Experience Mantra 2016: AcroYoga

As you may recall last year in 2015 I decided to start setting mantras instead of resolutions or goals for the new year. 2015 was the year of No Fear. It went smashingly. When I dug deep to find the mantra for 2016, Experience came to me. It’s sort of a continuation of no fear, to experience brand new things that either I’ve always wanted to do or that I never thought about doing but would be interesting, fun, and enriching in some way. Because you only live once. YOLO!!!

These are my stories.

If you are like me you have a bucket list. This is a list of things you want to do before you die. I have a “Before 40 Bucketlist” because I don’t want things to drag out for fear that I will never actually get to the things on the list. Not that post-40 you stop doing awesome shit. I’ll tell you now that learning to play the piano and getting proficient in belly dancing are on that list. But I’m not sure I’ll get to those this year since those will take continued practice and lessons, which frankly I can’t afford. So I’m finding other things to try for the first time that take little or no money (or someone else pays for it!). Sounds fun right?

Now that we’ve reached the halfway point of the year I figured I better start writing about these experiences, giving each one their very own blog post instead of a yearly wrap-up. It’s been an adventure so far and I can’t wait to share all these new experiences with you! Spoiler alert: I’m getting ready to go to Costa Rica for a month to learn Spanish.

Experience Mantra #1: AcroYoga

I didn’t waste any time! On January 1st I went to what is known as an “Acro Jam”. This is where people get together casually to practice acroyoga with each other. Normally, if you hadn’t tried it before or gone to a class you wouldn’t go to a jam but the opportunity presented itself and I had a good feeling I’d be pretty decent at it. Beginners luck! Not gonna lie, I’m a bit of an overachiever and wanted to get started on my mantra as soon as possible!

AcroYoga (or acro-yoga) blends acrobatics with yoga and was founded in 1999 by Jessie Goldberg and Eugene Poku in Montreal. Those who have gymnastic or dance training will find it very easy to transition into this new craze. It’s memorizing to watch people who know what they are doing! Those who have a yoga background like myself will also excel because yoga builds flexibility, strength, balance, and core stability, which are all very crucial when you are flying.

My friend Hayley and I showed up and were guided by a very nice teacher of acro through how to fly, how to base, how to spot others, and the basic beginner moves of plank press, bird (what I call flying like weeeee), upward bow, back bird, throne, wheel, bat, and we even tried star and candlestick. It was a blast, but also very scary. You have to have a lot of trust in your base when you are flying. And be very mindful and controlled when you are the base. You can see below I based Hayley with ease since we are about the same size, but I didn’t feel stable enough to base someone bigger than me (I tried without success!!).

There was one position that I just couldn’t get. When I was hanging upside down facing out I got completely disoriented. I couldn’t figure out my up from down, and left from right. It was the trippiest thing!! This made it difficult to transition in and out of that position into other acro poses. It will take a bit more practice to master acroyoga but I feel really great about trying it.

Another thing that was really cool is the acroyoga community is really nice! I thought for sure as a newbie I would feel like an outsider but people were super nice and happy to help us out. Definitely try it sometime if you feel the urge.

I would most definitely do AcroYoga again so it receives 5 stars on the experience scale.

Have you tried acroyoga before? What was your experience with it? Share with us in the comments!

Experience Mantra 2106
Quick Reference

AcroYoga
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Teaching yoga & learning to surf
Learning Spanish in Costa Rica
Silver Jewelry Making in Bali
Aerial Yoga & Archery
Breitenbush Hot Springs & Hot Springs Arkansas
Learning Craps in Vegas
SUP Yoga and first all-inclusive hotel