“It’s called rocket yoga because you ‘fly’ a lot… and, it gets you there faster.” Where, exactly?
The first time I came across the name “rocket yoga” was a year ago, when I found the perfect school to undergo my yoga teacher training course. When other yoga teachers found out I was going to be trained under “rocket,” they all oohed and aahed like it was such a big deal that I was going to undergo that training. Fast forward to teacher training, I understood why.
Let me get this straight though – I am NOT a rocket yoga teacher. I am a rocket-trained, ashtanga vinyasa certified one. There is a huge difference. There are currently three certified rocket yoga teachers here in the Philippines, Bri Manglapus being the first one of them all; and at the end of this month, what with rocket yoga’s official school for Southeast Asia, It’s Yoga Satellite flying here to lead a teacher training course, I can only assume there would be tons others after.
Now what is rocket yoga? Why do people keep insisting that “you get there faster”? Last July, as I started training, I couldn’t even lift my bum up for a proper inversion. Sure I was strong, but that wasn’t enough. After less than a week of rocket yoga training in the middle of my ashtanga course, I was doing inversions as if I were born for them. Ah, one week. I did get “there” faster than usual.
Rocket yoga is a practice based on the ashtanga primary series that was created by Larry Schulz in the 1980s. Larry was a direct student of Pathabi Jois and had been practicing ashtanga yoga for about a decade before he created his own system that is deeply rooted and based in the ashtanga primary and intermediate series.
Rocket is divided into a series of three. Rocket 1 is an inversion-heavy practice as there are about 15 handstands, numerous pincha mayurasanas and ekapada koundinyasanas – all as transition poses. Everything happens so fast that you won’t really have time to think about it. You do a crow pose right after your sun salutations, then jump to an inversion and back to a chaturangga right away. It gets you stronger, faster. If you’re familiar with the primary series, Rocket 1 is based on that but with countless pinchas and ekapadas in-between.
Rocket 2, on the other hand, is heavy on backbends – from wheels, to camel to drop backs – similar to the intermediate series, poses and transitions that will aid in your strength and flexibility. Rocket 3 practice days are called “barbecue days.” The reason? You fry/grill your muscles in your whole body as Rocket 3 is a mix of Rocket 1 and 2 – which means that in your practice (which lasts a little more than two hours), you are either inverted or bent backwards. Sounds crazy, but it works. It is such an efficient practice that it will just make you want more. The pain is something that you would even look forward to – heck, I didn’t mind anymore that I was covered in medicated pain patches to rid me of sore muscles!
Rocket yoga is a very dynamic and fast paced, or a yang type of yoga that will make you sweat buckets as you practice it. Whether you have been practicing yoga for two years or two days, rocket yoga is suitable for you. Why? One of the best qualities of rocket yoga is that the “art of modification” encourages students to modify the poses to their limits. If you can’t do a certain pose yet, you can modify it – micro-bend your knee, use a block, and so on. You don’t have to go onto the full expression of the pose all the time. And with its fast pace, you wouldn’t really have time to, anyway.
In Southeast Asia, there are only two teachers who are certified to teach the Rocket Course and train new teachers – they are Ricardo Martin and Kunkanit “Joy” Prohbut of It’s Yoga Satellite. These two trained and apprenticed under Larry himself and brought the practice to Asia. They’re also married to each other, but their cute love story is another article. Manila is lucky that this lovely couple is flying here to hold a 5-day Rocket Yoga Teacher Training course before the end of this month, a first in the Philippines. Whether you are already a teacher or not, if you want to “get there faster,” you simply love inversions and/or backbends, or you just really love yoga and want to deepen your practice, then this is for you. I know for sure I’m enrolling!
For questions, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram @bubblesparaiso.