I love AcroYoga. Today was my second time doing it formally, in a class setting, and my first time practicing with AcroYoga gurus Jenny Sauer-Klein and Jason Nemer. If you've never done AcroYoga, you might think it's all about contortion and Cirque du Soleil-esque feats of gravity defiance. While there is an undeniable element of acrobatics involved (thus the name), AcroYoga is, at its heart, about trust and letting go.

We started in groups of two doing small exercises of leaning on each other in shapes of back and forward bends, eventually moving into groups of three, in which we "flew" each other in the air. (Jenny and Jason above, and Jason and SF AcroYoga teacher Jeremy Simon below.) See the pix here.) Allowing someone you don't know at all to support all of your weight is a huge practice in trust, but when you can let go, it's really liberating.
We ended in configurations of 12, with four people being bases (they were called the Rams), four other people "flying" in extended back bends (the Sitas), and four other people spotting the fliers (the Hanumans). The configuration was beautiful, if not just for the shapes we made together, but for the communal effort involved in making the yoga pyramids work. If you're interested in checking it out, there are free lunchtime sessions with the AcroYogis both today and tomorrow.

Posted by Karen Macklin on January 17, 2009 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jenny Sauer-Klein, cofounder of AcroYoga, leads workshops and teacher trainings worldwide. Certified in Contact Yoga by its originator, Nateshvar Ken Scott, she has studied theater, dance, yoga, Thai massage, and acrobatics and has taught yoga and circus arts to adults and children for more than seven years.

View Jenny's Classes
http://www.yjevents.com/yjevents/sf09/teacher_sauer.php

Posted by Alan Zucker on January 12, 2009 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)