Try: Air Yoga –

Aerial fitness is an exercise few can say they’ve actually tried. And I get it: hanging upside down trusting a fabric to hold you up can feel scary. But, the benefits make it worth it to step out of your comfort zone.

I did this by trying Air Yoga.

It is a modality practiced with the aid of a net suspended from the ceiling. Unlike traditional yoga, which focuses specifically on, well, yoga, aerial fitness also incorporates elements of other exercises — all while working to defy gravity.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t work on the ground. Part of the class will be completely suspended by the fabric, while another will use the accessory to intensify the familiar yoga poses.

BENEFITS OF AIR YOGA

Deepens stretches; Relieves joint pressure and spinal compression that floor exercises can trigger; Release tension; Increases balance and proprioception (body awareness); Increases the strength of the abdomen; Improves awareness of breathing; Gives you easier access to inverted postures; Releases endorphins.

As you can see, there are many positive additions to practicing Air Yoga, but possibly the most notable is the fact that being suspended in mid-air somehow provides a sense of security that is difficult to match. At one point, it’s like you’re in a cocoon, and that’s surprisingly comforting.

WE EXPERIENCE: AIR YOGA

– (hsyncoban/Getty Images)

I tried it at the Competition gym, through Gympass.

First of all, I’ll tell you right now: if you thought that inversions were at the top of this class’s list of exercises, think again.

The first thing you should do is familiarize yourself with the fabric. That’s because a lot of people think that the idea is to drop the weight completely on it but, as the teacher showed, instructing me to put only one leg on it and move it, if you don’t keep most of your body weight on the supporting leg (and not on suspension), you lose your balance.

After this recognition, the fabric functions as a complementary accessory to traditional yoga, the Downward Facing Dog poses, Warrior I, Warrior II and many others are practiced slowly in class adding a more challenging element. For example, during Warrior II pose, one leg is on top of the fabric while the other is on the ground. This makes you need to develop even more balance, the stretching becomes more intense, and the abdomen gets really tight — something that many forget to do in traditional yoga.

For someone like me who is not familiar with yoga in any of its forms, I found this part of the class quite challenging.

Then comes the fun part that you (and me too, I confess) have been waiting for: hanging from the fabric.

The instructor guides you so that you are in the correct position upside down on the fabric while your hips are fully supported by it. This makes the vertebrae free of any weight and gives a feeling of relaxation.

Then, to end the class, you lay your body completely inside the fabric (which opens and stays like a cocoon). There are 5 minutes in which the teacher instructs you to do a scanning meditation, letting go of each body part one by one.

For a busy and hectic day typical of the end of the year and in the midst of various concerns that I am having to face, I must say that ending my day with an intense workout (you really feel the muscles working), which makes you stay in the moment (and not thinking about tomorrow’s tasks) and, in addition, instructs you in a meditation to relax at the end was all I needed.

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