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AntiGravity® Aerial Yoga [2] (also known as “Aerial Yoga”) is all the rage. No yoga mat [3]required. All you need is a silk hammock hanging from the ceiling and a few Cirque de Soleil moves.
I’ve been wanting to try it out for a while and this weekend I had the chance at Raffa Yoga [4] in Providence, Rhode Island. The ride was just an hour from Boston in my Toyota Highlander [5]. Toyota was kind enough to let me test drive the car for the week.
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I was ready for a little R & R when I arrived at the yoga studio/spa.
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Looking into the AntiGravity® Aerial Yoga room before class was a bit intimidating. I was starring into a room filled with the same Hammocks that Pink used during her performance at the Grammy’s.
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I wasn’t quite sure how I would like dangling from the ceiling in a hammock doing yoga poses. As much as I love Cirque de Soleil, I like to watch the performance from a stable seat in the audience.
What is AntiGravity® Aerial Yoga?
Founded by former gymnast and dancer Christopher Harrison, AntiGravity® Aerial Yoga [9] is a comprehensive fitness technique which allows you to practice yoga poses using a hammock. The hammock acts as a soft trapeze throughout the practice, much of which is spent in an inverted position.
Here I am looking happy in a pose. What you don’t see are the multiple steps it took to actually end up in this pose. I was in an inverted position for what felt like an eternity and then had to pull myself up using the sides of the hammock into this position.
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Benefits of AntiGravity® Aerial Yoga
- Conquer your fears. You’ll probably be doing flips and inversions by the end of class.
- Huge core workout.
- Decompression of the spine through zero-compression inversions.
- Total body workout.
- Keeps your workouts interesting.
- Enables creativity through the use of poses.
My thoughts on AntiGravity® Aerial Yoga
The class was interesting and challenging. It was also empowering. Several postures seemed impossible initially, but when I tried them they were doable. I did flips, hung from my feet and laughed a lot.
I did feel a bit nauseous from all the inversions. There were times when the hammock was digging deep into my hip flexer and I wanted to scream. My understanding is that this intense sensation is part of the practice and gets better over time.
My favorite pose was Shavasana in the hammock. I had my own private cocoon.
Have you tried or are you interested in trying AntiGravity® Aerial Yoga?