My Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga & The Rocket Journey To Love

Forget your body and wake up your spirit - Larry Schultz

This is the phrase I first laid my eyes upon before we read the Nauliland text that this quote is extracted from during the IYI 301 training in It's Yoga Fuerteventura in November 2018. This training represents the end of a cycle for me. I participated in my first 301 training a little over two years ago, and I have been practising Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and The Rocket routines 6 days a week for almost two years now. When I came across It's Yoga Fuerteventura, I had been looking for 'something else' for a while. I wanted to do a 500-hour teacher training and begin my journey to becoming a trainer. I was looking into a few options, different schools, without feeling like this was it. I found myself in Fuerteventura in April 2016 for my birthday, and I went to my first Rocket III class at It's Yoga Fuerteventura. It was so fun, very freeing. I didn't really know what had happened, but it felt good :)

As I was leaving, I noticed the announcement board where Salla was promoting the next 500-hour training. I asked her if I would be able to participate in those even though my 200-hour trainings were from different backgrounds. She said that yes, the 301 is designed for people who come from different systems. I went home and booked flights for the 301 training in September, and by the end of 2016, I had completed my 500 hours with It's Yoga International. Looking back now, I knew that this was it from the very beginning. I went into the training with complete trust, and I received so much more than I could have ever expected or imagined. The following year, I returned to It's Yoga Fuerteventura and Tenerife almost every 2 to 3 months to sit in the circle of various trainings. It was truly a gift to myself. I was fully committed to my healing and, consequently, that of others.

I found a second home at It's Yoga Fuerteventura, where I was able to learn, practise, grow, and heal, as well as a loving community within It's Yoga International. Salla has been a source of constant support and an essential part of my continuous growth as a practitioner and facilitator of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and The Rocket. I am very grateful to Larry Schultz and Marie Russell for creating and continuing to develop the It's Yoga system and for the tools that were given to me to help healing occur. All along, it was what I was looking for: healing. My physical body knew it before I did through the asana practice, but my mind and eventually my heart embraced the idea fully.

My purpose for participating and co-learning in the Nov 2018 301 It's Yoga Fuerteventura training is to be generous, patient, compassionate, understanding, attentive, and true to myself so that I can manifest, learn, share, and discuss ideas with others and maintain the concepts and the principles of the yogic philosophy and the It's Yoga system in my day-to-day life. Therefore, I have self-healing, serenity, abundance, contentment, and daily magic.- Nov 4th 2018

I hadn't been to Fuerteventura for a year when I returned for the Nov 301 training. I was meant to be there in the summer, but it happened otherwise. Like many times in life, it happened the way it was meant to happen. That training holds a very special place in my heart, literally. During the training, Salla talked about how a big change occurs after 3 months of practising the Rocket routines, and another change after 18 months. When she said that, I recalled the change that indeed happened after 3 months. Then I thought about the fact that it has been almost 2 years since I have been practising all 6 routines weekly. I had been feeling some shift taking place within me since the summer, and it came to a full realisation during the training. I felt lighter in my heart as each day passed. This culminated in what I can only describe as my heart chakra opening fully.

Halfway through the training, I facilitated a Rocket II modified class, with our friend Gabriele playing live music and Salla offering adjustments while I guided. It was magical, I felt love all around me like I never knew there was before, and I felt guided myself. That night and the following days were very emotional, as I felt deeply connected to myself and others around me. The protective layer I had subconsciously created over time was peeled off, and the inner resistance to fully receiving was removed to give way to peace and harmony. The day we read Nauliland by Larry Schultz in the training, I looked over each line that I had underlined for each training. Each line perfectly described what I had been pondering or living during that same time. I was blown away; There it was: my healing journey narrated by Larry Schultz within a text that speaks to me and resonates so beautifully.

I am filled with love and constant gratitude for the It's Yoga system and its community. I did forget my body and found my spirit during this training and through the teachings of It's Yoga. It was always about love: love of yoga, love of It's Yoga, love of the practice, and sharing that love and love for myself and others.

#love #itsYoga #therocket #growth #heartopening