‘The Rocket’ has been influencing my yoga journey since I first encountered the practice in 2012. While completing my 200 hours with Its Yoga Firenze, I attended a ‘Rocket’ class and I was immediately hooked. This flow had everything I needed in my practice. I could open and stretch, twist, fold forward and back, go upside down and come out of my head and into my body. I felt so free in my heart and mind, as my body moved, I released stress, I felt open, energised and after an hour and half of dynamic movement, I experienced a most peaceful and still shavasana.
While the 200 hours course focused mostly on the Primary Series and the Modified Primary Series (MPS), the Rocket sequences peppered our course. When I returned to Dublin, although I was mostly teaching the MPS, I couldn’t let go of ‘the Rocket’. I decided to continue my training with Its Yoga and at the time of writing I have completed four intensives. At this point I need to be honest. The Rocket trainings and the practice were not easy for me. They are called intensives for a reason. I found the Rocket later in life and am now approaching my mid-forties. The long hours of physical training, reflections and study challenged my self-beliefs and patterns about myself, my age ( I was always ten years older than the average age of the course participants), my practice and my own ability to teach yoga.
The Rocket trainings and practice inspired new perspectives and directions in my physical practice, my approach to the practice and my own self-beliefs. I was invited to step out of my comfort zone, trust my intuition and play with yoga, a completely new approach for me. Instead of being told what to do, I was encouraged to listen to my body and breath to decide where I was going with Rocket flow. This is where my practice transformed as I started to accept my practice and believe in myself. While the Rocket is a strong physical practice, its essence is strength, grace, compassion, kindness and love. When I started to apply these qualities into the practice, I learned to move breath by breath, pose by pose, moment by moment, from the inside out.
In a world, where there is pressure to be smarter, faster, thinner, taller, for the first time in a long time, through Its Yoga and the Rocket, I began to believe that when I am standing on the mat, I am good enough and my practice is good enough. The consistency of the Rocket and the Its Yoga philosophy gives me the freedom to practice according to how I feel. When I am on my mat, I am exactly where I need to be. When I begin to breathe into Surya Namaskaar A, everything else just follows. By practicing the Rocket with patience, compassion, trust and a sense of humour, suddenly one day I find myself lifting my body weight into an inversion or flying through a transition and it feels like the most natural thing in the world. Off the mat, I feel more comfortable, confident and happy in my own skin.
I love the Rocket. I continue to be amazed by this transformational practice and how three core Rocket sequences have affected my own yoga practice and journey. When I practice the Rocket, I am connected, not just my own journey, but to the beautiful locations where I attended training, to the lineage of the practice, to the inspirational yogis with whom I shared the practice-Marie and Dani, Michele, Max, Mara, Salla, Jari, Robin, Vicky, Kirsten, Paola, Flavia, Laura, Dipti, Dhurata, Malena, Kim, Raffa, Elise, Marta and Lucy - my teachers, my friends, my yoga family. The divine light in me honours the divine light in you.
Namastay