How I became an Aerial Yoga Teacher…I thought yoga was boring, crunchy granola, hippy weirdo shit. My attitude was “no thanks keep your chants and your mantras to yourself, I’ll do some more crunches.”
Who new at age of 33 years old that I would embark on a journey to become an aerial yoga teacher and end up as an ERYT-200, RYT-500 teacher trainer. My story is unique in the fact that I never took circus classes as a kid, and I quit gymnastic when I found out it was more than just jumping on the trampoline. I was not a super active kid or teenager, in fact I didn’t really commit to fitness until my late 20s. If you knew me before my teacher training, I was pretty shy, not one to enjoy public speaking let alone leading a class in physical activity. In fact, most of my childhood and adult life I had been a follower and people pleaser. A huge change happened call it a quarter life crisis or whatever, I decided to be leader in my own life, I quit doing the things others wanted me to do, and I did what I wanted to do. There were many factors that played into this decision and aerial yoga provided the space for personal growth and change.
I had caught the fitness bug and was addicted to working out, challenging my body, doing all of the trendy stuff, like crossfit, TRX, kickboxing, tough mudders, spin class, dance class etc. I actually wasn’t a fan of Yoga, I would have much rather done Pilates. I thought yoga was boring, crunchy granola, hippy weirdo shit. My attitude was “no thanks keep your chants and your mantras to yourself, I’ll do some more crunches.”
So how did aerial yoga hook me? I saw a picture one of my friend in an inversion wrap on facebook, and decided to try it. That simple. My first class was outside under a tree, which was beautiful. It was challenging, but fun and I never felt so good after a class, like a kid, it was play. I kept going back, two or three times a week. Since I was in a hammock relaxed, I followed the breath work, I listened to chanting, I was still. I didn’t even realize that I was meditating. I didn’t think that was something I was capable of as that wasn’t in my busy, ADD, brain’s vocabulary. My body started to change. The hammock allowed me to get deeper into stretches because of its support. It was also an ego boost as it made difficult ground poses more accessible and easier to hold. Not to mention at this time I pretty much was obsessed with P!nk and her aerial moves. So the pics I got of me hanging in a hammock were “badass.” I gained confidence it my postures and felt I knew the poses backwards and forwards. I was a regular in class and others would ask me how I make it look so easy. My teacher, Kerry Tice, encouraged me to do teacher training, it was his first round of it and convinced me this is the time to get in on this because aerial yoga is about to explode in the mainstream media. I was hesitant because I was like I can do the poses so well, I know every move, but could I tell someone else how to do it?