Aerial Yoga | Strength & Flexibility

Aerial yoga (also sometimes known as Anti-Gravity yoga) combines traditional yoga poses with the use of a low-hanging hammock – or yoga swing.
Suitable for ALL LEVELS, including those new to aerial yoga.
This workshop will take you on an aerial journey, which will be both exhilarating and invigorating and deeply relaxing. You will be guided through some of the seemingly endless ways you can use the aerial swings, through basics to more dynamic practices and then on to a relaxing phase as you gently rock cocooned in the hammocks.
Just like mat based yoga, Aerial yoga can be slow, gentle and relaxing as well as playful, creative and dynamic. It is a versatile practice, which brings the many benefits of a mat-based practice – and some extras! Most notably perhaps, is the sense of play, freedom and curiosity it brings to both mind and body which can often be missing from our daily lives – especially in these times.
The hammock deepens your yoga practice, taking you to the closer physical experience of yoga. You will feel a state of ease, pleasure, lightness, creativity, expansion of feeling, and stillness of mind. With the support of the hammock and the gentle pull of gravity, the body can also ease into deeper backbends, inversions and other postures that might have previously been inaccessible. It works with the body in a very different way and can be particularly beneficial for decompressing the spine for anyone with a desk-based job or who suffers from back pain.
Aerial yoga has particular benefits for strengthening and stretching the whole body, decompressing the spine, improving circulation, boosting digestion, relieving back pain and lifting your mood.
Expect an invigorating and uplifting experience, time to connect with others in a playful environment, plus some delicious moments of deep inner calm cocooned in the swings for a final relaxation.
Here is What Sets Aerial Yoga Apart:

• Play & Creativity: The swing truly lends itself to a more playful and light experience of Yoga. Play brings us into the present moment to create and experiment with movement whilst providing the opportunity for an emotional release. 
  
• Support: Practicing yoga with the support of the hammock is comparable to hands-on assists from a teacher; the advantage being you have physical assistance in every posture throughout the class. 
  
• Fear of certain postures – particularly inversions – dissipates, and the support of the hammock promotes feelings of trust, connection and peacefulness. 
  
• Ease of Movement
: The physical support that the hammock gives to the body makes every movement, more pleasurable and more potent. Every asana and transition will be easier. Every joint mobilisation will be freer. The massage of internal organs will be deeper. This ease of movement increases flexibility, builds strength, improves balance, ultimately creating more space to relax into the experience. 
  
• Rocking
: Working with the swing harnesses the physical and emotional power of the rocking motion. In a physical sense the movement helps alleviate back and arthritic pain, improves sleeping patterns, helps with weight loss, tones muscle and aids recovery from surgery. Mentally, the rocking movement reduces anxiety and depression and stimulates the release of "happy hormones". 
  
• Contact (Touch)
: In an increasingly modern, urban and technological society, touch and physical interaction is lessening and can result in stress and anxiety. With Aerial yoga the direct contact of the body against the hammock encourages an experience of wellbeing, reduced stress, and a natural release of mood enhancing hormones oxytocin and serotonin.
  

Notes:

*This workshop is suitable for people new to aerial yoga, but it is recommended that you have some experience of yoga

*It is essential that students pay close attention to all verbal instructions and demonstrations from the teachers

*Please wear a T-shirt – rather than a vest – to cover soft tissue armpit and upper arm area

*These classes are not recommended for pregnant women or those who suffer from vertigo.