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Larry Schultz the Bad Man of Ashtanga

 Bad Man Story

 

“Do your practice all is coming” Pattabi Jois

 Pattabi Jois said there were three kinds of student: good students, medium students and bad students. Good students all is coming 7 years. Pattabi looked around at his students and looked at a young lady and said, “you good lady, you practice every day, very strong lady, all is coming 7 years.” Pattabi continued to look around the Shala and he began to speak to a male yogi and he said, “you are doing good, practice is coming along, you medium student, all is coming 10 years.” 

Then Pattabi looked at Larry and he said “you bad man, all is coming 25 years.” Larry’s eyes got big and he thought to himself, I’m 30 years old now, when I’m 55, I’ll know what he’s talking about,” and what Larry found out was late in life you could have love, health, and happiness late in life no matter what. He also realized how long this practice is!! It’s a very long practice and if you’re good, medium, or bad student, all is coming, just keep practicing.

What can we learn from this story? Larry left his physical body over 4 years ago and during that time many of his students have been searching and wondering, where is their practice going? what did Larry teach us? and ultimately the big question is what were Larry's deepest wishes for the Rocket and his beloved students? The story reminds us that this is a long practice and sorting all this out takes time, time for our Rocket yoga community to heal and get organized.

When Larry was alive we all sat in the same circle and as David Kyle of Ashtanga Yoga Puerto Rico reminded Amber Gean , "why can't we all sit in the same circle again?" 

Larry wanted us to be working together to keep the dream alive, so after four years Larry left his physical body Amber Gean and David Kyle sat in the same circle last week and are hoping that this is just the beginning, allowing the circle to grow. New yogis are coming in that have never met Larry and for those that studied with Larry feel it is more important than ever to have someone in the circle that studied with Larry to share the good word of the Rocket. 

This is a mountain and we must climb, Larry taught us well and he left his closest students with the teachings inside of them and he gifted them to share the Rocket freely, at It's Yoga San Francisco Larry would have free hand outs of Rocket sequences available for anyone coming through the door.

Larry's closest students have been working around the clock to refine materials to make Rocket yoga training's, available to the masses. They do this with great reverence to their teacher Larry. They believe " do you practice and all is coming" even if it takes 25 more years to organize a Rocket yoga alliance to give creditability to all of the yogis who have given their life to the Rocket yoga practice and for Larry so his legacy may live on for many many many more years.

Often people walk into It’s Yoga with worry, stress and tiredness written all over their faces but when they leave, they show the effects of Ashtanga Yoga: they feel better and look better, lighter, freer, more relaxed and energized. This is why to me, teaching Ashtanga Yoga is a kind of self-realization; every time I lead class I, as a teacher, grow and express the insights of my own yoga. I see people take in the practice from various angles and develop, change and transcend their limitations, realize their possibilities.

In Memoriam: Larry Schultz, YogaDragonden (1950-2011)