It's Yoga! - Larry Schultz and the Rocket Practice

This posting is intended for two subsets of yogis in particular: 1) San Franciscans, and 2) beginners, like me. For a more in-depth look at Larry Schultz's Rocket Ashtanga, see: http://theyogabum.blogspot.com/2007/11/larry-schultz-bad-man-of-ashtanga-yoga.html. Patrick, author of above article, appears to be a more savvy practitioner, and has been through Schultz's teacher traning here in SF.

I, on the other hand, have been practicing at Schultz's studio, It's Yoga, for a mere matter of months. The studio holds a special place in my heart, however, because it was the scene of my first yoga class. I had no idea what I was in for - which turned out to be a lot of soreness and my first taste of the giddiness that comes with awakening the body after years of ignoring it. This giddiness is a quite literal feeling - I was in an ebullient mood for hours after my first class, even though I could hardly walk down the street I was so sore.

It turns out that my first yoga experience was not a typical one. Donovan, a teacher at It's Yoga and a student of Schultz's, did his best to ease me into the practice (the class was just me and one other student, who was also probably also a beginner). When, despite my tired muscles, I told Donovan that I was surprised at how relaxing the class had been, he warned me that the Rocket is quite a workout when you really get to know it.

And this is why:

Ashtanga yoga is often referred to as "power yoga." It involves a great deal of movement, and when you're not moving you're often holding very difficult postures. It requires the perfect combination of strength, flexibility and balance - and, as a result, discipline and focus - and can take decades to master.

Schultz, a direct student of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the movement's preeminent guru, developed his routine as a mixture of the various series of traditional Ashtanga yoga. He calls it "The Rocket" because, "It gets you there faster."

After a number of sessions at his studio, I've come to understand this statement in two ways. First, a Rocket class at Schultz's studio takes 75 minutes. This is a far cry from the 2-3 hours it can take to get through the primary series in Ashtanga. And yet yogis leave Schultz's classes feeling a blissful combination of exhaustion and rejuvenation, in the same way they would after a full Ashtanga series. Thus the Rocket "gets you there faster."

Second, the Rocket series was developed in part because Schultz was frustrated by the necessarily slow progression that the traditional Ashtanga series entail. For years he found himself able to do Bakasana ("Crow Pose," from the intermediate series) without much trouble, even though he remained hung up on the half-lotus bound twist (a pose from the primary series). Not being able to complete the primary series precluded reaping some of the benefits of the more advanced series - benefits that students at the primary level were capable of seeing, even at their level. Thus Schultz picked some of the more energizing poses from the more advanced Ashtanga series (handstands, arm balances, and the like) and threw them into his own version of the Ashtanga primary series. The result was a version of Ashtanga that "advances you faster."

The It's Yoga studio is located in the heart of SoMA, here in SF. Besides the type of yoga practiced there, the studio is different from many others in that a) it has carpet instead of wood flooring, which makes sense because the Rocket entails so much balancing and inverting, but can also be a bit gross if you find yourself in a particularly hot and sweaty class, and b) it is swarming with very serious, relatively advanced practitioners. Indeed, if Schultz himself is teaching, be prepared to encounter a crowd of his admirers, who will leave you little space in class and very little opportunity to talk to the master himself.

I do want to point out, however, that after having experienced several of the other yoga studios here in SF, It's Yoga and the Rocket method appear truly unique, and can be of true benefit to even beginner yogis, who will reap many rewards from learning the sequence. The Rocket energizes you in ways that few beginner classes can. And any of the teachers will assure you - it doesn't take long to build up an enthusiasm for standing on your head, arms, forearms or shoulders, and before long you'll want these postures to have a permanent presence in your practice.