Trying Aerial Silks

I’ve always thought it would be fun (and challenging) to try an aerial silks or aerial yoga class.

Last week, a studio near my house was having an open house for their new aerial silks class and I thought I’d give it a try- along with dragging a friend with me because this is the sort of thing I wanted someone along with me so we could laugh together (instead of feeling like I was being laughed AT if I messed up and landed splat on my face).

I posted a few photos from the aerial yoga class on my instagram, as well as sharing my favorite as part of my list of 10 Things to Smile About, and I got a bunch of questions from those of you who would like to try it. So, here’s what you should know before you try aerial silks.

You will be turning all around, sometimes sideways or upside down, and sometimes you will be using only your legs to hold onto the silks, so make sure you wear a top that’s not going to go flying over your head and wear yoga pants or capris but make sure they aren’t the shiny, slippery material or they can slip on the silks.

Bring water. That probably sounds like a no brainer: there are very few classes I’d show up to where I wouldn’t bring my water bottle, but for some reason, I didn’t think I’d really need it for this aerial yoga class. Joke was on me: I think I would have drank a gallon of water had I had that along with me.

Know that the silks will hold you. Our instructor told us that the silks were designed to hold up to 3,000 pounds. So, no fear of them tumbling to the ground.

You probably aren’t going to land on your face and break your nose. This was one of my fears. But when you’re getting into the poses, you’re actually locking your body into place with the silks so this won’t happen. Falling is a possibility, but it won’t be a sharp, quick hard fall- more like a gradual fall that you can feel coming and be able to brace yourself or grab onto the silks to prevent it.

Aerial silks is a very active workout. You’re not just hanging out on the silks, doing some sort of pretty (or not so pretty, depending) move, you’re pushing or pulling with your hands and/or feet, as well as sometimes holding the silks with your legs. My legs were a little sore the next day (because more of my regular workouts involve building leg strength) but my arms felt useless for the next two days (I really need to work on my arm strength). And any activity like this where you’re working on balancing is also going to work your core. Our instructor told us to make sure we stretched out our hands afterwards and continued to later in the day or we might wake up with sore hands.

I really enjoyed my first aerial silks class and I’ll definitely be heading back! I was amazed by what I was able to do during my first class- I’d love to improve. It was a great workout and lots of fun. I’ll just make sure I have my water with me next time!

If you have any questions about trying an aerial yoga class that I didn’t cover, just ask!