What is Rocket Yoga?

This style of yoga has a backstory not many of you will believe.

Lets throw it back…to the 80’s, yes the 1980’s! Hair was big, thongs were worn on the outside of active wear, life was fast and Rocket yoga was born!

Larry Schultz born in Ohio America with a thick accent and attitude to match had spent a long time learning from the founder and creator of Ashtanga yoga, K. Pattabhi Jois, in India.

Ashtanga is one of the founding styles of yoga, which our flowy, new age vinyasa has derived from. This yoga system has 6 series (sequences) that are repeated time and time again. To this day I believe this to be the hardest style of yoga. The endurance, resilience of mind and athleticism required to keep up is incredible.

To advance in Ashtanga, perfect execution of your current series is a must. Larry went all out to perfect his series and move forward but was always held back. So, he found his own path, earning the nickname 'The Bad Boy Of Ashtanga'.

He returned to San Francisco with his expertise and lessons, and surprisingly, he brought along a group of yogis no one would have expected. Larry warmly welcomed everyone and offered to take anyone who was interested. I would give anything to have experienced one of his classes.

Larry toured with rock band 'The Grateful Dead', integrating holistic activities to their wild life styles! Every day, Larry would guide them through his power yoga series. They suggested that Larry give it a name. He decided that day it was called “The Rocket, because it gets you there faster”.

And so The Rocket was born!

There are 4 series within Rocket yoga.

Standing – Always taken at the beginning of any Rocket class. Don’t be fooled by its simplicity.

Rocket 1 – Humbling! So many hop throughs to seated. Flexibility and drills for strength.

Rocket 2 – Hot & Dynamic. This will take you on a journey into arm balances & backbends.

Rocket 3 / BBQ – The invite you never want to turn down. Everything is thrown into this beautiful marinade.

Rocket holds a special place in my heart. I had been practicing yoga for 4 years, teaching for 2.5 and I still couldn’t arm balance or invert. I had kind of decided it just wasn’t going to happen.

My husband was away with friends so I decided to what no normal person would do… I booked myself on to a Rocket teacher training. I arrived, saw someone twisted like a pretzel next to me, another doing a perfect Scorpion pincha, all chatting with someone doing the middle splits. What had I done? I was going to be the worst one in the room! And I was – cue the hardest weekend of my life!

Rocket brings people together with camaraderie. We all decided to be here and we are getting through it together – no one gets left behind!

By the close of the weekend, I didn’t just get lift off: I flew. Those people around me wanted me to feel what they felt and they were not letting me leave until they saw all 10 toes off the ground. All it took was for me to dig a little deeper and leave my ego at the door. Covered in sweat, music booming, that moment came.

To this day ,that weekend was the most transformational for me. I was the least able in the room, but I didn’t give up. To the yogis at Black Lotus Yoga – Under the rein of the formidable Kathy Ran, thank you! You all have a special place in my heart.

I have created a rocket challenge because I want you understand how it makes me feel. ALIVE! I am with you through every breath, tumble and vinyasa. Rocket will take you to places you never imagined you could go.

Each week there is a class, tutorial and live for you to easily follow and all levels.

What you will discover will be wonderful, what you will discover is you!

I took my Rocket Training with:

Kathy Ran – Black Lotus Yoga - https://www.blacklotusyoga.co.uk/

The Yoga People - https://theyogapeople.com/