
Yoga ah! Blog
More about Amber Gean

I had always had an interest in yoga, what it was and how I could understand it better.
At the age of 20 in the year 2000 I took a yoga teacher training with Larry Schultz. That was when I really felt yoga take hold of my life and that was where I was introduced to the Rocket practice.
When I began practicing teachers like Larry Schultz and Pattabi Jois were still alive and you had access to more teachers like Tim Miller, Johnny Kest, Chuck Miller and Maty, Beryl Bender Birch and Lino Miele. It was a time when yoga was on the cusp of being really big and I sought guidance from as many teachers as I could study from. Larry was and is my favorite tho.
Yoga and the practice gave me a connection to my purpose.Yoga turned me into a wandering gypsy and has brought me to places all over the world. I assisted in yoga trainings in British Columbia at It's Yoga Vancouver and began traveling regularly to It's Yoga San Francisco. Currently both those studios are closed however I still plan to return to those cities to train yogis in Rocket sequencing.
I have also traveled to India to visit Buddhist monasteries. All these doors opened up because of yoga.
There is a difference of staying strong and being spiritual in touch with yourself that difference is yoga. It guides you to the inner teacher. liberation. It guided me to open my studio in 2007 in Cincinnati named Yoga ah. Yoga ah Studio offers Rocket Yoga classes everyday. We are one of the few studios in the world that offer these types of classes exclusively. We also have developed Advanced Rocket Teacher Training and currently have had yogis as far as Australia to learn The Rocket.
As we see some of the older yoga instructors passing, it is even more important to continue the teachings.
My mission is to bring more people together thru yoga and The Rocket. The trainings make this real, they have the power to bring people together. The whole idea of yoga is to create UNION not only with ourselves, but also each other. By having compassion and community for our brothers and sisters we can begin to heal the planet.
Rocket Yoga Sequences
Yoga ah is a special studio because we offer different routines for each day of the week. These routines are based in Rocket yoga sequencing. By offering different routines, as a practitioner you are able to work on different poses and different body parts each day. To get a better understanding of this, if you were a body builder you would train different body parts on different days and keep to a schedule to ensure even growth of your muscles. This is what we offer at Yoga ah with in our classes. Monday Rocket focuses on the the legs, and forward bends, Wednesdays we focus more on our arms and back and Fridays we focus on training our full body with a mixed practice that includes strengthening legs, arms, opening hips and back and strengthening your core. Saturdays mornings you can experience a Modified Rocket One, based on strengthening your legs and core. The Rocket offeres many variations of classical Ashtanga poses such as interlacing fingers to create an effect for the shoulders and wrists or using the dolphin to build up your strength for arm balances. The beauty of the Rocket is we embrace growing and changing so if you are practicing all modifications its OK!! That s how we can grow and change as practitioners. Also by practicing different sequences we can watch ourselves grow from week to week. One of our mottos is "our strengthens become our weaknesses and our weaknesses our strengths." By practicing the Rocket daily you can gain a better understanding of what this means. We offer these classes because we believe in them and have seen the transformational power of regular Rocket practice and ultimately the great healing that takes place. Namaste
Rocket Yoga Testimonial
From July 11 - July 15th Yoga ah hosted 5 out of town yogis to partisapte in our Advanced Rocket Teacher Training and this is what one graduate wrote:
When I began my 100-hour Advanced Rocket Yoga teacher training, I was filled with excitement and eager to learn. It is apparent after you meet Amber that Rocket Yoga is dear to her heart and she cares deeply about the quality of her teacher training program.
Over the course of 5 days, my fellow trainees and I had the opportunity to explore multiple Rocket Yoga series and develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of this amazing practice. Each day we participated in a Rocket class with other studio attendees. On the second day we learned that we would be teaching the Bottle Rocket to a public class, and split the sequence into different parts to instruct. In addition to strengthening our bodies to find more advanced poses and transitions, our minds and spirits also became strong as Amber challenged us to focus inward by providing insightful readings and journaling assignments.
Overall, the training was a blast - each evening we would go out to eat together or cook a family-style dinner and hang out with our fellow teacher trainees.
I recommend this training for anyone who enjoys Ashtanga yoga and is seeking personal development and growth – physically, mentally and emotionally. It is quite an amazing journey to learn who you are and in turn, learn how to better serve others. From my training, I gained the confidence and knowledge to share Rocket Yoga with others. Thank you, Amber for sharing your passion, love and light with me and being such an empowering and inspiring friend and teacher! Sarah Tharp~
Lighting a Candle for BKS Iyengar
BKS Iyengar left his body on August 20 of this year 2014 at the age of 95. When a spiritual person dies we tend not to use the word death because our yoga practice teaches us that we are more then our "food body" it may be referred to as "maha samadhi" which means absorption with the universal energy of all life.
Iyengar was known as one of the most influential yoga teachers of his time, he created his own style of yoga called Iyengar which many modern practices are based from including, "Anusara" and "Hatha" yoga. He is also well known for his book called 'Light on Yoga' which some yogis see as a yoga bible. His passing marks a corner stone of an older group of yoga instructors that have all recently left there bodies including Pattabi Jois and Larry Schultz. This is truly a time that yoga instructors that are from this lineage have an opportunity to pass the torch to our students and one day our students students.
At Yoga ah we have been updating all our teacher training materials to reflect the history of our practice and for those of you just learning about yoga and yoga lineage may have a better understanding. It is a perfect time to begin your journey. May the next generation step forth and take your place on the yoga lineage tree and those of you who were blessed to study with great teachers keep on, keep on. As Larry once changed a JF Kennedy quote to say, "it is not what yoga can do for you, but what you can do for yoga". Bless you and tonight we will light a candle for all our teachers in maha samdhi.
Yoga is for Athletes
Yoga is a wonderful compliment to all types of sports and athletic activities. Rocket Yoga classes can offer great cross training techniques for athletes. In addition to building core strength and flexibility, athletes will find yoga helps them improve their endurance with better breathing techniques.
Increased Range of Motion : All athletes know increased range of motion in the shoulders,back and hips result in more powerful strokes and swings. Golfers, tennis players, baseball players and hockey players are just to name a few who especially benefit from this type of flexibility.
Reduced Chance of Injury : Tight hamstrings and hip flexors plague all athletes but basketball players, soccer players and runners are especially at risk. The constant strengthening shortens the muscles, eventually reducing performance and increasing the chance of injury. Yoga keeps the muscles long,supple, and strong, preventing injuries and protecting the joints.