New Zealand Yoga Teacher of the Year 2025

I have been named New Zealand Yoga Teacher of the Year 2025. This is an award made by ExerciseNZ and its sister organisation, YogaNZ, at a ceremony on 29 November. It is an award to recognise dedication and work in the community to bring the benefits of yoga to people.

The Awards Process:

To be eligible for the award, one must first be nominated. I have a student who was kind enough to consider me worthy of a nomination. Their nomination is referred back to the nominee by ExerciseNZ. Following that, one must choose whether or not to apply for the award.

I debated with myself for a while as to whether or not I would proceed. In the end, a deciding factor was that I did not want to disrespect the person who had nominated me by spurning that nomination and not pursuing the process. I applied for the award.

The powers that be have a list of all applicants and, from that list, a long list is created. Those on the long list are required to submit material in support of their application. In the case of the Yoga Teacher of the Year award, a series of written answers to questions is required. Background details are sought, including the history the applicant has in teaching yoga. There are inquiries as to how many classes are taught per week, in what context the classes are taught, to how many students are they taught, in what style(s) and so on. The questions also ask what one's philosophy to teaching is and what yoga principles have particular relevance or meaning to the applicant.

The greatest substance of the application is in submitting a video showing the applicant recivinga dn greeting their stidents, teaching their students and farewelling their students. This gives the judges a full perspective of how ther classes work and what the relationship between the teacher and the students is.

Referees are required and I sought permission of a coup[le of regular andd long-standing students of mine to submit their names as referees with my application.

The applications are considered by the judges and a short-list of three finalists was produced. No indication of the winner was given and the winner was not announced until a sealed envelope was opened at the awards cerem,ony in late November.

The awards cover a wide range of fields including those for facilities (chain, studio, independent and the supreme facility), for individuals (personal trainer, group trainer, yoga, Pilates, group exercise etc), a community award and some special awards for particular contributions in certain areas. Many excellent people were finalists and the winners of awards were people doing fabuklous work in their fields.

My expoerience of the awards:

I chose to attend the awards for avariety of reasons. First, I have not been in the situation of being a finalist for an award with such a ceremony before and I thought it would be an interesting occasion for its novelty. I also thought it would be nice to have a little trip to Auckland.

I did not know the other two finalsits for the Yoga Teacher of the Year award. i had looked them up online having seen they were finalsits but I did not know them and did not know their work. i imagined their work was imprtessive and was quite prepared for either to be named the winner.

I did not know the criteria that the judges were following or what they were looking for from the finalists. In the material I submitted, I simply put forward a class that was representative of my daily work. I did not try several different classes to choose the best one. I just taught a class and sent it in. If the judges appreciated what I was doing then so be it. if not, then I was comfortable with that too.

I was pretty calm during the evening and, for the reasons stated, I believed I was sanguine about whether or not I won. However, when the Yoga Teacher of the Year award was to be announced and the envelope was being handed to the woman running the ceremony, I felt my heart start to beat rather fast and I realised I was rather more interested in the outcome than I had acknowledged to myself.

The envelope was opened and the name read out... was mine. Most gratifying. As I went up to receive the award, the judges' comments on my work were read out, as they were for all winners.

Judges' Comments:

The judges said, "Hamish's teaching epitomises community-driven yoga classes, bringing a genuine connection to his students and extensive experience from studio ownership and teacher trainings. He guides with care and clarity, balancing philosophy, mindset and movement in his teaching, creating a supportive space that clearly inspires his students' practice".

As I have stated, I simply sought to submit work that was representative of my daily endeavours. I was pleased by the judges' comments as those qualities are exactly what I wish to create.

Years ago, my trainer, Baron Baptiste, said that there are so many teachers who teach great mechanics (they have all the alignment, the anatomy and the cues, and that is their focus in class) but the physical detail, while important, is not what gives students a great experience of themself in their practice. I seek to give the physical (what the judges called "movement"), and I offer philosophical perspective and principle. I am not a therapist and do not purport to be, yet a long-time student says that coming to my classes is like having a therapy session as she gets her head straight during the practice. Finally, mindset is important. In the moment awareness and choice to be up to something big for yourself is an experience you can achieve in yoga practice and take with you from the practice to apply elsewhere in your life.

What followed?

The first thing to follow was congratulations from many people and I am honoured by the kind comments I have received. Among the kindest was the comment from a student that it was an honour to be taught by me. I really enjoy what I do and to connect and create classes with my students is very rewarding.

I got hit up by a magazine to advertise with them. The approach initially made it sound as if I was going to be invited to write an item for the magazine. I suspected that it was a pitch for my advertising dollar (or thousands of such dollars!) and it was. As an anonymous chap teaching community classes, there was no interest in my custom as an advertiser. As a teacher with a label, I became a target. That is OK.

I have been invited to teach at a retreat in September 2026. That is exciting and I very much look forward to that. I know the organiser from past occasions when we have worked together, but it is a few years since we collaborated and I suspect the award may have been the cause for the renewal of the connection. If so, I am pleased about that. The organiser is a lovely person who runs well-orgnaised programmes that are very enjoyable. Everyone involved, including me, will have a good time.

Some approaches I have made to workplaces for teaching opportunities in-house have received favourable responses since I have been able to attach the label, "New Zealand Yoga Teacher of the Year" to my submissions to them. It is good to be able to get work from the success I had at the awards.

I got to speak on The Panel with Wallace Chapman on RNZ. The issue with this was the panelists. The interview began with Wallace congratulating me. Before I could acknowledge him, one of the panelists came in with a mocking comment about "just breathe". He later showed respect for yoga as not being an easy discipline and recognised it was a healthy pursuit.

The other panelist was Dame Denise L'Estrange Corbet. She was very dismissive of yoga and said she had tried but everyone just farted all the time and so it was not for her. All I say is, consider the source. I have taught over 10,000 yoga classes and know the discipline. She tried one or two classes and gave up.

Most of the time on the interview was given to the panelists' comments and some of what I had to say I had to squeeze in, talking over the top of the Dame Denise. Wallace Chapman was good - he's a good lad. You can hear the interview by clicking here.

How to Practice with Me?

This last year has been my first year teaching other than in my own studio since 2013. I now teach at a variety of hired premises in Christchurch. My timetable can be viewed by clicking here.

I also teach in a variety of workplaces. If you would like me to teach in your workplace as a regular offering or for a one-off occasion, you can contact me by email or phone (hamish.kenworthy@gmail.com or 0210551884) and we will tee something up.

I also have an on-demand service where you can access power vinyasa yoga, yin yoga, mat Pilates and meditation practices, along with mini-workshops on certain aspects of practice. My on-demand service can be viewed by clicking here.

My Intentions:

I greatly enjoy my work as a yoga teacher and I greatly enjoy my daily interactions with my students. I intend to keep on teaching as I have been but am expanding away from the eastern suburbs of Christchurch to offer more classes near the central city and in Merivale/Fendalton/Ilam.

I seek to grow the on-demand aspect of my teaching and keep adding fresh material to the already existing library available.

Class by class, I seek to expand people's interest in and commitment to yoga. I seek to expand the positive influence that yoga has for individuals and in the community as a whole.

I am grateful for the turns that my life has taken that I am in the career that I am. Baron Baptiste said to me in 2011 that I was a searching soul. I am still searching, but I am extremely happy, content and feel blessed to have come to where I am in my search.