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3 Easier Yoga Postures to start your “inversion” journey

If you love being upside down- but you are scare because you believed that to be upside-down you need to know how to do headstand or handstand?

Are you getting influenced in a negative way by those Instagram photos where everyone is getting upside-down in super crazy ways with a big smile?

Please stop,

You can start practicing even if you don’t have any experience, yet..

If you would like to try to be upside-down but you are afraid you will “break” your neck.

Let me tell you my friend, we have all been there.

There is always a first step to take in order to begin and I will suggest starting with 3 inverted yoga poses.

 

Now…

I am not saying these poses are easy; that will depend on each person’s practice.

But yes I these 3 options are easier than a headstand or a handstand balance.

And there is a good way to start your inversion journey if:

  • You have never tried any upside-down balance posture before
  • You are afraid of “breaking” your neck
  • You have little experience in any arm balancing postures
  • you would like to prepare your body for more challenging postures to practice in the -no too far away- future
  • You know how to get upside-down but today you want to chill

 

These are the 3 easier yoga poses that will help you start your inversion journey

 

Downward Dog | Adho Mukha Svanasana

Sanskrit name

Adho = downward

Mukha = face

Svana = dog

Asana= pose

This is one of the most practiced postures in almost any yoga sequence.

A lot of us don’t know this is already an invention posture.

Every time the head is lower than the heart it is an inversion posture.

How should we practise this pose?

Ideally, we should have the and separate shoulder-distance apart, with our finger separated and pointing forward, elbow straight with the “eyes of the elbows facing each other and our shoulders pushing the ground.

Nice and elongated spine, relaxing the lower back, engaging your core 

As well as your legs muscles with the heels pressing down towards the mat.

But what happens if you can not do all this?

  • Is ok to bend your knees if needed it.
  • Is ok to lift your heels if you can’t reach the ground.
  • Is ok to take your breaks in the child pose

 

Now, let’s explore the benefits of practicing this pose.

  • Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
  • Energizes the body
  • Stretches the shoulders, hamstrings, calves, arches, and hands
  • Strengthens the arms and legs
  • Relieves menstrual discomfort when done with head supported
  • Helps prevent osteoporosis
  • Improves digestion
  • Relieves headache, insomnia, back pain, and fatigue

 

You shouldn’t practice if have any of the following:

  • Carpal tunnel syndrome
  • Diarrhea
  • Pregnancy: Do not do this pose late-term.
  • High blood pressure or headache: Support your head on a bolster or block, ears level between the arms.

 

 

Plow Pose | Halasana

 

Sanskrit name:

Hala = plow

Asana= pose

I love this pose, and I teach it in almost all y aerial acrobatics classes.

This is such an important pose to help us keep our spine flexible.

But I understand not everyone is comfortable in this pose.

However, give yourself time to get used to and practice the variations when your neck is sore.

What is important to focus on here?

Shoulders far from your ears, think you are creating a triangular shape with your neck and shoulders and there is where the weight of your body should be distributed.

Elongate the neck, chin close to your chest.

The Breath is so important that here please breathe from your belly and try to relax the jaw.

If your feet can not touch the ground behind your head, the option will be:

  • To place a chair or a yoga block to rest your feet on, behind your head.
  • You can bend your knees
  • You can always support your spine with your hands holding at the level of your ribs.

Some of the benefits of the practice:

  • Calms the brain
  • Stimulates the abdominal organs and the thyroid gland
  • Stretches the shoulders and spine
  • Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
  • Reduces stress and fatigue
  • Therapeutic for backache, headache, infertility, insomnia, sinusitis

Don’t practice if you have any of the following :

  • Diarrhea
  • Menstruation
  • Neck injury
  • Asthma & high blood pressure: Practice Halasana with the legs supported on props.
  • Pregnancy: If you are experienced with this pose, you can continue to practice it late into pregnancy. However, don’t take up the practice of Halasana after you become pregnant.

Shoulderstand | Shalamba Sarvangasana

Sanskrit name

salamba = with support (sa = with

alamba = support)

sarva = all

anga = limb.

asana= posture

 

This can be a more advanced posture for some of us.

However, there is always a variation you can adapt to your body.

How should we practice?

After practicing halasana pose, bend your knees close to your face and start lifting your legs towards to sky or the roof on to of you.

 

Keep your hand supporting your spine, spread your fingers at your ribs level.

Don’t forget to engage your legs, glutes and core 

Press with you elbow down and create that triangle space between your shoulders and neck.

a more advanced variation of the pose will be to interlace your fingers and keep your arms straight pressing down towards the mat, behind you.

These are the benefits of practicing shoulderstad:

  • Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
  • Stimulates the thyroid and prostate glands and abdominal organs
  • Stretches the shoulders and neck
  • Tones the legs and buttocks
  • Improves digestion
  • Reduces fatigue and alleviates insomnia
  • Therapeutic for asthma and sinusitis

Don’t practice if you have any of the following:

  • Diarrhea
  • Headache
  • High blood pressure
  • Menstruation
  • Neck injury
  • Pregnancy: If you are experienced with this pose, you can continue to practice it late into pregnancy. However, don’t take up the practice of Sarvangasana after you become pregnant.

 

If you have injuries, please check with your physiotherapist or your qualified teacher before practicing.

Full Yoga Flow including these 3 poses

link in the image below

 

Why is so important to have a Strong Core?

Many times in my teachings I get the comment,

“You make it look so easy”

Yes, I do…  So I reply:

With practice and dedication, any of you could make it look easy.

“Some people move through yoga asanas or any acrobatics postures with grace and ease that is fluid gently, strong and very relaxed.

It is as if their strength of calmness permeates from the core of their bodies to the tips of their fingers, to the tips of their toes, and softly out of their bodies.” -Susi Hately Aldous-

To achieve this control and gracefulness in your movements is important to have a strong core but…

What is the Core?

A lot of us believe that a strong core is equal to  = 6-pack abdominal muscles popping out your belly.

Even I was making a mistake by referring to the abdominal muscles using the word “core” when I was researching what will be the proper term to use in English.

(I am original from Argentina, and in Argentina, we talk Spanish no Argentinean )

 

The core is not just the abdominal muscles.

I know I use the term pretty often in my classes but I am not sure if everyone understands what it means and why is so important.

In a few words, our core is the muscles in charge of keeping bodies able to perform simple tasks like to seat, walk, run, dance, climb or even more complex activities like yoga, acroyoga and to practice your inverted postures  (headstand, forearm balance or handstand)

Strong core muscles make it easier for you to perform in aerial acrobatics, pole dance, rock climbing or something as simple as getting up of your chair once you are done with your computer work.

 

These are the muscles included:

  • Pelvix floor muscles
  • Transversus abdominal,
  • Internal and external obliques
  • Rectus Abdominis
  • Erector of the spine
  • Transversuspinali
  • Diaphragm
  • Latissimus dorsi
  • Pelvic floor muscles
  • Gluteus

Core stability is a balance of strength and mobility- the balance of strong core muscles, found along the midline of the body from the base of the skull to the bottom of the feet, combined with the freedom of movement of the hip, shoulder and vertebral joints as well as the elbow, knee, wrist, and ankle joints.

Without this balance, the body will be either to rigid (too much strength with too little nobility) or limp and spiritless (too much mobility with too little strength).

How Yoga can help you?

Stability and strength are generated from relaxation.

Relaxation, is initiated by breathing easily, calmly and fluidly.

In a yoga practice, we focused on integrating or physical movements or postures with our breathing. Regardless of the type of yoga, we are practicing ( vinyasa, Hatha, restorative) during a yoga session your teacher should guide you through your physical practice and help you to bring your awareness to your breathing.

Sometimes focusing more on pranayama exercises ( breathing techniques) to increase our Prana  (energy) than others, that will depend on the class you are taking.

And if you have doubts reach to your teacher and ask.

So, in order to nurture and develop core stability, it is necessary to breathe easily, calmly and fluidly throughout our practice

I understand that some times we need a “push”, a motivation to keep the practice going, especially if you don’t like going to crowded studios.

So I prepare a free session to share

Click in the image below to have access to a free session on how you can get your Core Strong

 

 

Link to the class

 

 

“The body is like a boat in the water, where the body is the boat and the external stimulus is the water. Both are stable and able to respond to the inevitable wobbles, turns and shifts only when are balanced”

-Susi Hately-

 

 

what is yoga

What is Yoga and Why do you need to practice?

Yoga has helped me in so many ways. I know it sounds cliche but it actually did.

Before being a yoga instructor I was a dancer, an acrobat, a gymnast and I always been really curious about exploring different ways to move my body, I love any way of movement and I liked to train “hard”

When I  Just finished my PE teacher degree I decided I was going to start practicing yoga.

I always felt a deep connection with yoga, even before I started my practice, almost like I have done before….Do you know what I mean?

So I decided to investigate the yoga studios in the city I was living at the moment in Córdoba, Argentina. I took a few classes here and then until I fund the one I felt it was following the same teaching philosophy I believe in.

“Always work in a progressive way and listen to your body”.

So I decided to do my Yoga Teacher Training with the same yoga school

I used to weak up at 6 pm to catch up on the 40 min bus ride and go to have an early morning class before I would start to work and teach my classes.

I have to say I was not a morning person by that time and it was a big effort I knew I had to do in order to produce the change I was looking for.

For 2 years we met during the weekends to study yoga philosophy,  anatomy, physiology, teaching technics and we practice how to teach yoga among ourselves.

I have learned so much, it was a wonderful time of my life. I am proud to say I had kind and knowledgeable teachers to guide me during this yoga journey.

After that I have decided to travel and explore the world, I dream always dream about.

That brought me to more wonderful and learning experiences, but also to a few not that great as well.

When I was going through hard times traveling with no budget and I couldn’t find any place to keep my aerial training going, or I couldn’t afford any place to go to practice  I came back to my personal yoga practice.

I was able to develop a consistent self-practice, with ups and downs like everyone. But I am still amazed by how much flexibility and strength I have gained over the years of yoga practice.

And I am not getting any younger, right?

Yoga has taught me how to be patient, to accept myself and others, to rest when is needed, to enjoy the simple things, to allow myself to say no when is needed. To have consistency in the practice, to be more flexible in mind and body and I have so much more to learn

I know it is not that easy as you read it and the journey will be different for each of us.

But all that said let’s bring down the following misconception of Yoga:

“Yoga is for stretching, and I am not flexible, hence I am not going to practice”

Because that seems to be the way it works, right?

Well…. let me tell you something, I am not sure where this idea of yoga is for stretching began, but it is far from the truth.

Yes, you might leave a yoga class feeling release and relax like a “nice stretch” and that might be some of the benefits yoga can give you

Do you really know what YOGA means?

Yoga is a vast collection of spiritual techniques and practices aimed at integrating mind, body, and spirit to achieve a state of enlightenment or oneness with the universe. What is normally thought of as “yoga” in the West is really Hatha Yoga, one of the many paths of yoga. The different paths of yoga emphasize different approaches and techniques but ultimately lead to the same goal of unification and enlightenment.

Yoga, at its essence, is a practice of energy- of creating space inside the body for prana (energy) to be cultivated, moved and transformed for optimum health, wellbeing, connection, and ease-

To be able to create space requires balance- the balance of the joint stability and mobility, the balance of muscle contraction and relaxation, the balance of movement between the limbs and the torso, and balance of the physical asana (yoga poses) practice with other seven limbs of yoga.

As balance is created and developed inside and through the body, by default, balance is created outside the body.

It is not a religion, but a practice of personal inquiry and exploration.  As the cultural and religious diversity of practitioners attest, yogic philosophy speaks to universal truths that can be incorporated within any belief system.

The development of yoga can be traced back to over 5,000 years ago, but some researchers think that yoga may be up to 10,000 years old old. Yoga’s long rich history can be divided into four main periods of innovation, practice, and development.

Can you believe it?

5,000 or 10,000  is a lot of years, of practice and research of fulfillment.

Our body our mind and our energy, soul or spirit, whatever you want to call it are extremely connected.

If you are like me and you love to move, to challenge your body, believe me, Yoga is not just for stretching is a continuous research of what else can you do, what else can you achieve.

Mind, body, and soul.

Yes, you might find challenges in some physical postures or it might be challenging for you to sit to meditate and practice breathing techniques (pranayama). It happens to all of us but with practice, everything that might seem hard at the beginning will become easier.

Cultivating patience and attention with yoga you will learn from your body and you will achieve yoga posture you never thought you could do. You will feel in peace with yourself and others.

I can keep telling you a lot of good things about yoga but you have to try it for yourself.

Click this link to be part of a supportive community of aerial acrobats and pole dancers who are taking their trainings seriously to be able to improve from the inside out

Here I am sharing a link to my Free Classes

Enjoy it,

Namaste

 

 

 

 

Yoga for Aerial Acrobats – How to get your spine more flexible?

Would you like to practice those pretty backbends in the silk and the aerial hoop? Or you are looking to increase your spine flexibility with a safe yoga practice at home?

Our spine is so delicate and so strong at the same time, is the one in charge of connecting our whole body, from our head, torso, arms, hands & fingers to our hips, legs, feet, and toes.

Some of us are born we the body more available to perform backends and torsions without a lot of effort and others need to work a little bit harder to get those pretty backbends.

Either or, it is true that if you don’t keep the good training and the practice going we will eventually feel stiffer and it will be harder to move.

As Kevin Kelly said “You are only as old as you spine is flexible”

The spine is a pivotal important part of our body.  Without it, we could not keep ourselves upright or even stand up.  It gives our body structure and support.  It enables us to move about freely and to bend with flexibility.  The spine is also designed to protect our spinal cord.  The spinal cord is a column of nerves that connects our brain with the rest of the body, allowing control of our movement and bodily function.  This is why keeping the spine flexible is vital for a healthy and active life and also important for an optimum nervous system function.

Today I am sharing 2 videos tutorials I uploaded in YouTube showing how to practice 2 basic but important yoga poses that will help you to build a solid foundation in your home practice and feel your spine more flexible and available in your daily activities

This is for you if you practice aerial circus acrobatics, pole dance and you want to get those pretty backbends but you don’t know where to start.

And this is also for you if you are following your yoga path and wish to understand better how to move in a safe way to increase your spine flexibility at home.

After your spine warm-up.
This is how we can practice cobra in a safe| proper way.
Take your time, be patient and always work in a progressive way.

Yoga Pose:

🐍 Cobra Pose or Bhujangasana

Benefits:
– Help us to keep our spine strong & flexible
– Help with our digestion
– Help us to reduce anxiety.
– Help us to balance our lower chakras.
– among other benefits…

 

 

Bring your yoga mat & 2 blocks.

We are going to practice:

🐪 Camel Pose or Ustrasana in Sanskrit

Benefits:
– It improves spinal flexibility.
– It helps to strengthen the back muscles.
– This pose creates space in the chest and lungs, increasing breathing capacity and helping to relieve respiratory ailments.
– Stimulates the kidneys, which improves digestion.

 

I truly hope this helps as guidance to start your home practice and increase your flexibility
Remember to consult your physiotherapist or personal instructor if your spine doesn’t feel good or you are suffering from any injuries.
Feel free to send me an email and ☝🏻Let me know how is your practice going. And join the private Facebook group:
“Yoga for every Acrobat” to connect with like-minded people who want to improve their aerial acrobatics performance by practicing specific yoga postures at home.
I share a video tutorial every week in the group, come to join us.
Don’t go without checking my free resource library, for more yoga tutorials to improve your flexibility.
Link Here 👈🏻

And let me know how you are your practice going

 

This is how you can reduce Stress & Anxiety during the Holidays.

During the holidays’ everyone tends to get a little bit crazy, lots of social events; dinners with friends, family, work, etc.

We tend to drink and eat a lot, a mean a lot.
When I was still living in Argentina, ( my home country) I remember exposing myself to a lot of friends and family reunions where the food wasn’t exactly the healthiest and t the moment I was quite a happy eating and drinking a lot. Holidays are the perfect excuse for this, right?
As time passed by, that kind of celebration stops having meaning to me.
I started to care more about weaking-up early on Christmas day and go for a run or a walk or watch the sunrise on the 1st day of the year and feel grateful for being alive.

Please don’t get me wrong I am not here to judge, I believe if everyone is happy with their life, each of us should live the life they want to.

Only when you are not happy with your lifestyle and you are just following the crowd behaving in a way that we “should behave” to fit in; is when you should know you have options.

I have been there my friend when choosing to eat and drink healthy during the holidays might be no acceptable among a certain group of people. Why do we choose to eat as if it would be the last dinner of our lives? Why do you choose to drink alcohol until our bodies can not take it anymore?

I guess it might be a way to hide or cover certain unhappiness going on.

Today I choose to take care of my self eating healthy, doing exercise going to sleep at a reasonable time .. yeap I might be getting older but I enjoy while I am taking care of my self.

I want to share with you a breathing technique you can practice at home that will help you to reduce stress and anxiety. Something I practice at home, especially in these holiday days

In the Yoga “language” we call Pranayama to the breathing exercises
which means “to control the prana”.
Prana is the subtle energy, the life force. Yoga teaches us how to use the lungs to the maximum capacity and how to control the breath with pranayama.

What is the difference between normal breathing and pranayama?
You might wonder…
Normal breathing is what keeps us alive, is automatic and most of the time we do have any awareness of our breathing.
The primary purpose of practicing Pranayama is to awake the prana, to maintain a healthy body and mind. It involves the complete mastery of the length, volume, flow, and quality of the breath. Ther are different breathing techniques and different types o pranayama.

Here I share with you how to practice Nadi Sodhana Pranayama.
Nadi means “energy channel”, sodhana means “to cleanse or purify”.
It is practiced by alternating the inhalation and exhalation between the left and the right nostril; controlling oscillations f the mind/body network and bringing balance and harmony through the system.

Click on the image below to watch the video tutorial.

This is my holiday Gift 🎁 .

Let me know how is your practice going

See you next year 😉 Happy Holidays! 🎄

Do you trust yourself?

What are the dreams and visions you have been having lately?

Are you ready to take risks and put your fear away in order to achieve your dreams?

I know it sounds easier than it is.

” I always dream of doing….”

” I would love..but”

We are specialists in being busy and making excuses to delay, postpone or never achieved our dreams our goals.

I was like that as well but now I am determined to follow my dreams, and yes sometimes it will be hard and yes I have to be ready to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

To step out of my comfort zone and do things I have never done before.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results”

Albert Einstein

The fear to be judged, the fear to fail it can be paralyzing.

If we only change the perspective toward this we will be taking a massive shift.

If we can see we are our worst judge and maybe realize that by putting ourselves out there we might be helping someone else whit similar problems. Or instead of being afraid of making mistakes we realize that we don’t know everything, that we will make tons of mistakes so we can embrace them and take them as learning opportunities.

There will ALWAYS be obstacles along your path so that you can continually learn more of who you are and how you show up for the occasion.

Every full moon is the time to focus our energies on letting go and releasing all fears.

Time to reflect on what is no longer serving us and adapt to evolve.

Because things not always will present in the exact same way we planned it to be.

Since 2018, every full moon I host a yoga class by donation to fundraise a non-profit organization here in the Cayman Islands.

This year October’s full moon date is busy with lots of events and things happening on the island so I have decided to plan this magical encounter 1 week after the full moon.

On the Saturday of October 19th, I will be hosting an Acroyoga Jam.

This is a playful practice the invites us to meet and have fun while we learn how to perform yoga poses with others.

Click in the image below to access to the full info

Link to the Event

If you want to learn how to perform the moon salutations also known as Chandra Namaskar, the yin side of the Sun salutations, a gentle flow that invites us to cool down and reflect.

 I am giving away a free tutorial. You can have access by clicking on this LINK 

On October’s full moon let’s stop the shxt. Trust and believe in yourself fully and be fiercely independent when it comes to following your heart.

Unleash Your Inner Badass

I encourage you to take one action one step that will help you to be closer to achieve your dreams

And feel free to share in the comments below.

For positive changes.

Namaste

You are meant to be here

September full Moon is known, this year as Harvest Moon, 

If you have been following my blog post you know I like to explain what each full moon energy is about and before that I share with you information about the names of the moons each month.

Unlike other full Moon names, which are specific to their respective months, the Harvest Moon depends on an astronomical event: the autumnal equinox, this is the first day of autumn in the NorthAmerican countries and it will be the spring equinox in the SouthAmerican countries.

Historically, Native Americans gave a name to each month’s full Moon, naming it concerning a natural event or sign of the season. This aided them in tracking the progression of the year

The full Moon that happens nearest to the equinox (September 22 or 23) takes on the name “Harvest Moon,” rather than its traditional name, which means that a Harvest Moon may occur in either September or October.

This month’s full moon rises on the night of Friday, September 13, and reaches peak fullness at 12:33 a.m. EDT on the 14th.

As if this Harvest Moon wasn’t interesting enough already, September’s Full Moon will also be a “micro moon.”

A micro moon is exactly the opposite of the supermoon: a full moon that occurs when the Moon is at the farthest point in its orbit around Earth (the point of apogee). In other words, the Moon is about as far from Earth as it can get, causing it to appear about 7% smaller and 15% dimmer than usual.

Would you like to know more about the full moon meaning and its energy??

Here it goes:

The Sun opposite Moon brings your home, family and intimate relationships into sharper focus for the following two weeks of this moon phase. Opposing forces such as work versus home, or what you need versus what you want, create inner tension and external pressures. This can lead to conflict and crises that drain your energy.

The lunar qualities of emotions and instincts reach their peak at a full moon. So use your increased emotional strength and intuition to overcome any relationship challenges. Subconscious awareness allows for an impartial and balanced look at your relationships. You will see any relationship dynamics or negative feelings causing disharmony.

During the full moon, is the perfect time to release and let go what no longer serving you, what is not letting you grow.

I know.. it is a little bit of magical thought here, with fairies and unicorns. I choose to believe in it because it helps me; if I can analyze and realize what am I doing wrong I can implement positives changes, I can feel better, I can improve and evolve.

But that is the way I see it

Whether you’ve got old emotions flowing up to be released or you feel a little scattered. Remember that all things happen for a reason and in perfect timing.

September’s full moon offers healing energy to help us cleanse away anger and allow acceptance and forgiveness to set in.

See your life from a bigger perspective and understand these “traumas” needed to happen to help you spiritually grow. 

To release and let go, you have to start with the simple things, changes won’t happen overnight but if you work on the changes you want for you they will happen.

A way I like to do it is by practicing the moon salutation and focusing on what I want to let go while I am doing the practice. During these days I usually take time to perform a release ritual, like writing down what it is aI need to let go and release it helps me to be specific and take actions.

I am leaving here a link so you can have access to a free tutorial on how to perform the moon salutations and the release ritual guided form on pdf.

All for free 😊

YOU are meant to be here.

Embrace your path; anything in a state of decay in your life can be reborn. You can get to the cause of any bad habit or addiction. You can deeply probe under the surface to solve mysteries or investigate crimes and secrets. Your intuition is very strong and can guide on your journey in this world.

If you re-interest in letting go fears, insecurities and you would like to discover what are you capable of , I am hosting an Acroyoga & Rock Climbing Retreat in Cayman Brac.

We are going to spend 3 days and 3 night in paradise, focusing on your transformation by getting out of your comfort zone and exposing yourself to be brave, to be courageous, to trust and to find out you are capable of so much more.

I am leaving a LINK here with specific information about the Acroyoga & Climb Retreat with the early bird price discount!

“You must go on adventures, to find out where you truly belong”

-Sue Fitzmaurice-

How Yoga can help you to improve as an Acrobat.

If you’ve ever asked yourself 

“How do other aerialists make this all look so effortless and graceful?”.

I get that question quite often

The answer is: CONDITIONING. 

Efficient conditioning done consistently, with proper rest and recovery.

Did you know that yoga can help you to improve your conditioning practice?

Yes!, Yoga can help so many people in so many way.

And the best of all, you don’t need to be flexible to start practicing,

Let me tell you something, when I was in my earliest twenties I had a lot of energy and I only care about improving my physical condition without being aware on how important it is to work in your wellbeing integrating mind, body and soul in order to improve yourself in any discipline.

Maybe you are like me and you practice aerial circus acrobatics, maybe you are a professional or you just started taking classes. Maybe you are a gymnast, a pole dancer, a rock climber or you just enjoy to play around practicing acrobatics postures of yoga like headstand, crows and arm balances.

If so, let me ask you somehting;

How long have you been practicing and how much have you improve?

It is already proved that we won’t get different result by doing always the same thing.

Every time I am in my trainings dealing with a hard move during my climbing sessions or if I am trying an inverted posture in my aerial silks trainings; I try to take the time to discover a new awareness of the posture and focus my attention in the details.

How do I feel my feet? Am I using my strength in an efficient way?

To be able to brig your mind to be present in the moment is something I learned form my yoga practice and I can transfer that to any other areas of my life.

It helps me so much what I practice on the mat to prepare my body and my mind to be ready for my aerial trainings or when I go to rock climb for fun.

But you might be wondering how does that exactly happen?

Basically I practice de yoga postures where I am using the same muscles or similar movements I will do later in my trainings.

For ex:

1- If I am working in improving my straddle position for the aerial trainings; in yoga I will practice Upavistha Konasana

Upavishta Konasana

Another examples;

2- If I am working an aerial pose or trick witch demands lots of shoulder opening in yoga I will practice Reverse Prayer Pose, also known in Sanskrit as Viparita Namaskarasana and I make sure that I am present with intention the palms of my hands as well as my fingers.

In Sanskrit the name is Paschim Namaskara or Paschim Namaste.

Benefits:

💗It is a heart-opening posture that increases flexibility and strength in the arms, shoulders, chest, and wrists.

Level: 

  • Beginner- Intermediate 

Equipment:

  •  You don’t need any equipment to practice but you can experiment trying to hold a yoga block or something in between your reverse prayer hands
If your palms doesn’t touch,

3- If I want to work in the flexibility of my spine ; I will practice a yoga twist pose named, Marichyasana twist. (there are many variations of the pose)

Benefits:

  •  It calms the mind and the body.
  • It stretches the shoulders and the upper back.
  • Massages the internal organs and improves digestion.

Level

  • Beginner/ Intermediate

Equipment

  • None, but you could use a yoga strap or a belt to hold between the hands if needed.
Option, bottom leg straight

Or

3- Urdhva Dhanurasana pose also known in English as the Bridge pose.

Benefits:

  • Expands chest, lungs, shoulders.
  • Stretches hip flexors, muscles of the abdomen, wrists.
  • Strengthens the gluteus, hamstrings, lower back muscles
  • Enlivens the heart chakra and throat chakra.
  • Increases energy.

Level:

  • Intermediate/ Advance

Equipmnets:

  •  You don’t need any equipment to practice but you can experiment trying to push from a safe elevated surface like yoga blocks or the step of stairs, if you feel your shoulders are tight.
Urdhva Dhanurasana

And the examples can go on; because I have been there I know how it feel when you can not tell what are you doing wrong and why you can make any progress an an specify posture or trick.

Bringing together my years of experiences as a practitioner, my university education and my observance in my students; I have create a conditioning workshop specific for people who practice aerial circus acrobatics, such us aerial hoop, aerial silk or aerial trapeze combining yoga tools and physical education trainings.

If it happen you are in Cayman Islands I am leaving here a flyer with the info and a link.

Link to the Facebook event

If you are no currently in Cayman Islands but you understand the importance of working your body with love and awareness being respectful of your possibilities and limitation, knowing these limitation will transform in achievements with the practice then add other kind of practice like yoga to improve your training.

I will suggest to practice:

  • Vinyasa yoga if you are looking to build endurance
  • Hatha Yoga to cultivate more awareness.
  • Restorative yoga to rest and recover your body.

Are you interested in having access to an online training where you can practice at home?

Let me know, send me an email to tell me what would you like to learn online to make your performance as an acrobat easier

Join the Facebook Group, Yoga for every Acrobat and take advantage of the weekly videos tutorials I posted with easy yoga postures to practice at home

Find the practice that suits you better.

“We are spiritual beings having a human experience “

-Pierre Tierhard-

Namaste.

Renée

Is Restorative Yoga class for you?

Are one of those person who are almost addicted to any kind of physical activity? Do you know when to stop?

I am here raising my hand, I am one of those.

I’ve been having a fairly active life style with up and downs since I am 5 years old; then is when all started with dancing lessons, then my mom signed me up to swimming lessons because she doesn’t know how to swim and she didn’t want me to be afraid of the water as she is.

Followed by gymnastics lessons, witch I loved it and I still do I just never felt comfortable with the competitive side of it. As a young adult more dancing arrive into my life and then is when I also started working as a professional/acrobat dancer. I saw the Cirque Du Soleil for the first time and I went crazy passionate about aerial circus acrobatics together with my university career in Physical Education + my Yoga Teacher Training and so on…

The thing is I was one of those person who care so much about learning and improving form the physical aspect of my career, that I used to think taking restorative/relaxing classes was a waste of time ..

I was so wrong!

Growing older I understand and I am more interested in how much do we need to slow down when we need it and by doing it we will have more energy for the future trainings as well as faster improvement, because we gave the time to our body and our mind to absorb all the information we are putting in each activity we perform.

Yoga for all levels

Yoga is truly the all-inclusive exercise. There’s a yoga class for everyone, regardless of your body type, health condition, or level of activity. 

There are 2 styles of yoga classes I prefer when I need to reset and recharge the body and the mind:

Hatha Yoga being my first approach to yoga, is a style I recommend to practice if you are an active person who shaving a hard time with slow flow classes because you are always running at 120% and also for beginner who would like to try yoga classes but you don’t know where to start

This school is considered the most traditional form of yoga practice. Ha means Sun, representing the heat and the masculine aspect. Tha means Moon, representing the coolness and the feminine aspect. In these classes we aim to balance “Ha” & “Tha“, soul and mind with a slow flow yoga sequence. We are still moving, but we move slowly and we hold the posture for a couple of minutes. Including 20-30 poses in each classes with the benefit of increasing flexibility, stability, balance and awareness on our movements.

Here I am sharing 3 postures you can practice any time:

PADMASANA OR LOTUS POSE
MARICHIASANA TWIST
UTTANASANA OR FOWARD BENDING POSE

The 2nd style I strongly suggest is Restorative Yoga, focusing on 5-6 postures only, holding each posture 5-10min; using props that will allow you to relax into the pose and hold it for longer periods of time (up to five minutes).

Restorative yoga classes are for all levels because it focus more on the meditative and healing aspects of yoga. Is great for improving:

  • Specific health conditions like chronic back or neck pain, anxiety and high blood pressure
  • Alignment between your body, breath and mind.

Sharing some postures you can practice any time

NECK STRETCH
SUPINE SPINAL TWIST
SOFT ROCKING SIDE TO SIDE HUGGING YOUR KNEES

Now there is a warning here, I know this might be a hard class to follow if you are a person who is used to super active, powerful classes and doesn’t know when to slow down.

If this is you, I suggest to start with Hatha and then as you are feeling comfortable with slow flows you can transition to Restorative. I am saying this because I used to be one of those who thought moving slow or staying still was a waste of time, not knowing when to shut down and not being able to appreciate the stillness, the observance of the self, so much needed.

We talk often about self care but how much do we actually do about it.

If you think yoga is not for you, give yourself some time, be aware there are other activities you can approach to restore, like meditation, Tai Chi, or something much more simple as a slow peace walk, reading a book or enjoying a cup of tea

So don’t wait any longer, either or, choose the style of yoga or the style of physical activity you feel comfortable with; we tend to postpone things even if we know there are good for us.

Go and get comfortable in your clothing, grab your yoga mat and let’s get started!

I love Manduka brand, if you don’t know it I am leaving here a link to some of my favourite leggings for yoga practice.

Oh, just one more thing I want to share

If you live in Cayman Islands or you are visiting feel free to stop by to one of classes I am currently teaching at Quintessential Movement Studio.

Remember to check with a certified instructor anytime is needed.

Namaste,

Renèe

Let’s keep in touch

*Disclaimer: This post includes an affiliate link to the course. This is at no extra cost to you. I will receive a small commission of the sale if you decide to purchase the course. I do not endorse anything I have not read or used myself.