Have you ever been daydreaming while in shavasana and found yourself thinking, ‘hey, wouldn’t this be much better if I were hanging upside down?’ Well, someone at a boutique yoga studio in Castle Hill did. Outside of their standard yoga and Pilates classes, AerialFit offers brave yogis the chance to get creative in an unusual practice, hanging from hoops, silk fabrics and even a trapeze.
They run six different suspended classes, each with a fresh twist of circus, dance and endurance. They all allow for a total body workout, building your core and stabilising your joints, as each muscle is required to constantly support your movements while in the air.
It all starts with the Aerial Yoga class. These drop in sessions follow a more traditional yoga regime of stretches, strength building movements and inversions. It’s just that you’ll be hanging from hammock slings while you complete your practice.
The Aerial Hoop program puts you in the embrace of a suspended ring, where you’ll slowly learn to pose, swing and twist around the hoop, strengthening and becoming more creative with modifications on your technique. Take the next step and try the Static Trapeze, which lives up to its name, teaching you how to swing and flip around a trapeze bar. As you master more moves on the apparatus, your core strength will also improve remarkably.
Like the hoops and trapeze, the Aerial Skills classes are reminiscent of a big top circus or huge arena performance. You’ll learn to climb two suspended silks, holding challenging positions, steady inversions and even falling with grace and control.
The Aerial Hammock provides another challenge and lets you develop the skills you’ve acquired so far, as you’re safely locked into looped fabric, so you can try some daredevil moves. For more strength conditioning, try the Aerial Conditioning program.
All these experiences are open to beginners as well as old hands, and there’s modified steps if you’re not confident dangling upside down just yet. The classes rely heavily on developing and maintaining the skills you learn each week, so most run as ten-week programs, with one 60-minute class each week.
You could really skill up and attempt a few classes at a time, or add in an extra workout with the studio’s Barre classes. These combine training elements from ballet, Pilates and sports conditioning to give you a high intensity, very sweaty and fun fitness session.