Порівняння
Gravity Stretching vs aerial yoga: not a hammock, not acrobatics
Пояснює засновник методу
A photo of a person hanging in a studio gets the same comment every time: oh, aerial yoga. We understand why. Both happen off the floor. But that is where the likeness ends. Aerial yoga is a fabric hammock and poses in it, often beautiful, often acrobatic. Gravity Stretching is individual lianas with handles for the hands and straps for the feet, and the only thing you do in them is let go. Nobody flips, nobody performs. The body hangs, gravity takes the weight, the spine gets its space back.
Both in one sentence
Gravity Stretching
Gravity Stretching is a stretching method in which you hang on individual soft lianas with handles for the hands and straps for the feet, the lianas carry your weight, and gravity gently lengthens the spine and opens the joints while you relax and breathe; there are no poses to perform and no acrobatics.
Aerial yoga
Aerial yoga is a form of yoga performed in a wide fabric hammock suspended from the ceiling, in which the cloth wraps and supports the body while you move through poses, inversions and flowing, sometimes acrobatic, sequences.
The differences, side by side
| У чому різниця | Gravity Stretching | Aerial yoga |
|---|---|---|
| What holds you | Individual lianas: handles for the hands, straps for the feet. Several points of contact, each one you choose | One wide fabric hammock that wraps the whole body |
| What you do in it | Hang and let go. The body lengthens on its own | Poses, inversions, flows, sometimes tricks and drops |
| Acrobatics | None. Nothing to perform, nothing to land | Often part of the class, and part of the fun |
| The goal | Take the weight off the spine, feel lighter, get mobility back | Strength, flexibility, play, the experience of flight |
| Effort | As little as possible. The first thing you learn is to do nothing | Real work: core, arms, balance in the cloth |
| Progression | Seven levels, five of them open to anyone at any age. You climb a level when the body is ready | By class level and by the poses you can do |
| Who you will see in class | People with a heavy back after the desk or the waves, from their twenties to their seventies | People who enjoy movement, flow and a bit of daring |
Who each one suits
Gravity Stretching is for you if
- you want the spine unloaded, not entertained: a heavy back after sitting, driving or surfing
- you would rather not be flipped over, and nothing here is forced, including that
- you are not flexible, not athletic, and do not plan to become either just to start
- you want to leave feeling lighter and taller, not worked
Aerial yoga is for you if
- you love movement, flow and the feeling of flying
- you want to build strength and body control in the air
- inversions and tricks sound like fun, not like a worry
- you enjoy a class that is also a performance, for yourself or for the camera
When it is better not to come to us
If you came for the flight, for poses in the cloth, for a drop that makes the whole room gasp, that is aerial yoga, and it does it beautifully. We do not do any of it. Here the most advanced thing that happens is that the body finally lets go, and from the outside it looks like nothing at all.
If you want a strength workout hanging in the air, again, that is theirs. Our method is built on release, and effort is exactly what we ask you to put down.
If your pain is sudden, sharp, or comes with numbness or weakness, see a qualified professional first, before any class in any studio. When the acute part has settled and you are cleared to move, come and hang. We start with the gentlest level.
Часті запитання
Is Gravity Stretching the same as aerial yoga?
No. Aerial yoga uses one wide fabric hammock and moves through poses and inversions in it. Gravity Stretching uses individual lianas with handles for the hands and straps for the feet, and you do not perform anything in them: you hang, gravity takes the weight, the spine gets space and pressure comes off. Same ceiling, different idea.
Do I have to hang upside down?
Not as a rule. Seven levels, five of them open to anyone, and nothing in them is forced. Nobody is turned over. You choose the level, the trainer stays beside you, and the body goes only where it is comfortable today. A full hang is one possibility for those who want it, not the entry ticket.
Is it acrobatics? I am not sporty at all.
It is the opposite of acrobatics. There is nothing to perform and nothing to land. People in their sixties and seventies hang next to surfers, and the ones who cannot touch their toes do just fine, because nobody here is asked to touch anything. The lianas hold, the body relaxes, that is the whole trick.
Why lianas with handles and not a hammock?
Because the point is to take the weight off the spine, not to wrap the body. With handles for the hands and straps for the feet you decide where you hold and how much you let go, and the spine hangs free between those points. In a hammock the cloth carries you as one piece, which is lovely for poses and not what we need for release.
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Це велнес-освіта, не медична допомога. Якщо біль сильний, раптовий або супроводжується онімінням чи слабкістю, спершу зверніться до профільного фахівця.