Think you've seen every type of yoga fusion possible? You haven't. AntiGravity yoga, a combination of yoga and acrobatics, is the newest yoga craze to sweep the US.
AntiGravity yoga, which was developed by acrobat and gymnast Christopher Harrison, involves performing yoga poses in a hammock a few feet off the ground, the UK's Daily Mail reported.
The technique uses a fusion of yoga with acrobatics, dance, gymnastic moves and Pilates and according to Harrison, performing them upside down balances out the body, enhances abdominal workouts and frees up the spine.
Harrison came up with the idea in 1996, while playing with hammocks on an Indian retreat.
Having previously struggled with wrist problems, Harrison found that performing yoga poses in a hammock took the pressure off his wrists.
"I'd been travelling all over the world performing and had put a lot of strain on my body. But we discovered that hanging upside down in the hammocks helped to get all the kinks out," he said.
"We put hammocks in our practice room and used them as part of our warm-up. It was not only a beautiful apparatus for flying, but a great way to decompress our spine after long flights.
"The combination of yoga and the silk hammock was inevitable."
He has since developed the practice and now runs 17 classes a week from him Manhattan studio. AntiGravity yoga has now become so popular that new classes are popping up all over the US and Europe too.
"We've been working on developing the system for 10 years and it is still evolving," said Harrison.
To see if there is a class near you, visit www.antigravityyoga.com
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