Welcome!!

Hi! I’m Larry Prochazka!  Here’s a little more background on my life and travels!  

For more than three decades,  I’ve been involved in education.  College professor, speaker, trainer, facilitator, and coach. I’ve been an athlete, adventure traveler, barista and coffee master, tractor driver, university professor, wilderness leadership facilitator, writer, and so much more.

In my work and life, I’ve always been inspiring and assisting people who want to grow, and live with a clearer sense of purpose and meaning in their lives!  That comes from my inner desire to be aware, grow, live the highest version of myself that I can, and be a walking model for those around me!

When I first started consulting with businesses, I did two things that, in hindsight, were quite profound.  First, I decided to ignore a lot of advice I was receiving from people!  They didn’t know me or my values and many of them didn’t feel authentic.  At some level, I knew that if I tried implementing what they told me, I would develop bad habits I’d have to heal later.  So, I picked up only ideas that resonated with my intuition and felt authentic for me!

Second, I saw people stressed, exhausted, overworked and acting like they had an obligation to help everyone that came calling!  So I chose to be clear on where I was heading, on what kind of life I wanted to have.  I wanted to love my work and I wanted to have freedom to travel and explore the world.  So I decided to never let business take over my life but to walk a line balancing my work and life into one stream that inspired me!  Good Choice!!

In my training,  I didn’t have any corporate or business background when I started.  Soon, I realized that was an asset!  I didn’t have preconceived notions about what was or was not possible.  What I did know was people, dynamics, relationships, communication, team building and related interpersonal skills.  I  specialized in the “people” part of business.  Things like creativity and seeing the big picture, listening, managing your focus, listening to intuition, being an outstanding team player, personal growth and awareness, communication skills, conflict resolution, giving feedback that helps people grow and leadership. I started out facilitating creativity training with my first corporate client, IBM, and that  is still one of my great loves.

My style is one of engagement, deeply, internally, to help each individual create their own experience. I learned long ago that anything I can say I can ask and asking will always produce a different result. Asking causes people to go internal, find their own meaning and take that home with them.  Plus, I don’t share ideas that aren’t personally meaningful to me!

Once when I was working with Grandfather Black Elk, A Lakota Sioux elder and shaman.  He shared a frustration he experienced in sharing wisdom through the Lakota oral tradition with caucasian cultures. In the Native culture, people listen and derive their own meaning from his stories. In the white culture, people would ask him, “Tell me Grandfather, what does this mean?” He looked me squarely in the eye and asked me, “If I give them my meaning, what reason do they have to go find their own?”

I learned then that my role was best served if I could find ways to help people find their own answers!  Asking assists each individual go inside and find their own meaning whether through question or story or analogy or other methods. And when that something inside gets clear, that stays with you.

One client told me she’s like to let potential clients know one unique quality I have and said, “You are time released!” Stumped, I asked her what she meant. She shared that weeks after a training program, she would be working on something in her office when suddenly, she hears my voice in her head and an insight occurs to her:  “Oh! That’s what he meant!”  That’s a nice compliment!

Left:  View of Grand Canyon.

As a traveler, I didn’t know what I was doing when I started but…I started!  I knew if I never started, I would never learn!  First, I resigned from a teaching position at the University of Louisville, packed my car with camping and cooking gear, my bicycle and some good books.  Then, I set out to discover my own country.  Eventually, I traveled for 15 months.

Short version:  I drove to Kansas, helped my parents with harvest, drove on to hePacific Northwest, participated in a Vision Quest with Sun Bear in Washington outside Yakima, drove North along the Columbia River Gorge to Banff, then West camping my way to Vancouver.  I spent several weeks in the North Cascades in Marblemount, visited the San Juan Islands, backpacked to the tip of the Olympic Peninsula, headed down the coast eventually through the Redwoods, tidal pools and cities of California and onward down the Baja of California!  Camping in Palapa’s on the Sea of Cortez was amazing.  It was the first time I’ve ever seen bioluminescence! Fast forward, I drove back to Seattle for a job interview, back to Tucson to see my parents, wandered through the SE United States, traveled Florida camping along the Swanee River and then through the Keys and the Everglades.  Then, I drove North slowly until I was camping at the headwaters of the Chattahoochee  River in Georgia.  From there, I drove back to LA to take a teaching position at California State University in Northridge.  I took my time visiting monuments, canyons and old trading posts in the Four Corners area.  Certainly, there are a lot more details that happened on that journey.  Maybe one day, I’ll write about that?

Learning to make a hammock. Village of Tixkokob outside Merida, Yucatan.

Several years later, I launched into my first backpacking trip out of the country.  I flew to Cancun, nervous and uncertain, but game to start gathering experience.  Two and one half months is a long time for a first trip but I survived, thrived actually!  Other trips kept showing up!  And eventually, after more trips to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Peru, I headed off to Bangkok and SE Asia.  WOW!

I travel slow and on a small budget.  The most expensive part of any trip is the airline flight over wherever I’m going.  Then, I listen, meet people, hear of off the beaten path locations,

Rafting the Grand Canyon, 26 days, years after first visit!

learn how to make connections, trust that everything is always working out for me, and I have amazing experiences with local people!

If I can help you launch and get more comfortable with the idea of travel, I’m happy to do so.

Welcome to my journey!  Enjoy yourself!