Aerial yoga offers more support than a normal yoga class on the floor, allowing teachers to offer a variety of classes suitable for everyone, from beginners to advanced yogis. During an aerial yoga class, the aerial yoga hammock supports half the body weight, making it 50% easier than regular yoga. You may have first seen aerial yoga on Instagram, where photos of beautiful yoga poses that defy gravity are known to proliferate. It's true that aerial yoga is picturesque and seems too technical to be suitable for beginners.
But you don't need to be an acrobat much less to learn and love this variation of yoga. Instead of performing yoga poses on a mat, aerial yoga uses a hammock or a silk sling that is suspended from the ceiling to perform those same movements. That's why this type of yoga practice is also called anti-gravity or suspension yoga, because for much of the session, you'll be suspended from the floor by the hammock. Although most of the aerial yoga photos you'll find seem to show a yogi completely suspended in the air, many aerial yoga poses only require you to lift a part of your body, such as your foot or leg, off the floor.
If you're new to the world of aerial yoga, Michelle Li, co-owner of AIR Los Angeles and certified aerial yoga instructor by the AFTT, says you can expect a fun and transformative experience. And like traditional yoga practices, aerial yoga incorporates breathing exercises, cooling down like savasana, as well as spirituality or singing, depending on the study and individual class.
