Reporters take yoga to new heights

January 28, 2015 — by Stefanie Ting and Rachel Zhang

After seeing pictures on Instagram of people hanging like possums from slings, two reporters decided to try out aerial yoga, a series of exercises incorporating regular yoga and aerial acrobatics. 

Trusting that the thin, violet fabric would catch our fall, we began falling backwards, hooking our feet around the fabric to remain suspended. We let out a little shriek as our field of vision flipped upside down.

Blood rushed through our heads, transforming our faces into a flush of a red. Although our throats felt rather constricted, we laughed, as did the other yogis, after we successfully achieved the so-called spider position.

After seeing pictures on Instagram of people hanging like possums from slings, we decided to try out aerial yoga, a series of exercises incorporating regular yoga and aerial acrobatics. The day before we planned to take the class, we signed up for a 75-minute introductory course to aerial yoga at Breathe, a yoga studio in Los Gatos.

Soft instrumental music greeted us as we walked across the wooden floor and began setting up our mats.

Long pieces of violet silk draped from the ceiling, forming makeshift hammocks three feet above the ground. Our eyes traced the nerve-wrackingly large distance between the floor and the fabric, and immediately we regretted our decision to sign-up.

Nonetheless, as we glanced around the room filled with middle-aged women and young adults, we felt a little more confident. If 40-year-olds could do this, so could we.

Two minutes hadn’t even passed when we faced our first struggle. Our instructor, Courtney Krishnamurthy, told us to lay inside our silk fabric, assuring us that the sling could support up to 3,000 pounds. But the purple fabric seemed flimsy, incapable of supporting our size and weight.

After a few feeble attempts, we managed to cocoon our bodies into the hammock, stepping onto a small cork block to aid us.

From there, we began series of flows, poses synced with one’s breath intended to work various parts of the body, including core strengthening. Following Krishnamurthy’s directions, we “gracefully” swung, stretching muscles we did not know existed.

Then, just when we thought it couldn’t get more difficult, we were told to perform the spider position — a move that left our hand and upper body suspended in mid-air, only supported by our feet tightly wrapped around the fabric. It required coordination, balance and upper-body strength, three traits that we definitely do not possess.

We watched enviously as Krishnamurthy flawlessly demonstrated the move while the other members followed suit. On the other hand, we stubbornly sat in our fabric, contemplating whether or not to risk our heads smashing against the ground beneath us.

After the relentless mental debate, we decided to trust the delicate fabric and started falling backwards, forming a triangle with our legs that gripped onto the fabric.

Then, we began performing various balancing exercises before doing our last poses of the evening, the owl and the fairy. We returned to the spider-position and then hoisted ourselves up to clutch on the fabric above our knees. A burning sensation gripped Rachel’s nonexistent abs and Stefanie’s 12-pack (very funny, Rachel?) as we began “climbing” up the fabric until we reached a seated position. Swinging from side to side, we felt the freedom of being airborne.

In order to get out of the pose altogether, we had to do a front somersault without accidentally falling out of the sling.

Perched over six feet above the ground, we peered at the ground beneath us. Unable to do even front flips on monkey bars, this task was even more intimidating than taking a Yim test.

Hearing all the other yogi chant  “You can do it,” we somersaulted clumsily and unwound ourselves from the fabrics’ grips.

It flipping hurt.

We ended class the same way we started; we climbed into the fabric,  lying inside our slowly-swinging hammock with our eyes closed, taking in the tranquility the practice has given us.

As the class ended, we agreed the experience was well worth the time and money spent. For a mere $12 (the student price), the class not only gave us an eclectic amounts of exercise, which not only stretched and strengthened various muscles, but also relieved stress.

We dare you to try aerial yoga; yogana have fun.

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