This particular discipline of yoga combines traditional yoga poses and flows with basic acrobatic skills to enhance strength and core training. Among the many variations of yoga available today, acroyoga stands out from the rest because it’s a focused and fun way in which you can enhance flexibility, mobility and core strength without having to give in to repetitive sequences and inconsistent levels of workout intensity.
The three primary roles in acroyoga are the base, the flyer and the spotter. The base is the person that lies on the ground to offer the flyer maximum stability and support, the flyer is the individual that is elevated from the ground by the base and moves into a series of movements and positions, and the spotter mainly observes and make suggestions to ensure the flyer lands safely. Besides making more friends, here are three other reasons why you should give acroyoga a try.
Develop core strength
Whether you are a base or a flyer, most of the core activation that is required of you falls in the category of stabilization. In order to hold many acroyoga poses or move through many acroyoga combinations it is necessary to move fluidly from one “tight” stabilized core neutral position to the next. So essentially your spine moves naturally and unloaded through flexion, extension, rotation, and lateral flexion to get to the next stable position with a neutral spine. Think fluid movements to planks in different position with a partner added in the mix.
Calisthenic conditioning
When practicing acroyoga, you’re with a partner, so the focus doesn’t lie solely on just your own body weight but also on the other person’s as well. If you are the base, you must create a strong platform for your partner to move on, for the flyer you must balance and press up from the base without overwhelming the base. Think calisthenics since you’d be holding people up and doing body weight exercises in the process.
It’s all about bench, overhead and leg pressing for the base with an added bonus of carrying a human being with a moving center of gravity. From the flyer’s perspective, think handstands, planches, and planks from various angles – regardless, acroyoga comes with a strength conditioning component that can’t be ignored.
Kinesthetic awareness
One of the hardest aspects of acroyoga is people not knowing where their body is in space. This requires a great deal of emphasis on executing the proper technique – without it, you can end up hurting not only yourself but your partner as well. To prevent injury, you must learn to examine joint alignment, body shape and position. Like weight lifting you won’t be able to achieve optimum results with being in the optimal position. By practicing acroyoga you’d experience what it feels like when joints are properly aligned to evenly distribute weight.
If your current yoga routines aren’t really doing much besides enhancing overall flexibility, you should give acroyoga a try. Not only do you get to defy gravity, core muscles are enhanced, condition overall strength with the calisthenics and become more aware of joint alignment and body position. For further information, take the leap and give us a call, we are more than happy to answer acroyoga-related questions you have.
