Some people are naturally flexible, easily able to touch their toes (with legs straight) or do those cool backbends that scream “Look at me! I’m young and supple!” Not me. Sitting cross-legged is a, um, stretch for me. My usual state of being is tense and knotted up. Although I exercise regularly and enjoy doing things like long day hikes or bike rides, I am not good at stretching my poor muscles. However, I am very open to doing yoga/stretching and thought that if I could find a Groupon special or some other deal for yoga, then maybe I could use that to start incorporating more stretching in my life. So, I went online and found a local yoga studio that is currently offering 30 days of yoga for $30.

My first class was this past Monday and I chose to try an aerial yoga class. First, let me say that this blog post will not have any pictures of me and YOU ALL SHOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL.

OK, what is aerial yoga? Essentially, it’s a yoga class conducted in hammocks. The instructor leads you through the same yoga poses as a mat class (i.e. yoga done on a mat), except that you’re in a hammock. Practitioners claim that some benefits of aerial yoga include greater range of mobility (because you can hang onto the sides of the hammock, which enables you to stretch further) and a better ab/core workout (because you have to use those muscles more to balance yourself). The online pictures of aerial yoga do look really cool, somewhat similar to what you see in any Cirque du Soleil show. For example:

My conclusions? Aerial yoga is not for me. When my aerial yoga class started, the first thing we were told to do is to get into the hammock. That took me several minutes. After I maneuvered my old, stiff body into that swinging piece of suspended nylon, I immediately started feeling dizzy and nauseous. My next thought: “This is going to be a LONG 60 minutes.” (Note: I was correct.)

The instructor was encouraging and helped me in and out of the hammock several times, probably feeling sorry for the girl whose limbs kept getting in her way. She said that “most people need 3-4 sessions to get the hang of getting in and out.” As for the dizziness? She was sympathetic and said that the more I practiced aerial yoga, the less I’d experience dizziness. Hmm. How about I don’t do aerial yoga again and not feel dizzy (because of it) again?

More fun poses followed the actual getting into the hammock, like tree pose (standing on one leg with the other leg leaning against the standing leg), butterfly (sitting position with the feet touching and knees bent out), and my personal favourite, the “floss,” which required you to straddle the hammock, grip both ends of the hammock in one hand and pull up while sticking one foot in front into the hammock. (Use your imagination to picture the “floss” part of the pose. Aren’t you glad I don’t have pictures for this blog?)

Strangely enough, my least favorite part of the class was the last 10 minutes, which was in corpse pose, a.k.a. the easiest pose. All we had to do was lie on our back in the hammock. We were told to relax and to breathe. All I remember thinking is “why is my hammock still moving??” and “please please don’t throw up.” The dizziness lasted well into the next day!

Am I glad I tried aerial yoga? Yes. Will I try it again? No (read above blog post). However, I’m all for the “conventional mat” yoga and I already feel the benefits of doing that this past week. Hooray for trying new things. 🙂