IF YOU’RE FEELING BRAVE...

ALICE SMELLIE puts a trendy anti-gravity yoga class to the test. RARELY in a yoga class have I feared I was facing certain death.

But then, it’s not often I’ve been in a silk hammock, dangling two or three feet from the floor, being told to lean backwards, wrap my legs around the silk and ‘just let go’, so that I am swinging upside-down like a middle-aged bat in Lycra.

However, encouraged by seeing others in the class do it successfully without plummeting headfirst to an untimely demise, I eventually work up the courage to swing myself upside down. I instantly feel a huge sense of achievement — and later, thanks to my compressed spine being stretched, improvement in the lower back ache that seems to come with a sedentary job.

This is anti-gravity yoga, created by choreographer and co-founder of Cirque du Soleil Christopher Harrison, a workout that involves a series of poses while you are suspended upside down. In the class I tried at Virgin Active, the hammocks are used to achieve various traditional yoga positions such as the Downward Dog and Warrior Pose, but there are also lovely, ballet-like elements, standing on your toes and jumping, while holding on to the silk.

Although traditional yoga has inversions, these are more likely to be performed in the form of headstands or shoulder stands. Here, the support offered by the hammocks means you may be able to achieve more difficult poses than you might by yourself on the ground.

Once in position, you feel surprisingly secure. And hanging upside-down strengthens muscles, releases pressure from compressed joints and is said to boost circulation, reducing the effects of ageing.

As blood whizzes to the pituitary and thyroid glands, sex drive may be boosted, too. (And who wouldn’t take risks for all that?)

Virgin Active (virginactive.co. uk) offers classes. Visit antigravity fitness.com to find classes near you