We all need to try new things…agreed? We do much the same thing week in and week out. So when Helen R asked who was up for a bit of an adventure, we jumped at the chance. Aerial Yoga was to be the adventure. I mean, how hard could it be? 10 women ranging in age from early twenties to over 50s all agreed to give it a try and the class was booked. All of us having at least beginner yoga experience.
Now we all knew that this Sunday evening was going to be far from the norm but how far was yet to be discovered. So we loaded into cars and headed over to Yoga Therapies. All chitter chattering like children all over again. This was going to be a fun 2 hours.
Walking into the room 5 silks hanging from straps on the ceiling were the first thing we saw and we all got a bit giggly. But our teachers made it clear that we needed to listen and take this seriously as we could cause real damage. Oh, so this is going to be a real work out? was our immediate thought. We all paired up, one person doing and one person assisting and we listened, paying close attention to their instructions.
Stretching and warming up is so important and that is obviously where we began. With the easy stuff……..how wrong we were. The groans and moans rang out around the room and that’s when we all realised that this was going to be way more challenging than we had anticipated. Pulling at leg muscles I’d never used before, we leaned and pulled and stretched and became used to the feel of the silks in our hands and how it would hold and mould our bodies.
Everything we were asked to do was first done by our coaches Jane and Lynn. They were amazing, very kind and gentle, never forcing but always encouraging. Talking us through every move and how by adding on this, you can push yourself more or leave it off if you feel less confident. Before long, we were all engrossed in our own pairing, oblivious to the people around us, totally concentrating on what we were trying to achieve. I’m sure you could ask any of us and we would agree that the encouragement of our partners really helped us believe that we could do or at least attempt everything.
And we did. Nobody moaned. We all completely embraced the challenge and tried everything, all with varying degrees of success. But we all left that room feeling completely invigorated and proud of ourselves. This was not a Sunday we were going to forget anytime soon.
