Aerial yoga… It’s more than just hanging upside down in suspended silk hammocks. Owner of sky-lab aerial studio Shari Veitch tells us more about this unique practice.

1. it started on broadway

Aerial yoga originated in the US during the late 1990’s by Christopher Harrison, former competitive gymnast turned Broadway aerial designer as part of a Broadway show. The hammock apparatus created for the performance was a modified single point hanging silk connected to a double point thus creating an aerial hammock, allowing the performers to complete complex aerial poses from a lower more accessible height than traditional circus silks. The practice of Aerial Yoga was born from the performers daily pre show warm up including shapes and poses from traditional floor based yoga, pilates, dance, gymnastics and aerial arts and is now the global practice of aerial yoga and antigravity yoga.

2. it can make you taller

Zero compression inversions allow decompression of the spine through gentle traction and hydration of vertebral discs. Enabling you to extend to your true natural height. This can vary between 1⁄4” to 1 1⁄2” taller and the effects are not cumulative!

3. it can increase your cardiovascular capability without increasing your heart rate

This is one of the coolest things I love about an aerial practice is that, inversions create a unique environment where the lungs and diaphragm are working harder during regular breath cycles to lift upwards against the additional weight of the internal organs, increasing cardio vascular conditioning without increasing heart rate – Who said you need to go for a run?

4. hello happy hormones

Zero compression inversions allow circulatory and lymphatic systems to refresh while stimulating greater cerebellum function. Increasing the release of neurotransmitters from the brain and stimulating the release of “happy hormones” – serotonin, dopamine, enkephalins and endocannabinoids.

5. it can make you more agile and coordinated

The practice of aerial yoga can increase your kinaesthetic awareness and develop a more astute proprioceptor response allowing a fine tuning of balance, coordination and greater agility.