Michael Hewett
Founder/Mindfulness Coach
Yoga Instructor
A yogi of over twenty five years and musician for forty years, Michael’s training in the full spectrum of yoga has deep roots in vinyasa, ashtanga, ISHTA, shamatha meditation (mind training) and eastern philosophy.
Michael is an Honors graduate of Berklee College of Music (‘95), professional guitarist and producer with seven full length albums and dozens of singles spanning multiple genres.
Michael has successfully completed four, thirty-day solitary meditation retreats, has led countless retreats around the world and guides people on their individual paths of healing, growth and evolution.
In 2009 at the request of his students, Michael founded Vessel Academy to share the full spectrum of teachings and practices of yoga, meditation and eastern philosophy. Within a few years the graduates of Vessel Academy asked Michael to create 200 & 300 hour teacher trainings so they may also guide others.
In 2016 he moved to Paris to bring the academy to European communities, lead retreats and tour on the yoga festival circuit throughout Southern Asia.
In 2018 after returning to New York City, he accepted a nine-month contract to teach the yogic arts to seventeen psychotherapists and social workers at the Iris Kaplan Center in Manhattan. This program empowered the therapists to understand and integrate yogic arts in their own lives so from an informed perspective, they could support their client patients in utilizing these timeless self-regulation tools in their lives.
Currently he teaches a full roster of private clients, group classes and leads the groundbreaking ‘Learning to Learn’ program as an adjunct professor of mindfulness studies at Lehman College (NY). In 2023 Esalen Institute invited Michael to lead workshops at their beautiful campus in Big Sur, California.
His passion as a teacher is to inspire and empower people to discover and engage their purpose through the combination of yogic arts and music. By engaging the spectrum of intelligences each of us embodies (physical, emotional, energetic and cognitive), healing, personal growth and breakthroughs are made.