One New Thing #13: I Try Acro Yoga for the First Time
One New Thing: # 13
What: I tried acro yoga for the first time
Where: Outside while socially distancing
Cost: $0!
Fave thing: Flipping the script and being the base to fly my partner!
When you’re in week 4 of self-isolation, finding something new to do can be a little hard without actually, you know, going somewhere.
Enter: acro yoga! Now, this does require that you be quarantined with a second person, but it’s totally doable and may even become your new hobby.
While I have a yoga background (200 hour YTT in Baron Baptiste style power yoga), I do NOT have a background in any sort of gymnastics (minus classes when I was 8) or circus things that one might want to have when doing acro yoga. Nevertheless, I found a beginners video on Yoga Journal that starts you out with some basic trust and testing the balance moves. It ends in a full on bow pose, so you can just watch the video to see how that goes.
But first - let’s define what acro yoga is! From Wikipedia:
“Acroyoga (also written Acro-Yoga or Acro Yoga) is a physical practice which combines yoga and acrobatics. Acroyoga includes many types of (mostly recreational) partner and group acrobatics in which at least someone is lifted. As such it also draws on traditions of circus arts, cheer-leading, and dance acro. Acroyoga is more vigorous than many traditional forms of yoga as exercise, and may lead to more injuries.” (source)
Honestly, this mini, basic acro yoga session was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. I laughed like a child and ended it saying I might take it up as a hobby.
Here’s how it went down:
We watched an acro yoga basics video on Yoga Journal to get a few poses we could try. Then we did them!
1st - Plank on Plank - not sure what the purpose of this was besides a little warm up.
2nd - Press - this was a good warm up for the knees. When I switched to base, Sean was a little too close and when he backed up (even though it felt weird), it was a better position for me to be stable in
3rd - Base Test - We forgot this the first go round and went back to do it when I was the flyer. It’s a good way to get a feel for the weight of the flyer and to test out balancing on the feet.
4th - Front Plank - This is, basically, airplane. You are up and balanced on the base’s feet and you’re grasping each other’s hands. Figuring out where the base’s feet should go on the flyer’s hips was a little tricky. We went through about 3 different places to figure out where I felt the most supported (without tipping head down) and where the base felt the most steady. Eventually we found that for us, it was best when the base’s toes were grazing my hip bones and feet were planted solidly on my upper thighs. The “mount” (minds out of gutters please) was easiest for me when it was almost one, smooth jumping movement up.
5th - Front Bird - Same as above, but let go and extend your arms back! This was exciting when we landed it! It required a good sense of balance, trust in your partner, and willingness to try it. Once I landed it I felt like a pro.
6th - Bow - Just like one would do bow on the ground, it’s the same thing, but in the air. Same thing BUT SO MUCH HARDER. I can do bow in a regular yoga practice, but it’s usually by grabbing one ankle first and I’m quite warmed up by that point. Trying to hit bow in the air without a lot of a warm up was HARD. We also found that by reaching one hand back, my hips would swivel and the feet would go off balance, causing me to fall. We tried a few variations, one with me holding his feet for more balance while I reached out, one moving reallllllly slowly (I did manage to grab one foot with this method), and another where I tried to bend both feet at once to try to stay balanced - didn’t work so hot.
Once we did a few rounds of the above, we switched it up and I became the base. Now, usually, the base is someone who is larger than the flyer. If you are going to try to be a base, make sure you aren’t stressing your knees and that you have strong quads. At first Sean felt SO heavy and near impossible, but a few tricks we found (him moving his feet back for example) and doing some warm ups, actually made it easy to “fly” him.
A few pro tips we picked up:
Make sure the base keeps their toes pointed - this helps push the flyer’s chest up and restores their sense of balancing and not feeling like they’re going to be dumped on their head at any moment
They recommended eye contact with your base to establish trust, but I found that finding a dristi (a single gazing point) like in yoga was most helpful. I would often pick a spot in the grass just over Sean’s head and look there - or focus my gaze slightly up and out to help keep my balance up.
HAVE FUN. Obviously this goes without saying, but having fun and keeping it light helps. We took SO many tumbles and falls, but each time, we could look at what was off, how we could tweak things slightly.
Be safe. Also obviously, you could get hurt. Having good body awareness, knowledge of falling, and doing this in a wide, soft open place can mitigate potential risks of falling and hurting yourself / falling into something.
All in all, this was really fun and you may just drive by and see us out there again!