Acroyoga: Moves of trust & bonding
HYDERABAD: Yoga has been a game-changer when it comes to fitness and well-being. It not only helps you shed that flab, but also rids the body of ailments. While it’s popularity only increases with every passing day, many are making yoga fun too.
Acroyoga, a perfect blend of yoga and acrobatics, is an exercise which is based on trust. It comprises two components — solar and lunar. Solar is the acrobatic aspect of the practice, which one usually sees on social media. The lunar part of acroyoga is more therapeutic and involves Thai massage.
While this form of exercise has been around for over a decade now, Kamal Maliramani, the founder of Hyderabad-based Energizer Yoga, has been popularising it in the city. He has been holding workshops and also speaking about its benefits to draw more and more people towards this fitness regime.
“Acroyoga is a culmination of three practices — acrobatics, yoga and Thai massage. This fun activity helps in bringing communities together, which eventually leads to personal transformation,” he says, Acroyoga demands strength, flexibility and stamina. It also helps develop trust, companionship and togetherness among the participants. “A popular saying in our community is, ‘If you’re not having fun, then you are not doing Acroyoga!’,” says Kamal.
Acroyoga needs a minimum of three participants -- a flyer, base and spotter. The base is usually the one who is in contact with the ground, is stable, strong and becomes the foundation on whom the flyer can trust and perform the acrobatics. The spotter ensures the safety of the base and flyer, by keeping a close eye on their movements.
“Children start trusting their friends after some fun and games. Similarly, the idea behind acroyoga is to play, have fun and develop bonds. In today’s day and age, when mobiles and technology have separated us, acroyoga can help bring people together through play and communication,” says Kamal.
Addressing the elephant in the room, is acroyoga only for couples? “Certainly not. You could be friends, brother and sister, parent and child or absolute strangers. All that matters is that you should have fun and laugh to your heart’s content while you exercise,” he says.
Benefits of acroyoga
- Involves trength, flexibility, stamina and balance
- Helps develop trust
- Makes one more responsible and caring
- Helps in healing
- Makes one a better listener
- Helps one become more communicative
- Encourages team spirit
- Finally, it’s a lot of fun