BY JENNIFER & JOHN BURKHART

Off the Mat: Exploring the World of Aerial Yoga

Tired of the same old yoga routine? Or maybe you’ve never tried yoga. Either way, if you’re looking for some “me” time and want a unique way to stretch those tight muscles, look no further than aerial yoga. There’s no chance of boredom, and a 100% chance of more flexibility and fun.

She Said: I’m glad this was a beginner’s session, because this class kicked my BEE-hind! I wasn’t somersaulting across the room or dangling from great heights, but when I was done, I sure felt as if I trained for Cirque du “Sore Legs.” We did several familiar poses, like warrior, downward dog, and child’s pose with the hammock supporting different areas of the body, but also poses specific to this type of yoga. I felt like some poses were easier with the hammock, but with others, the fabric just got in the way. Important note: if the fabric is hurting you (like in the armpit area – don’t wear a tank top), then readjust or skip the pose. I have the red marks to show for it! I also have relaxed muscles though, thankfully. Using the hammock really helped deepen hip flexor stretches, which felt great. The neck stretches also felt like I was at the chiropractor, which was an unexpected bonus. I loved how I got a full-body workout standing on one leg, while the other was in the swing. I had to really engage all my muscles trying to balance while the swing wobbled a bit. The final two parts of the class were inversion and savasana. Inversion was both terrifying and exhilarating. I didn’t think I’d be able to do it and could only think about my fearless self at eight years old on the playground, swinging backwards on the monkey bars, not worried about broken bones or ER bills. Our patient, friendly instructor encouraged me, and in minutes I was upside down, blood rushing to my head for an insta-headache, but my inner 8-year old was delighted. “This is wild!” I said, smiling. I didn’t stay inverted long, but after coming back up for air, I tried a few more times. It was shockingly exhausting! The stretch was great, but my head hurt and my stomach started to feel queasy. Thank goodness for the amazing savasana. We stretched out in the hammock, gently swaying into total relaxation as the class ended.

He Said: So I totally tried to talk Jen out of this one. I heard “aerial yoga,” and thought I was going to be 100 feet off the floor, stretching on the flying trapeze — which sounded like a good way to pull a hamstring and break my neck at the same time. Nope and nope. So, I put my foot down and told Jen “we’re not doing that,” because I’m the man of our house…and the next day we walked right into the aerial yoga studio. It was noon-ish on a Sunday and our instructor, Jordan, greeted us warmly and ushered us back to the studio: A warm wood room, with soft natural lighting and three colorful hammocks that were hanging close to the floor (not 100 feet off the ground, thankfully). We started with some basic stretching through standard yoga poses. I was able to get nice deep stretches without too much effort because the hammock supported my weight. “This is like yoga on easy mode,” I thought. The second phase was my favorite. We were lying down with the hammock in various positions under our neck and back, giving us outstanding targeted stretching, and it was even easier, because all I had to do was lie there. I was beginning to love this. Then we moved on to the third phase and everything turned upside down, figuratively and literally. Jordan instructed us to hang upside down with our legs all wrapped up in this hammock and our heads two inches off the floor. “Here comes the hamstring and broken neck part,” I thought. I hung upside down for about five seconds before every part of my body was saying “nope, we don’t like that!” But, I tried again, and every time I flipped it became a little easier. By the end it was pretty fun to be upside down, and I was able to stretch areas that were tough to target right-side-up. We finished the session with a nice calming savasana, which was basically a meditative nap in a hammock. I think this would help me immensely if I did it regularly, and I will definitely go back.