The Aerial Yoga Manual Vol Rebekah Leach: : Books.The Aerial Yoga Manual Volume 2 by Rebekah Leach | Goodreads
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Aerial Yoga: The Beginner’s Guide to the Aerial Hammock.Aerial yoga manual 2 by hitbts - Issuu
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Easy to understand and learn from. I absolutely recommend it. Anonymous — November 11, I love the exit strategy and body awareness tips in this book! This has really helped me increase my back flexibility and core strength. Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review. Current processing time for most orders is business days. This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
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We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings. If you have time, you can make sure the bathroom is clean and the First Aid Kit is in an easily accessible spot should you need it. Check your class roster and know the names of who is coming, their age, and medical issues.
Make note of any new students, and prepare a waiver form for them to sign. As students arrive, greet them by name and make a visual check that they are not wearing any jewelry or metallic objects on their clothing that could tear the fabric of the hammock. Use this information to offer modifications to your lesson plan. Be ready to change your lesson plan should major issues arise. Ensure all hammocks are rigged to the correct height before centering students, and move around the room to double check if you have any doubts.
At the end of class, close with a Thank You, and encourage students to clean off the equipment they used. Are they following along, or getting tired? Are your poses too difficult, or too easy? Adjust the class as needed. Be personable, ask for requests, and remember to check in with every student at least once.
Give a sincere compliment to each student, avoiding favoring anyone. In order to create a safe environment for all your students, your class design should integrate to some degree ALL of the following goals:. Flexibility — increasing flexibility in a safe manner, use modifications, proper warm up, and props to increase range of motion while avoiding injury.
Core Strength — the core is central to almost all movement, in addition to spinal health. All classes should have a focus on keeping the core engaged to protect the spinal column and increase range of mobility while avoiding injury. Balance — Core strength goes hand in hand with finding balance. This double energetic flow will foster a stronger sense of balance, and thus creates greater core strength.
Mobility — Range of motion is essential in health and fitness. Alignment — No matter how you move sitting, running, lunging, curling — protecting the spine means protecting the body. Keeping knees and elbows slightly bent never locking joints , core engagement, and shrugging shoulders down will all aid in creating proper alignment.
This means, more efficient movement that is safe. Looking good versus feeling good is a great way to remember this- the student needs to ENJOY their movement, not suffer. There should always be a challenge, but never pain. By following the 5 previous guidelines, safety is attained effectively.
It is imperative to make every effort to design your class structure with safety and intelligence. A class should be structured in an intelligent manner — with a basic Warm Up for the entire body, from head to toe, and moving the spine in all 6 directions of motion.
The class should be structured with a FOCUS in mind upper body, lower body, core strength, balance, mobility, endurance, etc. The class should be built with a peak pose in mind, and working to open and warm up the correct body parts for this pose, then counterbalancing this pose before cooling down. Themes could include aligning chakras, waxing or waning moon cycle, solstice or equinox seasonal , positive energy, setting goals, partner work, focusing on our own bodies, play.
Be creative! Since we teach the public, and not professional performers or athletes, it is critical to analyze the capabilities of the students, challenge them in a safe range of motion, and provide modifications or adjustments. Let the class know what your intention or focus will be, and ask if they have any requests or concerns before beginning.
When you begin planning your class, always be ready to make adjustments and changes based on who shows up. All levels of age, experience, injury, and emotional baggage can be presented in the studio.
Be ready to be flexible and give students what they need not always what they want. This allows students to calm down, check in with their breath and their bodies, and go inward to become centered.
Shoulder and spine stretches first, then lead into lower body work for the hips and legs. Allow minutes of class for students to warm up their minds and bodies for the work that is to follow.
Tone is the final piece to be considered — setting the tone of your class in terms of music, voice, lighting, and ambiance. Some teachers prefer silence, while other classes may call for soothing sounds, or more energetic pop music. Play around with what works for the style of your class style and how it resonates with your students. Your tone of voice should also reflect the intention of the class- loud and encouraging, soft and calm. Be mindful of choosing positive words, and avoid making negative comments.
Lastly, the lighting- bright, low lights, candle light, the list goes on. Take the time to match the style of each class with the time of day, the intention, and what students are looking for. Sequences can be fun to create, or a cause for anxiety. Some of the best teachers out there begin with a notebook the first year of teaching before they are comfortable enough to go by memory. Sequences should always follow a logical and safe format, and you should be flexible to allow room for change depending on who shows up to your class.
When you write your first sequences, identify what type of class you are teaching. Be comfortable with teaching the theme and purpose of your class. This will help you choose appropriate poses to help students relax, becom e energized, or explore. Likewise, the more comfortable and confident you feel in your instruction, the more comfortable your students will feel. From there, decide what the goal for the class is — for students to be more flexible, more relaxed, energized, achieve a stunt, work on breathing, work on proper form, inversions, upper body strength, core strength….
The list goes on! Choose the goal of your class. Make sure it aligns with your Type of Class for example, inversions strength would likely not be the goal for a restorative class. Twisting poses, however, could fit nicely in a restorative class focused on detoxing. The workout needs to flow. Give yourself and your students time to cool down, reflect, and be still. Allow them to sense the difference in their body and minds from taking your class. Be logical.
Avoid having students move from floor to standing, then to floor again. Likewise, avoid using open hammock to closed hammock to open hammock again. Be sure that your sequence makes sense in your body and mind. If you try to put too much in and get too fancy, students can become confused, frustrated, and likely unsafe. Consider your students. If you have a much younger crowd with high energy on a weekend morning, you may wish to give them a more challenging sequence. You are not teaching for yourself — you are teaching for your students.
If you have new students, provide close guidance, go slow, and encourage them so they feel accomplished. If you have a group with injuries, adjust so that they can receive the full benefit of moving in the hammock in a pain free range of motion. Just because you love a pose, does not always mean your class will love it, too. They have different bodies, emotions, and experience than you. Likewise, do not feel that you must always give students poses they love or want.
Be ready to say NO to yourself or students always in a kind, diplomatic way , when safety is in question. What we want is not always in alignment with what we need. Now you can create your sequence. You can first write up your Warm Up with the goal in mind.
Here is a very brief example of a possible class sequence to give you an idea of how to design your own class. From my 10 years of experience teaching both in the classroom and in fitness studios, I have found there are similar areas of conflict that may arise when instructing. You will no doubt teach to a wide range of ages, abilities, and personalities — and unless you have a few years of teaching under your belt, you may not be prepared for some of unforeseen challenges that may arise.
Be ready to modify and offer variations for all levels in your lesson plan. Gender — It is a safe bet you will be teaching primarily females in class, but you will sometimes teach men, as well.
Be aware of their physical abilities, experience, age, and relationships are they a boyfriend or husband of someone in class? Spotting males in inversions may be uncomfortable, so it would be helpful to practice on your own spouse or male friend to avoid a potentially awkward situation. Often, the biggest challenge with teaching males is encouraging them to slow down rather than power through a pose or transition.
Health Concerns — Always check their waivers for this information. If you have a comfortable relationship with the student, you may ask. This can be important when cueing a pose — you may wish to suggest modifications in a way that suggests if they have an ache or pain, they may wish to avoid this pose. Go slow, and back out if it causes discomfort. Fears — Going upside can be frightening. Chances are your students are excited about aerial, but still nervous about going upside down.
Keep a calm voice, be empathetic, and give clear directions that will make them feel more secure. If they seem confused or nervous, try rewording your instructions.
Be aware of your choice of words and using appropriate language that is positive, clear, and encouraging. If you make a mistake, apologize and move on. This is so important when building trust with students. While you are the authority in the room, you can use humor appropriately!
Students who feel you are authentic will want to come to your classes more often than not. Perhaps the most important piece of being an effective teacher is communication. Reflect on your favorite teachers, mentors, and instructors — and likely they all were excellent in communicating their message to you. Students feel they can trust a teacher more when instructions are clear and they understand what the teacher is trying to explain.
When instructing a class, you have a goal, a lesson plan, and a skill set that you wish to translate to the class. To do this effectively, you must be aware of the different learning styles that each student has. In my years of being an educator, there are three primary learning styles that are universal among learners. These are Visual seeing , Auditory hearing , and Kinesthetic feeling or doing. While many people are a mixture of these three, one or two characteristics will be stronger.
To ensure students understand what you want them to know or do, you must teach your class in a way that benefits each type of learner. This type of learner benefits most from pictures and demonstrations. This means yourself or another student in class will need to perform the skill or movement in a proper way for the student to best learn. Auditory — These learners need to HEAR your verbal cues, either while you demonstrate, another student demonstrates, or as they perform the pose or skill.
Auditory learners prefer simple, clear instructions that offer modifications, and help explain the pose and how to make it easier or more difficult. They may also need to hear what the fabric should be doing, their arms and legs, and how to make adjustments. A Kinesthetic also known as a tactical learner needs to feel the movement in their own body before they completely understand it.
Kinesthetic students will often jump right into doing a pose or skill before you finished explaining it, and often learn best by trial and error. Be aware of this, and be ready to stand physically near them if you spot them jumping ahead. You will find that many of the students you meet will be a mixture of these three types. With that in mind, make every effort to instruct using Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic methods of teaching to be the most effective and safe.
Assisting students is a complex topic. There are many workshops in the yoga community that are worth signing up for. Assisting is not something you can read from a book and master alone. It requires practice, practice, practice!
Assisting can be a touchy subject, pun intended. When you teach an aerial yoga class, it is a given that you will need to touch students. How, When, and Where, are all critical pieces to know and be comfortable with. Be aware that many people do NOT like to be touched, and this is often not an issue in a traditional yoga class. Assisting students in class can help students in deepening a pose, adjusting a pose, or c ueing a student to move safely.
When bodies are in the air, however, assisting becomes critical and necessary. A few things to keep in mind: Do not assist unless it is necessary. Do not assist unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing. It may be wiser to use your words and model a pose before you touch a student. When teaching a new pose, be sure to give it a name, demonstrate the pose or movement slowly, and talk through each and every movement. Let them know where they may feel pressure from the fabric, and where their hands and feet should go.
Keep your instructions short and simple, while identifying common mistakes that people can make. Whenever you have an new student in class, ALWAYS stand by them and coach them through their first inversions — be sure to teach them how to get in AND out of the pose. As students progress, you can offer more challenging variations. When they are new, be sure to offer modifications to help them ease into poses that could be difficult for them.
Be sure to practice a pose many times until you master it, and understand how to get in, what can go wrong, how it can feel, and how to exit. Always teach how to get into the pose, then how to get out of the pose. Literally, never leave them hanging. If a particular pose can be dangerous when done incorrectly, be sure to tell students to wait for you to be next to them before they attempt it.
If they seem especially nervous, you can ask for permission to touch them in order to aid them. The sides of the hips and back between the shoulder blades are the best areas to touch in order to keep safety and avoid touching in an inappropriate place. Touch with care - avoid grabbing or pressing. Use a gentle but firm touch that uses the palm of your hand, not just the fingers that can feel odd.
Whenever a new student goes upside down for the first time usually into Down Dog , you can assist without even touching their bodies. You may do this by placing your arm as a block between the hammock so that their feet will not fall through.
Using your own arm as a guide to avoid students from falling out can be a clever way of assisting without making students uncomfortable. Be comfortable and confident — if a student makes you feel nervous and does not follow your instructions, if safety is in question, you may address them in a gentle but firm manner. If the student continues to move in an unsafe range of motion that puts their own body in jeopardy, you may ask them to leave class. Lock with your toes.
In practice, you may find that some of the best cues remind students where they may feel the pressure of the fabric. Remind them that the thinner or less amount of fabric supporting their body in a pose, the more intense the stretch and more work their body must do. Offer the suggestion to pull the fabric wider or adjust its placement away from a joint or location of pain to still reap the benefits of a movement, as long as their safety is not sacrificed.
Next, always cue what is in contact with the floor in yoga grounded poses and go from there. If they are on their hands, cue wide fingers with pressure coming down on all 10 fingers, and the palm. Remind students verbally to keep the knees and elbows soft. Keep an eye out for bodies going limp and losing core engagement. Remind students to lift from their core, hold their bodies up, and allow the fabric to assist, but not do all the work. The best teacher for giving assists is practicing.
We will spend a good deal of time on this piece with practical work. You will also be required to assist in classes taught by a certified instructor until you are comfortable on your own.
Remember — do not feel you need to touch or assist a student frequently. Physically adjusting a student unnecessarily can actually cause their muscles to contract more than release, due to the stretch reflex we are all equipped with. Be aware when assisting.
With this in mind, Yoga is an ancient tradition with a 5, year old history, that has been carried over into Western Culture in the last century. With its many physical, mental, and spiritual benefits, Yoga has become one of the most popular programs in the United States for fitness and spirituality seekers. Aerial Yoga is in its baby stages, as the aerial hammock has become a prop that lends itself to create a sense of trust, a deeper understanding of the balance between strength and flexibility, and creating a unique mind-body connection.
With teaching any Yoga class, there is an ethical responsibility you hold to the students that enter your classroom. These ethics are laid out in the 8 Limbs of Yoga:. YAMAS 2. Bringing these ethics into your class structure and teaching will create a more authentic experience for your students. This means teaching to your students with intentions of challenging them in a safe range of movement.
This also applies to safety — the movements you coach them through, the quality of the aerial hammocks, and rigging standards. As a teacher, it is your moral responsibility to give students an experience that is safe and challenges them appropriately. Without lying or sugar coating, we must be willing to offer constructive feedback that holds no judgement. Ask students to be honest with themselves — is this stretch too intense, is this move too difficult or too easy.
Encourage students to reflect on their progress without judgement. Try to avoid being late to class, or starting class late, as this steals from ourselves and everyone else in the room.
We must also not steal from ourselves by comparing our progress or physical appearance to others in the room. Comparison like this robs us of the ability to truly benefit from what a pose or moment in class can offer us. The key is to find balance, and in aerial yoga this connects directly to balancing between flexibility in a pose and strength in controlling our own bodies in the fabric. When we direct our energy appropriately, we find an ease of movement that is fluid and healthy.
Remind students and yourself! The second Yogic limb asks us to be mindful in our actions, our Karma. Like the Yamas, the Niyamas are a way to improve ourselves as teachers, as well as students. This is important in aerial yoga, in keeping the studio clean, our own bodies clean to respect or students and ourselves, and maintaining the cleanliness of the silk hammocks. Keep the studio tidy and neat, with materials easy to access and out away.
Have a clear designation for where yoga mats and yoga props belong, where students can store their personal belongings, and maintain a clean atmosphere. This fosters a respect for the studio and the teacher. It is also important that aerial hammocks are clean, free from unpleasant odor and stains.
The unexpected may come up in class — previous injuries, lighting or music issues — and it is our job to find peace with these elements and keep the class flowing. Remind them to listen to their body, and move in a pain free range of motion without strain.
Accept where your body is now. Continue to work on poses that you struggle with, in a safe range of motion without force. Self-discipline also requires you as a teacher to seek out continuing education in aerial, yoga, teaching practices, and safety. Are we living out the 5 Yamas honesty, are we on our own road to self-improvement. Svadhaya calls us to look at our own progress, and what needs improvement. Hold no expectations, accept what is, and surrender to the present moment.
This translate beautifully when doing an aerial inversion or suspending weightless in the aerial hammock — reminding ourselves, and our students, to just LET GO. After the Yamas and Niyamas, the other 5 Limbs create a culmination of what the intention of Yoga is. Each Limb is complex, and they make up the branches of the entire tree that we present to students.
Yoga poses are designed to help energy, or PRANA, flow through our bodies to foster the mind-body connection. The poses used in aerial yoga are laid out in the following section of this book. The silk hammock works as a prop to foster a heightened experience for students in Asana.
Pranayama, or fourth limb of Yoga, is the breath. While it can be difficult for students at first, it is important to learn to create the connection between the breath and the movement. As mentioned throughout this manual, the inhale should occur with the preparation for a stretch or movement, and the exhalation coordinates with the execution.
Moving this way fosters a safer range of movement that is slower and relaxes the muscles in each pose. Encourage students to learn to breath slowly and deeply, as this will help them to relax and be more mindful of their movement. The last 4 Yogic limbs bring us to withdrawing our senses and focusing our attention and awareness to attain a union with the Divine or Universe.
This part of Yoga is available for you as a teacher in your personal practice, and is a product of following the preceding four limbs. Focused attention and awareness in the aerial yoga classroom is essential for not just student safety, but also to help foster a more fulfilling experience.
Depending on your knowledge and experience with the eight limbs of Yoga, integrate these elements into your teaching in an authentic way that is comfortable for you. This manual is divided into Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Conditioning Poses using the aerial hammock. If a pose or movement can also be used for conditioning purposes, this will be identified for you.
Likewise, if a pose is ideal for a more restorative class, it will be identified as well. This manual only covers basic movement and poses. In addition, every pose will be broken down into how to cue in this manual, how to enter and exit, variations that make the pose more or less challenging, which muscle groups are being primarily used, and how to negate any movements so that the body feels balanced.
We recommend never teaching a pose or move that you have not practiced yourself several times, and feel comfortable with the cueing and spotting. Primary Muscle Groups: What major muscle group or groups are utilized for this pose.
Counter Balance: Which poses help to negate and balance this pose. For more than 30 aerial yoga sequences and hundreds more poses, please access KamaFitTV. These poses use the fabric as an assist and ease students with little muscle control, balance, or recent injury, who wish to work up to a comfortable working level. These poses are wonderful for restorative style classes, or for stretching tired and sore muscles. While this does not require a hammock, it can be good to have this move in mind when warming students up in class.
Encourage them to roll hips and spine, too, if available to them. If staying on knees bothers a student, encourage them to kneel on a bolster or fold their mat underneath the knees to provide extra cushioning. Students can have both hands in fabric, or one as pictured above with shoulder opening as an option. To negate, have students grab hammock with an underhand grip, and lean back with head in neutral position to protect the neck.
Encourage students to come down to elbows if their wrists are bothering them. Bolster under the supporting knee may also be necessary. To Negate:. You can enter this pose from a seated position, with fabric hugging the hips, as you gently lower your head towards the floor.
Grabbing the ankles is optional. This is an intense inversion — remind students to slowly come out of this pose, and encourage a relaxed breath. Backbends like Wheel Pose are intense — they open the chest and shoulders, while working the quads. They can be wonderful for stretching the abdominals.
Top reviews Most recent Top reviews. Top reviews from the United States. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Verified Purchase. I've been doing aerial yoga once a week for a few months and I decided I wanted to be able to do more tricks or take silks, and I looked for every book I could find using the sling I bought for home. This book has a nice variety of exercises with good explanations and several color photos for each, and tips for safety.
She does have some modifications although I wish there were a few more for people who are really out of shape. I had 2 surgeries in 4 months last year so I wasn't able to exercise for most of the year. I think of can figure out how to modify the abs even more until I can get there. The exercises are done not far from the ground so I think anyone with a few lessons and a good, secure rigging system at home should be able to do them safely.
I would love to see this author do a DVD someday showing these exercises. The author could make a. One person found this helpful. I like the authenticity of this book, it was direct information for aerial strength and conditioning. Lots of great uses for the fabric as an exercise tool vs a way to deepen your stretch for yoga practice.
Typos on most pages, but the pictures and poses are exactly what I was looking for! This book is an incredible resource for any aspiring aerial yogi. Kassi does a fantastic job showing the possibilities to enhance your practice in the air.
Which I also found extremely helpful for my mat practice as well. See all reviews. Top reviews from other countries. Translate all reviews to English. Report abuse Translate review to English. Report an issue. Does this item contain inappropriate content?
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