginning of happiness and well-being in my daily life that hasn't left me ever since.
As I was fortunate to be in Jimmy's good hands, I started teaching classes at his two Florida studios, gaining experience in leading class and deftly benefitting my own practice in the process. I completed the Advanced Hot Yoga Training in 2005 and assisted Jimmy in his other teacher training programs.

In September 2006 it was time to leave Florida after six years and a month later I was invited to Thailand to teach Hot Yoga. I received a very warm welcome here and life has made Thailand my new home.

PERSONAL NOTE:

I teach Hot Yoga and Hot Vinyasa as I have received it from my main instructor, Jimmy Barkan, during the time I lived in South Florida.
Jimmy has been my Yoga Teacher, Mentor, Best Friend and a wonderful Boss. He continues to inspire, support and understand me! What good there is in my own teaching comes mostly from him.
I have also assimilated many skills through the advice and support coming from many other Yoga Teachers (I list some of them here in no particular order): Jim Borsellino, Lisa Goodwin, Paige Held, Tejas, Patricia Wolk, Philip Christodoulou, Nicole Carraro, Melinda Marino and others.
I have also learned much from the fellow participants in the Hot Yoga Teacher Training Programs and all the Yoga Students of South-East Florida that took my classes... Thank you!
You are all very dear to me and I wish I could see all of you more often!

It would have taken me much longer to get where I got in my own Yoga practice without my previous martial art, qigong and meditation experiences. Those were flowing in abundance thanks to the talent and skill of such Teachers as my best late friend Robert in Poland. Serge Augier, The Natural Boxer in Paris. Hsing Yi and Taichi Sifu Andrew Chung. My training partner, Terrence. Choy Lee Fut's Master Li Siu Hung. The fenomenal Su Dong Chen and his Essence of Evolution. And "The Old Man" in Florida, who never liked to be talked about :).

As for guidance, Dattatreya Sri Siva "The Guru of Prosperity", the late masters Krishnamurti, Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov and Paramahansa Yogananda have been pointing me at new stairways to take my spiritual growth to the next level.
Recently, Ekhart Tolle and Caroline Myss have had a great impact on my outlook on life.

:)

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