Ways to Take Your Aerial Yoga Practice to the Next Level

You’ve been doing aerial yoga for a couple of months, and you now consider yourself an intermediate. And when you look back, you can see how far you’ve come, since those days you used to think aerial yoga is hard.

You are now enjoying life as an intermediate-level yogi, and you can comfortably do various poses without any assistance. That said, we all reach a point where we feel as though our aerial yoga practice has hit a plateau.

When this time comes, you may lose your motivation and you may start to feel as if you cannot go beyond this point. Well, you are not alone, and many yogis have experienced this stage at some point in their practice.

The good news is, there are several approaches to take your aerial yoga practice to the next level.

 

Read on to learn more about how you can improve your aerial yoga practice and break-through:

 

Increase Your Intensity

Increasing your intensity can also boost your aerial yoga practice and push you from an intermediate to an advanced yogi.

There are many ways of increasing your intensity.

For instance, you can aim to rely less on the sling for support and go deeper into poses relying on your own strength. Likewise, if you are used to holding say the downward-facing dog for only a few minutes, you can extend the duration to 5 or 10 minutes.

Also, if you were only doing a single session per day, either in the morning or in the evening after work, you should consider increasing the practice sessions to 2 per day, or even 3 if possible.

 

Whichever approach you take, increasing your intensity and remaining committed to your workouts will transform your yoga practice significantly.

 

Try Different Poses

If you enjoy doing a single aerial yoga style every day, you would have no reason to try others.

The problem is, doing something similar every day can be boring, and you may lose your motivation quite fast.

On the other hand, if you try different styles and poses, you will understand aerial yoga better.

Also, you will get an opportunity to find out what works best for you. And it’s only after finding your best approach that you will begin to progress.

You may already have a pose or a style you are familiar or comfortable with. The problem is, that style may not be enough to take you to the next level.

So, if you want to take your aerial yoga to the next level, then you must be willing and ready to try something different, even if you may not be comfortable with it.

The best thing is to expose yourself to as many different poses, approaches and styles as possible, and then incorporate what works best for you into your workouts.

 

Start Working Out at Home

When it comes to aerial yoga, most people opt to attend classes. And there is nothing wrong with this. Attending an aerial yoga studio or learning from an instructor will help you to master the basics.

However, if you want to take your aerial yoga practice to the next level, consider working out at home.

You will just need to get yourself a yoga swing and install at your house, then you can start working out right away. It’s fairly easy, but if you’re unsure, hire a professional for the yoga swing installation.

 

Doing personal sessions gives you an opportunity to moving at your pace, as opposed to attending a class. Also, you will have the freedom to customize your workouts, experiment with various yoga hammock poses, and identify a workout routine that you enjoy.

Furthermore, working out at home will allow you to spend longer doing various poses, which will help you to master them, as opposed to a studio where you are rushed through.

 

Attend Workshops

As noted above, doing aerial yoga at home will go a long way in taking your yoga practice to the next level. However, you shouldn’t stop there. You also need to find more ways of expanding your yoga knowledge and practice.

And this is where yoga workshops come in. If you are a busy person, there is a high chance that you can only squeeze in a 30-minute yoga session into your daily schedule. The problem is, you can’t learn much.

Therefore, you need to go a step further and look for upcoming yoga workshops and seminars. When you attend these workshops and seminars, you will significantly improve on a wide range of poses.

 

Yoga workshops and seminars will also enhance your knowledge on a wide range of yoga practice topics like pranayama, meditation, breathing, chanting as well as the philosophy behind all these practices.

Workshops will provide an opportunity for yoga-networking and connecting with like-minded yogists.

 

Go for a Yoga Retreat

Aerial yoga is designed to add peace, wellness and tranquility to your busy lifestyle. Unfortunately, this is not always possible.

For instance, you may be living in a noisy neighborhood, meaning you may not get a chance to enjoy the peace and tranquility you are looking for. And this is where yoga retreats come in.

By taking a few days to attend a yoga retreat, you will have an opportunity to disconnect from the world totally. Also, a yoga retreat will give you a chance to immerse yourself in your yoga practice, thus helping you to disconnect from personal and work-related stresses.

Furthermore, yoga retreats will enable you to connect, practice and interact with like-minded aerial yogis, which will of course go a long way in helping you push past your plateau.

 

Buy New Gear

Performing aerial yoga with old or worn-out gear like your yoga tights or the yoga hammock can become uncomfortable and demotivating.

Also, old or worn-out equipment can hinder your practice and increase the risk of accidents and injuries. If that happens you will be forced to stay away from your workouts, which will hinder your progress even further.

So, if you have now reached the intermediate level, you should consider refreshing your gear. Investing in new yoga swings and aerial hammocks will give your mind a reset and motivate you to keep working out.

 

Go Beyond the Physical Aspect

Most people who are new to aerial yoga assume that it’s all about doing physical exercises. However, the physical poses are just a part of aerial yoga. Traditionally, yoga was more about mindfulness and spirituality, as opposed to hard physical exercises.

Therefore, the physical postures were essentially developed to help the mind and body for meditation.

So, if you’ve been concentrating more on the physical aspect of yoga, then maybe it’s time to shake things a little bit and start exploring other yoga aspects like meditation, chanting and breathing.

And as you focus on meditation and breathing, you will start to deepen your understanding of the connections between your breath, heart, body and mind.

Mastering the spiritual aspect of yoga and practicing meditation will help to refresh and enhance your yoga practice while helping you to unclutter your mind.

 

Do Some Reading

As noted above, aerial yoga is not just about physical improvement. It also entails philosophical and spiritual development.

Therefore, as much as you may be working to master some new moves and poses, you also need to boost your knowledge when it comes to yoga practice.

Reading yoga texts will also help you to learn more about the philosophies behind various yoga swing poses and asanas. It will also inspire you, on and off the aerial yoga swings.

It will inspire you and motivate you to try new things. While reading yoga texts may not be the easiest thing to do, something as simple as flicking through them will be extremely helpful.

 

Maintain a Yoga Journal

Maintaining a journal for your aerial yoga practice is a great and effective means of setting your intentions and keeping track of your goals. Without a journal, it will be hard to tell whether you are progressing or regressing.

Also, keeping a journal will help you to note down your strengths and weaknesses, as well as what is working best for you. Start with something as simple as writing down how you feel, both physically and mentally.

You can then go ahead to write your goals for the day’s session, what you learned from the session as well as how you can apply those lessons to other areas of your life.

 

And you don’t need a fancy yoga journal. A simple notebook is enough to do the job. The most important thing is to avoid the temptation of giving up.

There will be some days when you will not feeling like jotting down a single word. But regardless of how you feel, always make sure that you note something down.

 

Aerial Yoga Practice

As you can see, you have numerous available approaches, tips, tricks and interventions, which you can use to take your aerial yoga practice to the next level.

The most important thing is to start small and take one day at a time. And if you remain committed to the above tips, your yoga practice will start looking forward to your workout sessions and you will significantly enhance your yoga practice – taking it to the next level.