Obviously, yoga is great. Just ask Google, Instagram and that guy over there wearing hemp pants. It’s good for your muscles, it’s good for your organs, it’s GREAT for your brain and your mind and your butt and your chi and your Zen and your Instagram following. And I, personally, am a huge yoga fan! I prefer it to gross things like running and stair training and squats.
So when I was invited by CircStudios in Warana to try their AntiGravity aerial yoga class, I thought I was more than ready to take my yoga to the next level. And by next level, I of course mean take it to the air. How hard could it be, right?
I turned up all bushy tailed and excited, ready to show them how good I would be at this. After signing a quick little waiver (concerning, but expected) I made my way up to the yoga studio. While on my journey up the stairs to the studio I came across the gymnasium, and it was at that moment that I mimicked a Bower Bird who’d just seen a shiny piece of garbage because oh-mah-lawd did my eyes light up like a Christmas tree. I saw pretty silks and pretty hoops and pretty girls bent in half, three metres above the ground. I made a mental note of all the dreamy things that I saw and stored it away in the Make Sure You Hound The Guys At The Desk About That Later file. (Spoiler alert: I asked them and for only $125 you can do a five week course and turn into a Flying Circus Performer. Actually, they used the words ‘learn the basics’.
So anyway, after that internal monologue I arrived 40 minutes later to my destination. The aerial yoga room was set up beautifully! It looked kind of like a room full of suspended orange wombs hanging from the ceiling.
Nicole was my instructor for the night and her introduction included a mention of how sore her butt was from another class. I was confused because: 1. What? Hell no did I want a sore butt, and 2. Her butt was so nice that maybe I did want a sore butt. I was instantly confused but she put me out of my misery when she went on to inform me that the sore butt was due to an earlier aerial barre ballet class. Yeah, what the heck? (Another spoiler alert: Not only do they have aerial yoga but they teach Pilates, barre, fitness and air flow classes. Yah, all upside down.)
Nicole went through all of the general safety things and then we jumped (placed our bodies in safely and gently) straight into our delicious orange wombs and got inverted! Man oh man, being inverted feels so great! I’d never thought about it before but Nicole explained that the beauty of aerial yoga (or any aerial activity) is that you tak pressure off your spine. It’s almost like getting an adjustment at the Chiropractor!
I could feel my spine realigning as I hung there like a bat. And when your spine is aligned so is your nervous system and then all sorts of good things happen. I was feeling euphoric at this point and I think Nicole could tell because I think I spent the whole class giggling like a loser.
After a bit of basic hanging upside practice, we kicked things up a notch and did some tricks. She taught me how to wrap myself safely in the hammock so as to not fall out (cue waiver) and then we got funky. I tried something called a Butt Wrap, but my bum is just an extension of my legs so that one didn’t work so well for me. So then we tried some other wraps that would work for bumless people like myself and then I felt heaps more like a swaddled baby. There were about 10 super cool tricks that looked way out of my pay grade when Nicole demonstrated them, but turned out to not be as life threating as I thought! Far out I looked so cool! I kept whistling to my personal photographer in a condescending way to make sure she was getting some good shots of me looking VERY cool and talented. Plus, I was still giggling like a goat so my abs were getting a bigger workout than they’d seen in a while.
We finished the class with a pose that I’m pretty sure was called ‘Cocoon Pose’ which is super appropriate because I definitely felt like a pretty little caterpillar having a snooze. Once I was nice and snug in my cocoon, Nicole turned the lights down, put on some relaxing music and said the words “Would you like me to rock you?” at which point I almost cried. Because of course I wanted to be rocked! I was in a womb, suspended from the ceiling, so dear God please rock me. I had huge plans of meditating during this part of the class, but I literally woke myself up from snoring.
So, the big question, would I do this again? Heck yeah! Not only are the health benefits incredible but it’s fun AF and kind of makes you feel like a kid again. Plus gravity is a bastard sometimes (my boobs can vouch for this) so anti-gravity feels VERY empowering.
You can try a 90-minute introduction class at CircStudios for only $25! Or, if you feel confident that aerial life is the life for you, then for only $69 you get two introduction classes plus four weeks of unlimited anti-gravity classes. We call bargain!
The Details
What: Aerial yoga
Where: CircStudios, 7 Bearing Avenue, Warana
Book: Call 07 5493 1341 or visit the website here.
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Image credit: Federica Portentoso