Many years back, I did Mirroring & Partnering yoga but never Acroyoga. Last week's class, our teacher introduced us to Acroyoga.
Acroyoga blends the spiritual wisdom of yoga, the loving kindness of Thai massage, and the dynamic power of Acrobatics. These three ancient lineages form this practice that cultivates trust, connection and playfulness. There are 7 main elements that make up the practice: circle ceremony, asana, partner flow, Thai massage, therapeutic flying, inversions & spotting, and partner acrobatics. Acroyoga aims to bring individuals into a state of union with themselves, with each other, and with the divine. From this place of mutual support the true self can be realized, celebrated and shared for the benefit of all.
By moving and breathing together as one, I could sense that we are coming together as equals to create harmony, joy and community. What I love the most is the partner flow. The stretches and sequence are creative when done with partner and it gives us the platform to practice self acceptance, receptivity and communicating our needs. We had a good laugh doing some flying poses and inversions.
My teacher and me in Urdhva Dhanurasana
Teacher guiding Azlin & James to assist inversion
Michelle in flying pose while Azlin & James laughing their lungs out :D
All in all we had fun and will have acroyoga again!
picture by izan
baka means crane. increase physical and mental balance, develops mental tranquility and also strengthen your wrists and forearms.
marking the 30th anniversary of the terry fox run this year on november 7th at tasik titiwangsa, a milestone unimaginable without the support of many people, there is so much to be done yet we must always celebrate our victories - of which there have been many!
join the Terry Fox Run 2010 (Malaysia)!
for home practice, i did some back bends - good for strengthening the spine and opening of the chest area. our daily routing would usually requires us to bend forwards or inwards, a good example - at your office desk for 8 hours and usually more! with back bends, the spine can then realign to its neutral position.
some back bends i did for my home practice,
setu bandhasana - bridge
eka pada setu bandha sarvangasana - single leg bridge
urdhva mukha svanasana - upward facing dog
bhujangasana - king cobra
dhanurasana - bow
shalabasana - single leg/full locust
natarajasana - dancers pose (single arm/both arms)
ustrasana - camel
kapotasana - dove
if you are new to back bends, always start off with the basic back bend poses. it is a good practice to have a counter pose for every back bend to release the spine. counter pose can be balasana - child's pose, paschimottanasana - seated forward bend or etc. end the practice with a simple twist and of course savasana - corpse pose.
practice back bends and breathe better!
Yoga Journal - Yoga Asana Columns - The Compassionate Backbend
