Acroyoga (also written Acro-Yoga or Acro Yoga) is a physical practice that combines yoga and acrobatics. [1] Acroyoga includes many types of (mostly recreational) partner and group acrobatics in which at least someone is lifted. As such, it also draws on traditions of circus arts, cheerleading, and dance acro.
Acroyoga is more vigorous than many traditional forms of yoga as exercise and may lead to more injuries. [2]
There are three primary roles in an Acroyoga practice: base, flyer, and spotter. [3]
There are two main styles in an Acroyoga practice: L-basing and Standing. [4] [5]
Learning Acroyoga requires strength training, flexibility training and technique training. [8] Strength training is accomplished through repetition of exercises like push-ups, hand walking and handstands. Flexibility training is best done at the end of a session with a partner. Learning good Acroyoga technique takes time and effort and is best learned with an expert teacher. [8] One important Acroyoga technique is called bone stacking. This involves the base partner keeping arms and legs straight to maximize the weight load on bones rather than muscles to support the flyer. [9] A typical acroyoga session may include: [10]
There are many static acroyoga poses. [12] A series of acroyoga poses that are repeated in a continuous flow is called a Washing Machine. [13]
A basic therapeutic pose is Folded Leaf in which one partner is inverted and supported on the vertical legs of the other partner whose hands are then free for back massage. [14]
Acroyoga's L-basing practice was pioneered by one of the founders of modern yoga as exercise, Krishnamacharya, in 1938, though without using acroyoga's terminology. [4]
There are many schools of Acroyoga. The original two schools were AcroYoga Montreal and AcroYoga Inc. AcroYoga Montreal was founded by Eugene Poku and Jessie Goldberg in 2003; [4] they had informally used the term AcroYoga since 1999. [15] Also in 2003, AcroYoga International was founded by Jason Nemer and Jenny Sauer-Klein in California. [16]
This practice blends acrobatics, yoga and healing arts, with the focus initially mainly on therapeutic flying and yoga. Nemer and Sauer-Klei were the first to codify Acroyoga practice in 2006. They trained and made practice manuals for the public, trained teachers and traveled the world sharing the practice. AcroYoga Inc. had by 2017 certified around a thousand Acroyoga teachers worldwide. The focus of the practice has shifted more to the Solar - acrobatic - part of Acroyoga. [4]
Acrobatics is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro dance, circus, gymnastics, and freerunning and to a lesser extent in other athletic activities including ballet, slacklining and diving. Although acrobatics is most commonly associated with human body performance, the term is used to describe other types of performance, such as aerobatics.
An āsana is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose, and later extended in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise, to any type of position, adding reclining, standing, inverted, twisting, and balancing poses. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali define "asana" as "[a position that] is steady and comfortable". Patanjali mentions the ability to sit for extended periods as one of the eight limbs of his system. Asanas are also called yoga poses or yoga postures in English.
A handstand is the act of supporting the body in a stable, inverted vertical position by balancing on the hands. In a basic handstand, the body is held straight with arms and legs fully extended, with hands spaced approximately shoulder-width apart and the legs together. There are many variations of handstands, all of which require the performer to possess adequate balance and upper body strength.
A human pyramid is an acrobatic formation of three or more people in which two or more people support a tier of higher people, who in turn may support other, higher tiers of people. People above the bottom tier may kneel or stand on the shoulders, backs or thighs of the people below them. Typically, the number of people in each tier is one greater than the tier immediately above it, resulting in a triangular structure reminiscent of the formation's namesake.
Acrobalance is a floor-based acrobatic art that involves balances, lifts and creating shapes performed in pairs or groups. A performer on the ground doing the lifting and supporting in an acrobalance formation is often called the base, while a performer being lifted or tossed can be referred to as the flyer. Formats include male/female duo, trio, female/female, and other variations.
Acrobatic gymnastics is a competitive discipline of gymnastics where partnerships of gymnasts work together and perform figures consisting of acrobatic moves, dance and tumbling, set to music. There are three types of routines; a 'balance' routine where the focus is on strength, poise and flexibility; a 'dynamic' routine which includes throws, somersaults and catches, and a 'combined' routine which includes elements from both balance and dynamic.
Ovo is a touring circus production by Cirque du Soleil that premiered in Montréal, Canada in 2009. Ovo's creator and director, Deborah Colker, took inspiration from the world of insects. The idea for Ovo was not to be about the acts, nor dancing, nor insects, but about movement. The movement of life permeates the entire show, with creatures flying, leaping, bounding, and crawling. Composer Berna Ceppas brought additional life to Ovo with a score inspired by the music of Brazil. Ovo means "egg" in Portuguese and represents the underlying thread of the show. Graphically, inside the logo of Ovo, is an insect. The two O's represent the eyes and the V forms the nose and antennas.
Axl Osborne is an acrobatic gymnast. He currently competes as the base in a mixed pair with his partner Tiffani Williams. With partner Tiffani Williams, Osbourne came 2nd at the 2016 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships. He previously competed as the base in a Level 9 mixed pair with his partner, acrobatic gymnast Lydia Webb.
Michael Rodrigues is a retired elite acrobatic gymnast who now performs in the Cirque du Soleil show Viva ELVIS in Las Vegas, Nevada, along with his former mixed-pairs partner, retired elite acrobatic gymnast Kristin Allen.
Marie Annonson is a retired elite acrobatic gymnast who currently owns the acrobatic gymnastics facility WestCoast Training Center (WCTC) in Livermore, California.
Virabhadrasana or Warrior Pose is a group of related lunging standing asanas in modern yoga as exercise commemorating the exploits of a mythical warrior, Virabhadra. The name of the pose derives from the Hindu myth, but the pose is not recorded in the hatha yoga tradition until the 20th century. Virabhadrasana has some similarity with poses in the gymnastics of Niels Bukh the early 20th century; it has been suggested that it was adopted into yoga from the tradition of physical culture in India at that time, which was influenced by European gymnastics.
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, Rajakapotasana, or [One-legged] King Pigeon Pose is a seated back-bending asana in modern yoga as exercise. The Yin Yoga form of the asana is named Swan Pose, while the Aerial yoga variant, supported in a hammock, is called Flying Pigeon Pose. The basic pose is described in the 20th century by two of Krishnamacharya's pupils, Pattabhi Jois and B. K. S. Iyengar; several other variants have been created. It is one of the yoga poses often used in advertising to convey desired qualities such as flexibility and grace.
Utthita Parshvakonasana, Extended Side Angle Pose, is an asana in modern yoga as exercise. It is first described in 20th century texts.
Kiley Boynton is an American female acrobatic gymnast. With Ryan Ward, she was awarded the bronze medal in the 2014 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships.
Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga is a style of yoga as exercise created by American yogini Sadie Nardini in 2006. Central to this style is a movement referred to as a 'wave' (softening). The structure of this practice includes a 7-step framework which is applied to each pose within a sequence. Nardini incorporates aspects of Kundalini Yoga, Sivananda Yoga, Anusara Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, and portions of movement sequences from Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. Maintaining an internal focus on joy in the moment is part of the practice philosophy. This style integrates postures with learnings from many disciplines including physics, biology, and geometry, influenced by the works of Leslie Kaminoff. It incorporates traditional yoga philosophy from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. It emphasizes muscles that are deep within the body and includes the use of 'waves' in order to enter and exit poses. Examples include physical moves that activate muscles close to the spine—such as psoas and quadratus lumborum in order to build support for the body from within before generating outward expression of that movement. The purpose of deep core focused poses in this practice is to improve and deepen breathing. This perspective differs from other styles in which the purpose of deep core work is to stabilize the back. In this practice, keeping belly soft and core strong improve breathing. "Belly Bonfire" breath is one example of a deep core breath technique that involves focus and target of attention and breath with softer abs. Pelvis is viewed as the body's physical center of gravity in this system.
Parighasana or Gate Pose is a kneeling asana in modern yoga as exercise.
Yoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of postures, often connected by flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by breathing exercises, and frequently ending with relaxation lying down or meditation. Yoga in this form has become familiar across the world, especially in the US and Europe. It is derived from medieval Haṭha yoga, which made use of similar postures, but it is generally simply called "yoga". Academics have given yoga as exercise a variety of names, including modern postural yoga and transnational anglophone yoga.
Props used in yoga include chairs, blocks, belts, mats, blankets, bolsters, and straps. They are used in postural yoga to assist with correct alignment in an asana, for ease in mindful yoga practice, to enable poses to be held for longer periods in Yin Yoga, where support may allow muscles to relax, and to enable people with movement restricted for any reason, such as stiffness, injury, or arthritis, to continue with their practice.
AcroYoga International Co-Founders Jason Nemer and Jenny Sauer-Klein began codifying the practice of AcroYoga in 2003.
