Benefits of Aerial Yoga and Where to Start?

Introduction

Aerial activities have gained popularity over recent years - the beautiful practise combines elements of traditional yoga with aerial arts. With many studios across Australia offering classes it can be a great way to diversify your fitness routine and try something new. Alternatively both a beginner or experienced aerialist would gain great benefit from having an Aerial silks set up in their own home - such as our MEMAX Aerial Silks + Yoga Hammock.

Gym Plus is here to help you progress in your new hobbies, with our constantly expanding range of gear. Since launching our MEMAX Aerial Silk + Hammock Range it has quickly become a best seller, and for good reason. As with any of our products our goal is to provide our customers with the best equipment at the best prices! Our MEMAX Aerial Silks + Yoga Hammock - includes Premium 100% Aerial Nylon Tricot Silks as well as Full Rigging Hardware, for you to be able to safely suspend your gorgeous new silks.

Speaking of gorgeous….

Our silks come in 8 elegant colours

• Lavender

• Dark Teal

• Sea-foam

• Aquamarine

• Sky Blue

• Blush Rose

• Watermelon

• Bubblegum

Benefits

Aerial Arts as an exercise boast many various health benefits. Of course being a form of exercise it positively contributes to your mental wellbeing as well as being a great way to maintain fitness.

Due to the suspended nature of the practise, it is a great way to build core strength. Additionally helping to enhance flexibility with low impact, as there is no hard ground under you, allowing you to softly settle in each stretching poses. A more unknown benefit may be that aerial arts can also assist with back pain. Some may think this is a little contradictory as some poses look advanced and back breaking... In reality you do not need to expect to be doing advanced poses until you are comfortable or ever, simply using the silks/hammock to hang upside down can offer great spinal decompression, much like an inversion table but a more compact option!

How to set up:

After purchasing the kit you may be wondering how do I set up my Aerial Silks!!! Help!

A brief summary - depending whether you would like to use the material as silks or as a hammock, will depend on the style of rigging. There are also variations to rigging if you are using an Aerial/Lyra Hoop. We have broken down simply how to do each.

Lets start with…

Aerial Silks

You will need the following components:

• A mounting device, this may be ceiling mount or a free standing aerial rig. (not included in our kit)
• 2 x Carabiners
• 1 x Rescue Figure 8 (Descender)
• 1 x Infinity Swivel
• 2 x Daisy Chains (depending on where you you decide to suspend the silks from you may or may not need this)
• and of course your Aerial Silks

1. Begin by setting up your mounting device. We won’t go into too many details here as there are several you could choose from depending on what space you have. However please get advice were appropriate from the right people in installing your chosen device to ensure it will be safe for you or your child to use.
2. Once that is good to go grab your aerial silks, find the middle, then seperate your hands by roughly ~ 60cm. Put about 4 twists into the fabric to ensure it is more manageable.
3. Fold it back to the centre again, holding the silks with one hand, use your other hand to thread them through the large bottom hole of the figure 8
4. Pull it through ~ 30cm, point it down and scoop it under between the two tails, then pull it through the centre again and finish off by looping it on to the top circle.
5. Now you can tighten it from both sides and you should have something that looks like this.
6. Put that down for now and attach a carabiner to each end of the infinity swivel.
7. Attach one of the carabiners to the the top smaller hole of the figure 8
8. The other carabiner will attach to your mounting device.
9. Done!

Yoga Hammock

You will need the following components:

• A mounting device, this may be ceiling mount or a free standing aerial rig. (not included in our kit)
• 2 x Carabiners
• 2 x Daisy Chains (depending on where you you decide to suspend the silks from you may or may not need this)
• and of course your Yoga Hammock Material.

1. As previously mentioned ensure the space in which you are rigging is safe the best way to do so is to consult with a local rigger, engineer or builder to ensure the mounting device is being placed on a safe point.

2. Lay one end of the fabric width flat onto the ground, ruche or accordion fold from one side to the other.

3. Allow around 1 metre of fabric to tie the end knots

4. Create a loose slip knot, we will tighten this up shortly

5. Tuck the excess tail in through the loop - there will probably still be excess but that is good we need it to be there

6. Put your carabiner through the loop, don’t forget to properly tighten and close your carabiner

7. Pull your tail very tightly to secure everything in place, you should have ~ 30cm of excess

8. Hook on your daisy chains to the the carabiners, these are great if you wish to adjust the height of your hammock

9. Your daisy chains may then be used to attach to your rig mount.

A slightly different rig is required for a Yoga Hammock as you mounting the two ends of the fabric individually.

Depending on the style of performance some people light to have the two ends of a hammock on seperate mounts - this allows for a more fixed hammock that will not have too much spin.

However others may light to you an infinity swivel in there rig set up and connect the two ends of the hammock together on the swivel mimicking an aerial silk set up. There is no right way, it solely depends on your personal preference, skill level and desired performance.

Aerial/Lyra Hoop

Our MEMAX Aerial Lyra Hoop comes with everything you need to create your dream circus hoop set up in your home, studio or anywhere really!

The kit contains the following components:

• 1 x Lyra Hoop (either an 85cm or 90cm in diameter + single point)
• 3 x Carabiners
• 1 x Infinity Swivel
• 1 x Round Slip Spanset
• 1 x Antiskid Tape

The kit allows you to set up your hoop in a few different ways, these will depend on the purpose of your session or your skill level.

We recommend the classic style for beginners, a more stable option as the hoop does not spin as much as other options, this is also a great style to use if you need to take some photos as spinning movement is limited.

If you have high ceilings you will find great benefits from the included round slip spanset. Simply attach it to the hoop using a carabiner (as pictured). From here you may attach it to the mount directly using a carabiner. Or combine the elevation style with the infinity style for the the most control in a high ceiling space. The infinity style rigging option is great for homes and studios with a standard ceiling height.

The perfect final addition….

Now that you have set up your aerial arts area, why not complete it by adding some safety!

Crash/Landing Mats will give you the peace of mind to try out new things and quickly advance your skills. When your practising and take an unexpected tumble our MEMAX Soft Pit Crash Mat is the perfect cloud to land on.

Or you can explore our extensive range of mats here.

As always if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our friendly team we are here to help with any enquiries big or small!