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| Students during anti-gravity yoga. picture from Flow in the City event held last August 4, 2012 |
Yoga is a form of exercise that has steadily gained
popularity in the recent years as a way of stretching, toning, and relaxing one’s
body. By using deep breathing and gracefully moving to different poses, yoga
brings many positive benefits. It’s no wonder why many people have come to incorporate
yoga in their lives, and why there has been an increase in both yoga students,
and yoga teachers. Those who regularly practice yoga enjoy an ultimate form of
relaxation after every session, and find that they are better equipped in
dealing with the inevitable stressors found in life, besides the increase in
flexibility, toning of muscles, decrease in blood pressure, and a better
feeling of over-all wellness.
Today yoga has branched out to many forms. There is Ashtanga
yoga, Yin-yang yoga, Bikram Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, and did you know that there is
now a form of yoga called “Anti-gravity yoga”?
This form of yoga was invented in US by Christopher
Harrison on 2007, combining yoga practice and aerial arts. It makes use of a
silky hammock, used as a support and instrument to the various anti-gravity
yoga positions above the ground. A lot of the positions are inverted poses,
with your head below, and your feet up in the air, as the hammock holds your
body up in the air. On regular yoga, inverted positions are only done by the advanced-level students because of the difficulty, and the amount of strain this puts on the vertebrae of the back and neck. But with anti-gravity yoga, the advantage is that even beginners can do the inverted poses without straining or putting pressure on the spine.
When I tried this for the first time, I admit that it took a certain amount of courage to let go of my fears of “falling down” or hitting my head on the floor. But once I decided to let go and trust the hammock, I found myself upside-down like an acrobat in a circus, with a lot of relief, and a rush of adrenaline flowing in my body. It was fun and relaxing. It takes a little getting used to for holding the inverted positions, but I noticed that the more I learned to let go and ease into the inverted pose, the more relaxation I got, and eventually my body adjusted to it. It's a moment of bliss on air.
When I tried this for the first time, I admit that it took a certain amount of courage to let go of my fears of “falling down” or hitting my head on the floor. But once I decided to let go and trust the hammock, I found myself upside-down like an acrobat in a circus, with a lot of relief, and a rush of adrenaline flowing in my body. It was fun and relaxing. It takes a little getting used to for holding the inverted positions, but I noticed that the more I learned to let go and ease into the inverted pose, the more relaxation I got, and eventually my body adjusted to it. It's a moment of bliss on air.
For those interested in trying, Anti-gravity Yoga is now being offered here in Metro Manila by the Yoga studio named “Beyond Yoga” which is located in Il Terrazzo, Quezon City, and by September the second branch will open in High Street, Fort Bonifacio.
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