Summer 2024. I was friends with the instructor, so I got to arrive early and get familiar with the hammock. What I understood by "getting familiar": I spun in that hammock for five minutes straight.
Somewhere during the practice it hit me what a spectacular mistake I had made. I felt sick for an hour and a half and could not concentrate on anything else. Not the postures, not the breath, not the music. Just the nausea.
The following week I went back. This time without spinning first. And it was wonderful.
I felt like a fairy. Genuinely. And from that moment I wanted to give the same feeling to the people who only knew me from the mat.
"Practising on the mat makes you feel strong. Practising in the air makes you stronger and more graceful."
A lot of the postures you see online look easy. They are not. You have to build a few small muscles to make them look that easy, and that is exactly what happens in class, week by week.
What aerial yoga actually is
No jargon: a structure fixed to the ceiling, with a piece of fabric hanging from it. I once heard someone call it "the rag". That is the hammock.
With the hammock you do various postures, either with your feet on the mat or with your feet in the air. That is it. No circus, no acrobatics, no need to be anyone special.
My session is called Float Club and it runs for 90 minutes. Here is how it goes, start to shavasana:
- a short meditation, to land in the body
- a gentle warm-up
- a few basic postures, where you get used to the hammock
- the part where we get properly stuck in: more advanced shapes, so we have some fun too
- winding down, then shavasana
How long do you spend upside down?
It is not compulsory at all. But it is worth it, especially if you work at a desk: your spine will thank you.
You can stay a few seconds. You can stay five minutes spread across the whole practice. You can skip it entirely. Nobody is holding a stopwatch.
The objections I hear most often
"I am afraid of heights."
The hammock is not high. It hangs at hip height. When you sit in it, you are at exactly the same height as if you sat on a table.
"I have no arm strength."
Arm strength is something you build at aerial, not something you have to bring from home. Nobody arrives with it ready made. I certainly did not.
"I am too heavy for the hammock."
If you weigh more than 900 kilograms, yes. No, that is not a typo. The real limit for one hammock is 900 kilograms. Let us move on.
"I have never done yoga. Should I start on the mat?"
Not necessarily. Contrary to what people expect, we use the mat at aerial too. Start with whichever session fits your week, there is no compulsory order.
If you would still like a map of the styles before you choose, I wrote one: Yin, Yin Yang, Vinyasa or Power?
This session is not for you if you have low or high blood pressure, heart conditions, a history of stroke, glaucoma, retinal detachment or recent eye surgery, if you are pregnant, have severe vertigo, advanced osteoporosis, severe arthritis, recent serious back or neck injuries, or if you have had botox or hyaluronic acid injections in the last 3 days. If you are not sure where you fall, write to me beforehand and I will tell you honestly.
What it is actually like
The next day your arms ache, your back muscles ache, maybe a little your abdomen and maybe your legs. That is normal. It is the kind of soreness that tells you that you worked, not that you did something wrong.
What is not normal: dizziness that does not pass, or sharp pain during a posture. If either shows up, you tell me right away and we come out of the shape. There is nothing to prove to anyone.
I have had people who had never practised anything before and who were brave enough to do every single posture. At aerial you do not need strength, flexibility or experience. You just need a bit of courage.
If you sit at a desk eight hours a day
Aerial is one of the few practices that genuinely decompresses your spine, because it lets you hang instead of compressing you further. It also works the abdominal muscles and leaves you with a kind of calm you do not easily get after a day in front of a laptop.
Yin Aerial: the slow Friday version
On Fridays from 19:00, also at The Nest, we do Yin Aerial Yoga. It is aerial at the pace of Yin: the hammock hangs close to the floor and almost every posture happens on the mat. The hammock does not lift you, it supports you, so you can stay longer in each posture and let your body fully relax.
If you are looking for a slower, deeply relaxing alternative to standard aerial classes, Yin Aerial is an excellent option. It is also the gentlest way to meet the hammock if you have never been in one.
However, a low hammock does not change the list above. Anyone with any of the medical conditions listed there should consult a doctor before getting into the hammock.
The practical part: what to wear
This is my favourite part.
| What | How |
|---|---|
| Leggings | Long, preferably fitted, down to the ankle |
| Capri length | Acceptable, if you insist |
| Shorts or baggy trousers | No |
| Nails | On the shorter side, if possible |
| Rings, bracelets, earrings | No |
| Small thin necklace | Yes |
| Eating beforehand | Something small, a few hours ahead: a banana, a protein bar |
I know baggy trousers are in fashion. At aerial, slippery fabric and bare skin are exactly what you do not want when the hammock has to hold you.
Where, when, how much
The Nest, Piața Bisericii 7, Timișoara. Aerial Yoga on Mondays from 20:00, Yin Aerial Yoga on Fridays from 19:00. 90-minute sessions, 7 spots available. Prices are the same on both days, and the pass covers both. The class is taught in Romanian, but I switch to English whenever someone needs it.
- 100 lei drop-in
- 80 lei for students
- 4-session pass: 320 lei
- 4-session student pass: 280 lei
- 30 lei top-up if you already hold a pass for the weekend studio sessions
Book by writing to me directly, or through the form on the classes page. With only 7 hammocks, spots go early.
I also still teach aerial at Gym One 4 SPA, where the class is included in the gym membership. All the details are on the Aerial Yoga page.
One piece of advice, if you keep only one
Do not spin in the hammock before class. Seriously. I paid for that lesson with an hour and a half of nausea so that you do not have to.
Other than that, come. The hammock does half the work, and we do the other half together.