JUST HANGING AROUND

Suspension yoga is a way of getting fitter that combines low-impact, high-energy and flexibility workouts with a healthy dose of acrobatics. It’s even harder than it looks, Lumka Nofemele finds.

IF YOU’VE EVER SEEN POP SINGER PINK PERFORM, you’re already really familiar with suspension yoga. If you think what she does looks difficult, you have no idea.

Suspension yoga may look pretty and relaxing, but it is a gruelling workout. After just an hour swinging in a hammock, I was exhausted, aching and drenched in sweat.

Antigravity yoga was invented by former gymnast and Broadway choreographer Christopher Harrison. It involves performing a series of exercises inspired by yoga, Pilates, calisthenics and aerial acrobatics in a hammock-like apparatus, in order to achieve a total-body workout.

In 1999, while rehearsing at the Metropolitan Opera House, Harrison and his team were captivated by a piece of fabric being used like a climbing rope in an adjoining theatre. Inspired, he bought his own fabric to use in his act. Harrison was not an aerialist at that time and didn’t know the first thing about climbing. After trying to figure out how to use the fabric as a rope, he decided to rig the other end to the top to form a hammock instead. He immediately incorporated this hammock into their shows and quickly discovered that the apparatus allowed people to move freely in all directions of space, including upside down, and that the benefits, health and entertainment wise, were immense.

Geraldine Anderson is Virgin Active’s master suspension yoga trainer and she explained how this particular workout affects the body. “Suspension yoga is a great low-impact fullbody cardio workout that increases flexibility and joint mobility and aligns and decompresses the spine, which is essential for a healthy back, allowing you to grow a little taller. This type of yoga stimulates your proprioceptors (the sense of balance) and improves lymphatic, digestive and circulatory systems; helping filter and eliminate toxins and building a stronger immune system.”

After hearing of the benefits, I thought, let’s give suspension yoga a go. Something so simple had to be fun, too. I saw the hammock, though, and quickly prepared myself for a fall. I was pleasantly surprised to find that a suspension yoga hammock can hold over 300 kg.

Two support chains hang down from the ceiling to less than one metre from the floor and the hammock, made of aerial silk, is connected at the height preferred by the user, normally between waist and shoulder. Performing some of the yoga poses may take some upper body strength, but the workout is 100 per cent safe and 100 per cent great for your body.

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