Total Gym AcroYoga Fitness Challenge – Part 2:
Return of the Monkeys
Calling all monkeys… it’s time to play around with more Acro Play fun!
If you read my previous blog on AcroYoga, you should have a better understanding of what it is, the benefits of doing it, and a basic understanding of how it’s a healing yet playful art form anyone can learn!
For the Love of Acro!
I’ve had the pleasure of being introduced to AcroYoga in Miami years ago I learned basic Acro movement skills with the assistance of a partner and the resistance of gravity to perform unique strength and flexibility skills. It was enough to inspire me to practice, play, and learn more! Eventually, I moved from Miami to New Orleans where I was able to expand my AcroYoga world into a community of monkeys who I was able to practice and “play” with daily. Lucky ME!
Quickly I became addicted to AcroYoga and Acro strength components! I can’t seem to get enough! To me, Acro is an art form that allows creativity, fluid movement, strength, balance, coordination, and trust to come alive within you. It’s a way of ‘playing’ with another person based on gymnastics and acrobatics that are derived from yoga poses.
There are so many skill sets to learn, master, and create that you could continuously practice for years and never run out of new tricks to learn! Acro teaches you to trust yourself and others, to feel balance and use counterbalance by dynamically changing body positions in coordination with your partner. This is the beauty of Acro play! Once you learn and master the basics, the possibilities are endless and become addictive to those who seek a beautifully challenging skill.
Fearless & Courageous Mindset
As with any new skill, start learning the basic techniques before progressing to more advanced movements. As you master new techniques and abilities, the skills grow and allow you to achieve more amazing things! Your confidence and skills expand allowing you to connect different movements together to create a flow of art. From continual practice, you will be amazing at how much inner strength and power you contain!
Training in a gym or at home is great and has its purpose, but if you have another person and some open space… why not ‘play’ with some AcroYoga movements? Both the base and the flyer will develop strength, flexibility, coordination, and gain all the benefits of functional core power! In Acro, the goal is fun, the by-product is fitness and getting in great shape.
Paring of partners doesn’t necessarily matter on size difference. Yes, it’s easier if the base is larger and the flyer is smaller. However, a smaller person can still gain skills to be the base for someone of different size/weight. If you learn and understand proper technique, then you can overcome weight differences by stacking the weight properly. Trust me, you can do some pretty amazing things by just trying!
Extra Benefits of AcroYoga
- Humor & laughter
- Fearless of the outcome
- Trust in yourself & your partner
- Closeness & comfortable with others
- Romantic & intimate (can be!)
- Development of unity and community
- Practice in public for others to watch & admire
- Reminds people of the possibilities that can be accomplished!
AcroYoga is a practiced art that is something you can truly embrace through an understanding and appreciation of yoga. AcroYoga skills deepen through practice, and confidence is developed over time with your inner drive to succeed. It’s something you can add into any program for exercise or fun. It can also change the way you view ‘a practice or skill’.
The AcroYoga Strength Workout:
Floor based, Partner work, & Total Gym
Acro play requires a base development of strength, flexibility, and inner core power. I have created a fun set of exercises that can prepare your body’s strength and flexibility in the Acro world!
These exercises utilize functional bodyweight strength on the floor, strength and trust with a partner, and core strength and balance on your Total Gym.
Give it a try! You will surprise yourself how strong you can become!
Perform these exercises at your leisure and at your own pace to master the technique, develop strength, and flexibility within your body along with your partner.
Check out the video to see these exercises performed by yourself, with a partner, and on your Total Gym!
***These exercises are not for beginners.***
Please be advised when trying these exercises on your own. Be sure a solid foundation of strength is developed prior to beginning these exercises on your own.
Passions in Life…
The vitality of living well should be focused on doing something you love to do! It’s a way to express yourself in a vital way in your life. It’s a way of coming alive within your soul.
So you think you might want to monkey around? Ok! … grab a friend, your significant other, a sibling or your child, to learn, play, and develop your inner strength! Check out local ‘Acro Jams’ or classes in your area to learn the basic techniques and skills to really play.
Watch out …. You might just get the AcroYoga bug too!
Best of Love, Luck, Flight & Insight always!
Maria
http://www.groovysweatstore.com (purchasable workout videos)
http://www.youtube.com/groovysweat (workout clips)
