Aerial yoga uses an aerial hammock as a support to explore yoga poses, to strengthen, stretch and, most importantly, have fun. These classes use a low hammock that is ideal for a relaxed and stress-free class. The hammock provides a unique and fun take on traditional yoga, allows students to deepen or hold and access postures that would have previously been inaccessible, and provides a few fun poses where we can explore and fly.
The aerial yoga silk takes the form of a soft hammock that can be used both bunched up and spread out. These strong pieces of fabric can be used as a support, aiding practitioners to find balance and more control in traditional yoga poses. It can also be used to level up some traditional yoga poses, such as the plank, where the use of the silk makes the pose a bit more demanding. Aerial yoga is a form of yoga that draws on circus arts to provide different levels to the usual stretches, strengthening and balancing poses.
Spread out to its full extension, the aerial hammock provides a protective nook, allowing aerial yoga practitioners to find a deep sense of relaxation. We can use the aerial hammock to support a traditional corpse pose, or half lotus pose, and feel how the silks work with the body to provide support along with a gentle sway.
One key part of most aerial yoga is the inversion sequence. Numerous studies have shown that inversion can aid health, ease stress and support relaxation. However, in most traditional yoga classes, full inversions are only accessible to very experienced yogis in the form of handstands, headstands etc. The aerial hammock makes the inversions accessible, supported and extremely nourishing.
In my aerial yoga classes in Edinburgh, I like to work with a low hammock so we can easily reach down and feel the ground beneath us, experiencing a combination of the fun of flying and the safety of the ground.
Working from a low height in aerial yoga also actually allows us to work towards more ambitious poses and challenges as we are starting from a safe low base. Rolling up may take us slightly higher up, but this still won’t be scarily high. (More ambitious poses are also always suggested as options.)
In these aerial yoga classes in Edinburgh we seek calm and a moment of relaxation, while working to build strength and overcome physical challenges.
I run aerial yoga workshops and events in Edinburgh around every five weeks, with aerial sound baths, aerial yoga, aerial yin yoga, aerial meditation and much more. We offer classes and events for a wide range of abilities, with the Aerial Yoga Workshops in Edinburgh providing challenging and fitness-building options, all the way through to no-movement Aerial Sound Baths for complete rest and release lying in an aerial hammock for relaxation and deep calm.
For more information, just get in touch!
