Testing Air Yoga in Esport Bristol

Like you know, Mondays are my days off from work, and I like to keep them that way as much as I can (I usually work on Sundays, too) to get some time for myself. To be honest, Mondays are very hard to keep as days off from work, because everybody usually activates to call and email on all kinds of possible work-related thing on Mondays when they get back to work after weekend. For me, Monday is your Sunday, so I try not to read emails etc. This is a day for myself.

This Monday I had an appointment booked with a personal trainer in my gym. Unfortunately my PT was ill, so I had to change my practice for a group exercise. An air yoga class was just about to start, so I decided to attend. I had thought of trying it for some time already and this opportunity was perfect so I took it.

Recently I have been paying much more attention to my own well being. My inspiration to this has been LouLou D'vil , and she has shared many tips with me over the last winter and spring. We have gone to Hot Pilates classes together, and I have added loads of superfoods to my eating habits. I've also paid attention for minimizing harmful inflammatory foods in my diet such as white grain, sugar (except cocoa sugar) and alcohol. I'm not an absolutist on anything, but now I tend to separate special occasions and everyday habits. And I do all of this to support not only my own well being but also to help me performing on the stage doing burlesque. I need to be in shape for that. This is a small background to my new way life and now I also search for new sports that I like to support my goals.

My lunch today with chicken-avocado-mozzarella-pesto salad was so good!

Today I found one! I practise in Esport Bristol gym in downtown Helsinki, which is just a short walking distance from my home. My body has suffered a lot from my back pains that have even kept me from moving at all sometimes. I know moving helps with back pains, and now I want to take care of myself to ease the pain and feel good. Air Yoga is a relatively new form of yoga, but there are already several studios in Helsinki that offer it. The fact that Esport Bristol has this yoga, as well as hot yoga and pilates classes, was one main reason why I chose it to me my studio.

Air Yoga is from New York and the first classes were held 2006. It is told to open the body from different kinds of tightnesses in the body and to help line yoga asanas with the help of hammock, a fabric that hangs from the roof. It is said to help body move better, to give it strength, power and flexibility. The hammock gives pressure to the body but it also helps to stretch it. Youtube is full of videos that will give you the idea of the practice, here's one video I liked by Lulu Lemon (it was one of the prettiest with beautiful music in it,too):



The pain in my back has made my body really tight, so I'm now looking for sports that will help me get my flexibility back without injuring my back more. I also have some bad memories from ground school gym classes where our teacher made us do all kinds of artistic gymnastic tricks. I had no background to do it and instead of helping me she just made me understand how awfully bad I was in gymnastics. I took 20 years to find the joy of succeeding in gymnastics and today I finally got to experience it!

In the class we did some very easy stretching movements and yoga asanas with the help of the hammock. The hammock really did help to get the stretch deeper and gave support to the body. But my favourite part was when we also did asanas with inversions, meaning we were hanging head down with the help of the hammock! When the instructor showed the movements I was so sure that I would not be able to get myself into that position. Ho way, Jose. Not me, ever. I was that little girl in ground school's gymnastic lesson. But the instructor saw me having trouble and she came to help me just a bit, only by saying you can do it. And I could! I was worried about my back, but she told me where to place the hammock and there I was, hanging in the hammock head down thinking I did it!  I don't remember when was the last time I felt THIS kind of joy of succeeding in something sport-related. And boy did it do good for my back!

The class I attended was just an beginner's class, so if you're a more experienced yogist, there are more advanced classes to attend to and you'll most defenetely find challenges in this sport. But also if you're a beginner, this is a great and fun class to try, just do as I did and begin with the beginners level! I feel that air yoga is exactly what my body needs now and I'm going to make this an every Monday event for myself.

(Sorry I did not post any pictures from the class, I think it is totally unstylish to take selfies in the gym unless you're posting a tutorial or something...)