Soft chatter and laughter fill the January-sun-drenched space and provide a warmth, body and soul, that make lingering easy. An occasional water droplet from the melting snow on the sloped, clear rooftop hits the few remaining yoga mats yet to be rolled up. A rainbow-clad peace flag flies above the landscape fabric floor like a castle banner in a great hall -but this is a banner of inclusion, acceptance, and love and it flies above empty wooden tables that will soon be laden with the seedlings for this year’s crops at Colchester Farm in Plympton. In the center of the room is a tiny powerhouse of blonde hair and energy, Meg Murphy Garfield, doing her favorite thing: Sharing the lessons of yoga and whole health with others.
During the winter months, the large greenhouse at Colchester Farm in Plympton is used for Garfield’s tri-weekly yoga classes which are moved to her outdoor backyard pool at her house in the warmer months. Garfield shares her passion and knowledge with students of all experience levels -from those who can teach yoga themselves to people who are there for their first class. Garfield, herself, was not introduced to yoga until age 50 when she took a class at her local gym in Rochester, NY. What started as a trial class quickly turned into a way of life for Garfield as she found her body and mind transforming for the better as she continued to attend.
Prior to a career in teaching yoga, Garfield was immersed in the world of health and whole foods. She worked for Niblack Foods -a spice and ingredient supplier that put her to work doing nutritional and food research. She applied her passion for healthy eating and food sources to a career as a private chef and also gave weekly demonstrations and instruction at the Rochester, NY Farmers Market. Garfield’s exclaims, “I absolutely loved the farmers market in Rochester, and talking to people about healthy eating and teaching them what I was learning was incredible!”
After establishing herself as a health support chef and yoga enthusiast, Garfield moved to Plymouth, MA. Once there, she was looking for the next big step to take in life and it wasn’t hard for her to identify what she wanted to dedicate her life to: Yoga. Garfield purchased Open Doors Yoga in Plymouth in 2012. Garfield continued to learn and research and teach and watch her life improve drastically in many ways while also helping others find things that worked for them. “Every body is so different,” says Garfield, “I want people to know that yoga is a practice. It becomes YOUR practice -not mine or the person next to you. I can help you make modifications to suit your level and preferences in yoga and in your health, but then it becomes your responsibility.”
Due to the inability to meet in person during the pandemic, Garfield closed the doors of Open Doors Yoga in 2020 and moved her classes to virtual. Now that she has relocated to Plympton, she keeps her in-person classes local at her home and neighboring Colchester Farm thanks to the generosity of farmer Jim Lough. This year, Garfield’s mantra for her classes focuses on the “inner and outer smile” and finding peace and balance of body and soul and building upon last year’s mantra, strength and purpose. When asked what is the most important focus in yoga for anyone at any level, Garfield answers easily, “Breathing. It is all about breathing. If we, as a society, just learned to breathe through things, our world would be so much better.”
Yoga might sound like a complex, out-of-reach thing to some, but Garfield assures that it offers plenty of highly beneficial things for anyone and everyone. “I am 67 this year and I have never felt better,” says Garfield, “I make sure that we move gently while also challenging ourselves so that growth is fluid and natural -not stressful or causing injury. Even if movement is restricted, yoga is about awareness and organic movement. So much of disease happens when things get stagnant and stuck. Yoga can help keep things flowing and helps us listen to our bodies and minds as one.”
Another offering in practicing yoga is the ability to be present. Garfield explains, “Yoga focuses your attention on your body’s abilities at the present moment. It helps develop breath and strength of mind and body. It’s not about what you look like, it is about how you feel.” Unlike many other fitness or dance classes, yoga studios typically don’t have mirrors so people can focus their awareness inward rather than how a pose, or the people around them, looks. Studies have found that those who practiced yoga were more aware of and in harmony with their bodies and overall health than people who didn’t practice yoga. They were also more satisfied with and less critical of their bodies -creating a cycle of positive body image and self-esteem in a society where comparison is king.
In addition to the benefits of mind, Garfield is dedicated to helping her students learn about taking action and responsibility for their own health. “Medicine should not be one size fits all,’ says Garfield. Everyone will respond to varying levels of different things in different ways. I can give you ideas and tell you what worked for me, but it is up to you to learn your body and advocate what works for you.”
Garfield then explains that yoga can effectively stimulate the Vagus nerve, promoting relaxation, reducing stress, and enhancing overall well-being. “The Vagus nerve is the center of our parasympathetic nervous system -helping us regulate and process things. When it is not functioning well, we can be left with stress and health problems that are usually just treated with medication.” Garfield suggests that exploring new ways to support your natural systems, rather than muting or silencing them, could lead to a more permanent improvement than what can be offered in traditional routes of healthcare.
In addition to the seemingly endless benefits of yoga for body and mind, another perk of taking up the practice is that if often plays a role in improving one’s relationship with food. Garfield says, “When you get talking to people around you who also care about and are passionate about health and people’s minds open up to things about what they are putting in and on their bodies. We are lacking so many nutrients and filled with things that don’t work with our bodies’ systems -causing inflammations and dysfunction.”
Our modern-day food culture tends to result in over-fed, malnourished people and the key to fixing that is most likely found in the collective efforts of individuals like Garfield who dare you to ask yourself real, honest questions about what you are doing to help or hinder your body and mind. “I want to help people heal and take care of themselves. My daughter has chronic Lyme and I have spent many years with her on her own health journey to find things that give her relief. I know how overwhelming it can be, but doing nothing is the worst thing you can do,” reflects Garfield.
In addition to yoga, Garfield makes sure her students are well-versed in being able to meditate. “So many people today are just constantly yelling at themselves internally,” Garfield points out, “The negative self-talk is so damaging. Learning to quiet that self-hate and encourage and uplift yourself by being in control of your emotional range is healing. The best decisions are made in the quiet.”
Garfield knows that perhaps the benefits of yoga sound out of reach or strange or for a “certain type” of person -but yoga is really about enhancing the human experience and can be practiced uniquely by everyone no matter the age or interests or condition of health or life status. “The hardest part about starting your journey with yoga…is starting. Walking through the door. But once you have done that,” Garfield smiles, “You are going to feel welcome, and peaceful, and grounded. Yoga is an escape -it is magic, but it is the kind of escape that is educational.”
Garfield knows what it is like to be the newbie -the beginner, and to not know what you are doing for a while. “I did not have any expectations when I started,” she says, “But it began to have such an impact on me that I realized I needed it.” On making yoga a positive personal journey, Garfield suggests applying it as often as possible because you can’t use it if you don’t know it. “You take what you learn and feel with you and it is yours to use in daily life once you leave this space. Being able to find yourself stopping in a stressful situation and saying, ‘What do I see? Hear? Smell? Feel?’ and being able to find that calm and breath instead of settling into fight or flight -that is where health is found. It is not just about being able to get into a difficult pose, or be the most flexible, it is about finding yourself and your sacred space in the world.”
You can’t help but notice as you leave the warm greenhouse and the undeniably positive energy to traipse through the snow back to your car, that you feel different. The connections you made were refreshingly non-digital, the chaos of the world isn’t as loud, and the breath you didn’t realize you were holding beforehand flows easier through you. You start to see for yourself that perhaps yoga IS for everyone, and suddenly next week with sunny, motivating Meg in the toasty greenhouse down a little Plympton country road can’t come fast enough -so you will just have to remember to breathe in and out until then.
Yoga 111 Love Yoga holds classes at Colchester Farm, 90 Brook St., Plympton
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday 9:30-10:45 a.m.
$20 per class, 20 spots per class max.
Special for Express readers: If you mention this article, you can take your first class for just $5!
Please follow along with Meg Murphy Garfield to see her other teaching locations and classes such as sound bathing.

The new year may come with a host of cheesy slogans, high expectations, social graces, and sanctimonious proclamations, but, as usual, a deeper look into the holiday and the traditions behind it reveal a rather inspiring amalgamation of celebrations, beliefs, ceremonies, and customs that compose a truly beautiful holiday celebration package.
The earliest record of celebrating the new year date back some 4,000 years to ancient Babylon. For the Babylonians, the first new moon following the vernal equinox in late March (where there is an equal amount of sunlight and darkness) heralded the start of a new year. They marked the occasion with a festival called Akitu (derived from the Sumerian word for barley, which was cut around this time). Akitu involved a different ritual on each of its 11 days. It was also during this time that a new king was crowned or that the current ruler’s divine mandate was symbolically renewed.
The early Roman calendar consisted of 10 months and 304 days, with each new year beginning at the vernal equinox. According to tradition, this calendar was created by Romulus, the founder of Rome, in the eighth century B.C. Later, King Numa Pompilius, added the months of Januarius and Februarius. Over the centuries, the calendar fell out of sync with the sun, and in 46 B.C., Julius Ceasar attempted to solve the problem by consulting with the most prominent astronomers and mathematicians of the time. He introduced the Julian calendar, which closely resembles the more modern Gregorian calendar that most countries around the world use today.
The name January was a tribute to the month’s namesake: Janus, the Roman god of beginnings. Janus had two faces which allowed him to look back into the past and forward into the future. Romans celebrated the first day of the new year by offering sacrifices to Janus, exchanging gifts with one another, decorating their homes with laurel branches, and attending raucous parties.
In early medieval times most of Christian Europe regarded March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, as the beginning of the new year. William the Conqueror decreed that the year began on Jan. 1, but England later joined the rest of Christendom and adopted March 25. The Gregorian calendar, adopted in 1582 by the Roman Catholic Church, restored Jan. 1 as New Year’s Day, and most European countries gradually followed suit -Scotland in 1660, Germany and Denmark around 1700, England in 1752, and Russia as late as 1918. In medieval Europe, Christian leaders temporarily replaced Jan. 1 as the first of the year with days carrying more religious significance, such as Dec. 25 (the symbolic anniversary of Jesus’ birth) and March 25 (the Feast of the Annunciation). Pope Gregory XIII reestablished January 1 as New Year’s Day in 1582.
Many of the customs of New Year festivals dichotomously note the passing of time with regret and anticipation. The baby used as a a symbol of the new year and an old man representing the year that has passed dates back to ancient Greece. The practice of making resolutions to rid oneself of bad habits and energy also dates to ancient times. These early resolutions were likely made in an attempt to curry favor with the gods. In the West, particularly in English-speaking countries, the nostalgic Scottish ballad “Auld Lang Syne” revised by the poet Robert Burns, is often sung on New Year’s Eve. The song begins by posing a rhetorical question: Is it right for old times to be forgotten? The answer is generally interpreted as a call to remember long-standing friendships and family.
Symbolic foods are often part of New Year festivities. Many Europeans eat cabbage or other greens to ensure prosperity in the coming year, while people in the American South prepare black-eyed peas for good luck. For Ugadi in southern India, a special culinary preparation called ugadi pachadi combines multiple flavors, and depending on the person eating it tasting a sweeter or more bitter flavor is what determines the luck of their year to come. Throughout Asia, special foods such as dumplings, noodles, and rice cakes are eaten, and elaborate dishes feature various ingredients whose names or appearance symbolize long life, happiness, wealth, and good fortune.
In Scotland, Isle of Man, and Northern England a custom called “First Foot” takes place on New Year’s Day. The first guest to cross the threshold, or “first foot,” is significant and may bring good luck if the person is of the right physical type, which varies with location. In Spain on New Year’s Eve, many people follow a unique tradition that dates back to the 19th-century known as uvas de la suerte, or “lucky grapes.” There are conflicting reports about the exact origins of the tradition, but the two most likely versions are that: Grape growers in Alicante came up with the custom in the early 1900s after a bountiful harvest left them with too many grapes and farmers needed a ploy to sell them. Others trace it to the 1880s, when Madrid’s bourgeoisie adopted French habits like drinking champagne and eating grapes on New Year’s Eve. Over time, the current day tradition consisted of people eating one grape at each chime as the clock strikes midnight. Each grape represents a month of the coming year. If you finish all twelve in time before the twelfth chime you’ll have good luck; if you fail, you will not be so fortunate.
Closer to home, celebrations of New Year’s Eve are usually characterized by public gatherings. Times Square in New York City draws large crowds and the countdown with the infamous New Year’s Eve ball to signify the exact moment at which the new year begins. This event is televised worldwide and for the first time ever, it will drop twice this year -once at 12 a.m. and then again clad in red, white, and blue at 12:04 a.m. to signify Americas 250th birthday.
On the West Coast, the first Rose Bowl Game was played in Pasadena, Calif. on Jan. 1, 1902, and other college football games have come to dominate American television on New Year’s Day. The Tournament of Roses Parade, featuring floats constructed of live roses and flowers as well as the Mummers’ Parade in Philadelphia are popular New Year’s Day events.
Here in Boston, it will be the 50th Boston’s First Night Celebration. Activities will start as early as 10 a.m. with plenty of family-friendly events, including a sing-along at the Boston Public Market, archery lessons on the Boston Common at noon, and ice skating shows at the Frog Pond throughout the afternoon. Performances at City Hall Plaza begin at 2 p.m., with Boston-based rock band Leaving Irene opening the event. The Sultans end the performances of 2025 at 11:30 p.m. and fireworks will kick off at the stroke of midnight. All First Night performances are open to the public but are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
Once the New Year’s Eve celebrations are concluded and we have sauntered back home a little worse for wear after a night of frivolity, you might be inspired to clean up a bit from the holiday hoopla. Luckily, there are several local businesses offering just the things to align, relax, heal, and invigorate. Sure, New Year’s resolutions are jokingly called “the first week of January’s to-do list”, but even if you only dip a toe into your efforts, it’s better than nothing! If anything, you are just joining the ancient Greeks in seeing the new year as a symbolic reset and goal-setting opportunity, and that is hardly seasonally en vogue, it is timeless.
Here are some local businesses that can add some calm and clarity to your year ahead:

Shanti Shala Yoga and Wellness Center
55 Pleasant St., Carver
https://shantishalayoga.com

111 Love Yoga
111 Upland Rd., Plympton

J Norrie Beauty and Spa
368 Main St., Plympton
(781) 585-0080

Soul Purpose Wellness Studio
274 Plymouth St., Halifax
https://soulpurposewellnessstudio.com

Natural Body Works
161 Summer St., Kingston

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Skin Esteem Med Spa and Wellness Center
214 Main St., Kingston
https://www.skinesteemmedspa.com

Kingsbury Club and Spa
86 Summer St., Kingston

Kingsbury Club and Spa