Acroyoga (also written Acro-YogaorAcro Yoga) is a physical practice that combines yoga and acrobatics.[1] Acroyoga includes many types of (mostly recreational) partner and group acrobatics in which at least someone is lifted. As such, it also draws on traditions of circus arts, cheerleading, and dance acro.
Acroyoga is more vigorous than many traditional forms of yoga as exercise and may lead to more injuries.[2]
There are three primary roles in an Acroyoga practice: base, flyer, and spotter.[3]
There are two main styles in an Acroyoga practice: L-basing and Standing.[4][5]
Learning Acroyoga requires strength training, flexibility training and technique training.[8] Strength training is accomplished through repetition of exercises like push-ups, hand walking and handstands. Flexibility training is best done at the end of a session with a partner. Learning good Acroyoga technique takes time and effort and is best learned with an expert teacher.[8] One important Acroyoga technique is called bone stacking. This involves the base partner keeping arms and legs straight to maximize the weight load on bones rather than muscles to support the flyer.[9] A typical acroyoga session may include:[10]
There are many static acroyoga poses.[12] A series of acroyoga poses that are repeated in a continuous flow is called a Washing Machine.[13]
A basic therapeutic poseisFolded Leaf in which one partner is inverted and supported on the vertical legs of the other partner whose hands are then free for back massage.[14]
Acroyoga's L-basing practice was pioneered by one of the founders of modern yoga as exercise, Krishnamacharya, in 1938, though without using acroyoga's terminology.[4]
There are many schools of Acroyoga. The original two schools were AcroYoga Montreal and AcroYoga Inc. AcroYoga Montreal was founded by Eugene Poku and Jessie Goldberg in 2003;[4] they had informally used the term AcroYoga since 1999.[15] Also in 2003, AcroYoga International was founded by Jason Nemer and Jenny Sauer-Klein in California.[16]
This practice blends acrobatics, yoga and healing arts, with the focus initially mainly on therapeutic flying and yoga. Nemer and Sauer-Klei were the first to codify Acroyoga practice in 2006. They trained and made practice manuals for the public, trained teachers and traveled the world sharing the practice. AcroYoga Inc. had by 2017 certified around a thousand Acroyoga teachers worldwide. The focus of the practice has shifted more to the Solar - acrobatic - part of Acroyoga.[4]
AcroYoga International Co-Founders Jason Nemer and Jenny Sauer-Klein began codifying the practice of AcroYoga in 2003.
