About It’s Yoga
Our Purpose Statement :
To offer training in the arts of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. We intend to serve yoga practitioners who are committed to residing in the essence of yoga. By offering personalized instruction, comfortable surroundings, and superb instruction – students are supported in achieving and realizing inner peace and wholeness by listening to their authentic Self.
Celebrating 20 Years of Ashtanga Worldwide!
It’s Yoga opened in San Francisco in 1989 to teach Ashtanga Yoga in the tradition of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois of Mysore, India. Although progressive in style, the It’s Yoga method shares the love of the practice with the students of the world. Larry Schultz, the founder of It’s Yoga, has practiced Ashtanga Yoga for over 25 years. His teaching methods help students use the power of Yoga to improve vitality and health, take responsibility for well being, and transform the quality of life.
A dynamic series of postures that flow one into another, Ashtanga Yoga provides a high energy experience whose therapeutic effects align and purify the body. Ashtanga yoga is dynamic and aerobic. By synchronizing movement with the breath, this ancient system of yoga arouses the inner fire to cleanse and strengthen the body. Ashtanga yoga’s great strength focuses on correct breathing. It oxygenates the blood, helping circulation and bringing more blood to the brain to maximize clear thinking and full creativity. Ashtanga yoga’s most favorable aspect is its capacity to de-stress and reshape the body, counteracting the aging process. The practice induces the elimination of toxins and purifies the body. It serves as a path to health, flexibility, strength, and balance through concentration.
It’s Yoga features the Rocket Vinyasa System, based in the It’s Yoga Philosophy. Larry Schultz created the Rocket routine, a series of postures based on a modification of the traditional Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga intermediate series, to renew energy and vitality in the body. This vibrant routine is called the “Rocket” because, “it gets you there faster.” The Rocket is designed to wake up the nervous system and feed it the precious prana it craves while promoting a spirit of change and freedom in the practice.
Full of back bending and spinal twisting, this uplifting sequence of postures has gained global recognition as a feel-good experience which opens the body and clears the mind. The Rocket breaks through areas of tension and energy blockage, combating tendencies towards stagnancy and resistance in the body. Frequent hand stands and arm balances keep the energy level high and encourage students to connect to their inner power and open closed circuits in the mind hence improving their world view. The playful and upbeat Rocket routine is the perfect counter to the soothing forward bending of the Primary Series. As a part of a weekly schedule, this routine creates an energy peak in the cyclic rhythms of the practice.ghter mind and body.
The Roots of Ashtanga Yoga in the West
1.Yamas: Ethical Observations
2. Niyamas: Self Observations
3. Asanas: Physical Postures
4. Pranayama: Observing One’s Breath
5.Pratyahara: Controlling One’s Senses
6. Dharana: Contemplation
7. Dhyana: Meditation
8. Samadi: Absorption into the Universal
Our community has sustained itself in San Francisco since 1989. Being the 3rd Yoga Center in the Bay area, there are now more than 100 schools to date. It’s Yoga was also one of the first schools to train instructors firmly believing that the more yoga instructors out there, the better the world becomes. As one of the oldest Ashtanga centers in the West, we intend to continue sharing the practice for many years to come. A big thank you to all our students near and far, for your patience, love and commitment through the years. Namaste!
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