Acroyoga – Yoga, Acrobatics & Therapeutics

Aside from regular yoga, I also practice acroyoga.
Why am I posting about acroyoga? Whether you do yoga once a week or are an aspiring yoga teacher, it is always good to know more about how yoga has evolved and how yoga has fused with so many other things right?? Things like paddleboard yoga, anti-gravity yoga etc. Yes, these are more money making tools for yoga businesses but still, these fusions are whole new areas to explore and is something yoga teachers should be aware of even if you don’t do it yourself. 🙂
Acroyoga is a physical practice incorporating yoga, acrobatics and even therapeutics. You have a base supporting a flyer. You usually also have spotters to catch the flyer in case of any falls.
The key to acroyoga is communication and trust. Since I do acroyoga with my boyfriend, I feel like it has brought us closer together as we progressed from only doing the basic front bird to more complicated things like vishnu’s couch and shoulder stands.
Many people say acroyoga is not actual yoga. Indeed, it is a very different style but acroyoga does benefit your regular yoga practice as well. It has certainly helped me in my yoga journey.
Firstly, you gain strength. Bases need to have very strong legs while flyers need to have a strong core. It doesn’t matter how heavy you are as a flyer but your technique and alignment (yes, technique and alignment – same as yoga!) really matter because tight is light. 😀 What is important is that your flyer knows how to stay tight and hold their own weight.
Next, your balancing will improve. To do poses like side star or vishnu’s couch for example, your half moon pose will have to be very solid as you need to be able to balance sideways on the base’s foot.
Inversions. Acroyoga warm ups often are very good inversion preps. I never dared to do headstands until a few months ago. It really helped that I was forced to try at an acroyoga workshop (with spotters of course!). This is as advanced acroyoga moves often involve inversions like shoulder stands and even handstands.
So yes, practice acroyoga in addition to yoga and you will see improvements in your asanas as you advance. Like how I can actually hold a half moon pose with leg variations now, whereas in the past I found it difficult to even balance in half moon. I could give you many more reasons why acroyoga is so much fun but this post might never end so let’s just stop here. Go do a google search if you’re interested in finding out more haha.
In all, I am really thankful I gave acroyoga a try last year. It is so much fun and hey, it’s always good to experience new things. If you’re an (aspiring) yoga teacher, you might want to check out acroyoga and learn some cool partner stretches/warm ups and even massage techniques that you may be able to use in your own classes! 😉
Cheryl
200hrs YTT (Jan 2015 Weekday)