floating in the air is hard stuff (but super fun)

On Monday, my friend Rebecca and I tried aerial yoga for the first time.  I know most of you are thinking “Aerial yoga?  What the heck is that?!” Let me tell you…

We went to The Yoga Studio in Campbell, where I have previously taken a few of their more traditional yoga classes. The concept is actually simple – utilization of a hammock, just like any other yoga prop such as blocks, straps, bolsters, and blankets, to make difficult poses more accessible to beginners.  Aerial yoga also allows gravity to help encourage the torso to elongate.

Pik Chu Wong, the owner of The Yoga Studio (and also the instructor of the aerial class we took), explains it very well in the video at the bottom of this post.

I wish I could remember everything that we did, and in the exact sequence, but this is my best recollection. To get started, we warmed up by using the hammock to support us in a leaning plank position (similar to what you could do on an exercise ball or just against a wall, but more challenging because the hammock can move around). I think we also did some hammock supported backbends around this time.

Then, we used the hammock to support the extended rear leg in warrior 3, transitioned to a lunge (with the rear leg still in the hammock, and then plank (now both feet in the hammock)! This was pretty challenging and where I had some problems.

After that, we used the hammock to do sort of a pull-up from a seated position (or at least attempted a pull up).  Then we went back to one leg in the hammock, but this time with the thigh resting in the hammock rather than the foot.  From here, we did a lunge / squat type move.  Boy oh boy did this work my hamstrings!

Then came the fun parts — inversions!  We did a forward fold over the hammock so that the hammock was resting on the upper legs, just below the hips, and then voilà! we were hanging like that. It was a little unnerving at first, and tricky to find the balance point so that I wasn’t swinging wildly around or worried I would flip back over. When Pik Chu suggested we move our feet into butterfly position, I thought I would faint. The good news is that I didn’t faint AND I was able to do the pose.  The trick is to keep your feet/legs below the hammock (to balance the weight of your upper body on the other side).

Next, not for those faint of heart or scared of heights, we actually stood in (on?) the hammocks.  Climbing up was tricky, but manageable.  Once there, we performed some complicated steps to arrive at a safe position that allows freedom to let go with your hands and free up one leg. My balance on the ground really sucks, but with the hammock to absorb shock and just move with me, tree pose was fun. A little nerve wracking because with no hands on the hammock and one leg up in tree pose, it was really just the positioning of the hammock in front of one hip and behind one shoulder that was keeping me from plummeting to death.  (Ok, ok, maybe death is an exaggeration…)

I am sure I am forgetting some parts, but I hope you are getting the idea of what it was like.

Towards the end, we got to flip completely upside down. Again, this was pretty scary at first, and then once used to the hammock and confident my legs would hold me, I was able to remove my hands from the floor and extend my arms out to the side. I really wish I had a photo of me (and Rebecca) at this point. With some encouragement, I was even able to release one leg (just like in the video below). It seemed like we were upside down forever, but really, it was probably only a few minutes. In this inversion, we even got to work on practicing a handstand, as the hammock provided stability for the legs, and we could engage the arms to lift the body (and our weight) off the hammock and up up up.  (Another point where I thought I would die).

To complete our yoga session, we spent shavasana (corpse pose) floating in the air, cocooned in our hammocks.