"Trust the Silk"

I went to my first aerial yoga class yesterday morning with my friend Brandye.  Brandye does all sorts of super cool classes - she's such an inspiration - and she has been emailing me about aerial yoga class locations for several weeks.   She knows that I have ordered an anti-gravity kit for my tiny house living room and that going to a class has been on my list of things to do.

We went to a class at Vertical Fitness Dallas up north.  $25, 30+ minutes away... and worth every penny and every mile.  I.  LOVED.  IT.  I mean, I really loved it.

I was laughing with Amy the other night - I told her I realized that I'm seeing a trend, or I'm forming a habit or something of jumping in, and then confirming.  

Exhibit "A" -  I sold all of my possessions, and sold my house before I ever set foot in a tiny house.  When I went to the Four Lights Tiny House Company workshop in northern California in February of 2013 (was it really that recently??  Yikes!) we got to tour Jay's Gifford house.  I texted friends that afternoon, "I stood in my first tiny house today - I LOVE it!  So relieved, as I've already sold my house and all my possessions...!  LOL  Good thing I like it, as I am sort of committed..."  Amy said when she got that text she could hardly believe what she was reading...

Similarly, I ordered the anti-gravity kit  to the tune of about $400 without ever having tried aerial yoga.  I knew that I liked yoga.  I knew that I adore being upside down.  And so, I knew I would love aerial yoga and that I wanted a ceiling sling in my living room.  I got the kit, and then I went to a class - and indeed, I like it!

But it's a funny way of doing things, I must admit.  It's worked out so far, but ... lol

So the class:  I got there early, and the instructor was kind enough to show me how to do the upside down hang before class started.  It was fairly easy - sort of sit in it, grab the silk and lean back.  When  you flip upside down, you wrap your legs around the silk and let go with your hands.  "Trust the silk," she said.  Ohhhh my did my back rejoice!  Nothing like hanging upside down from your hips to decompress your spine...

The class room.  Bad lighting for a photo, sorry.

 The class was small - there were maybe 10 silk slings?  Purple, orange...  the instructor was fab - totally loved her.  The other women in the class were really nice.  The only sort of weird thing was the music - it was a cross between spa music and some creepy clown carnival music.  Maybe I've watch too many movies... I mean it wasn't horrible, but every once in a while the melody creeped me out.

We did some stretches, and some hanging around poses, (I totally fell out of the sling once - gratefully it was really more of a slither, and it wasn't very far to the floor...) and then a relaxation session at the end where we all laid down in the sling, completely encapsulated.  During that, "someone" came and gave me a foot rub!  It was hilarious - I'm all cocooned, Zenned out, and then... my feet were being massaged.  I couldn't see a darn thing - and wondered "is everyone getting a foot rub?  Did the foot massage squad slip into the room?"  I guess because I was the only newbie?  Maybe my feet looked nervous??  LOL  It was like a heap of whipped cream on top of your favorite dessert, though, I know that much.

I don't even know how to describe the whole experience except to say it was nirvana.  When I get my sling hung up in my living room, you will be hard pressed to get me out of it.  I'll probably SLEEP in it. 

Here's a video I found that shows some of what we did in the class.

Aerial Yoga Video

If you are at all intrigued, you should try it!