5 Aerial Yoga Poses to Expand Your Chest While Strengthening Your Back
Hello Beautiful Curious Being!
Welcome to the Aviana Yoga Blog where you can discover your wings to soar to new heights of self-awareness, healing, and growth. In this article we will explore the gifts of utilizing the aerial yoga hammock to invite your heart to expand into the frequency of love and to feel nourished where you may have been under going some healing of emotional wounds.
As always, please note that while aerial yoga is more accessible than most think, there are contraindications that apply when it comes to the practice of inversions and other poses that involve being elevated from the ground or incorporating wraps with the fabric around the body.
The poses shared in this article are for the most part accessible, caution would apply if you currently have any back injuries or herniations or have had any back surgeries such as fusions, in addition these poses would not be accessible to those with progressed carpal tunnel, heart conditions, or vertigo. Please practice at your own risk and modify or omit poses where necessary, every body is different and this is an article created to support the general population, please consult your physician when needed to determine if a movement or pose is appropriate for you and listen to the feedback that your body gives you throughout a practice to discover your own inner voice that can be an ally of guidance for what is or isn’t appropriate for you.
The Aviana practices and poses shared can be accessed with either a single-point or a double-point hammock. Each of these hammock set-ups offer different pros and cons, which will be elaborated upon in another article. A single-point hammock simply means that you have a single-point of attachment to the ceiling or rigging apparatus, while a double-point hammock means that you have two points of attachment. In addition, the poses shared here are referencing a more traditional aerial yoga practice with the hammock set at the hip-height of the aerial yogi practicing.
Moving onto why you are here, your heart!
As we move into opening up our heart spaces, we will be inviting the circulation to increase into the upper body and an expansion of our energy, heart-openers generally lead to an influx of energy that can cause some restlessness if practiced in the evening hours, in order to ensure that you can receive a blissful night’s rest, it is advisable to practice heart-openers during the day so that the increased energy you experience can be channeled into the creation of your day through the illuminated love in your heart.
With Aviana aerial yoga practices, essential oils serve as a cornerstone of every class, retreat, or workshop experience. The Aviana practice includes aroma therapy to support engaging all the senses which will aid with the immersion into the present moment, while creating an imprint in the mind of a high vibrational experience to serve as a reference point of new growth andalignment with more positive experiences.This is another topic that will be unwrapped furtherin a different article. For the intention of supporting the opening of your heart, some of therecommended essential oils to include in your Aviana aerial yoga practicearelavender, rose,Idaho blue spruce, and cardamom. You may choose to incorporate one of these aromas or adifferent aroma of your choosing to help enhance your heart opening practice. As always, be a conscious consumer when selecting which oils to incorporate into your experience. Use caution when incorporating aromatherapy and be sure to investigate any potential contraindications that may apply to you and your health circumstances.
So you have your hammock set-up and you have selected your essential oil, let’s discover some poses to open your heart space!
Here are 5 aerial yoga poses that will support you in opening your heart:
1.Bucket Seat with Open Wings: An easily accessible pose to help bring awareness into the heart space and potential tightness or restrictions that may be felt when focusing the breath into this area.
a. Facing the fabric, hook your thumb at the base and fan the fabric out to release any folds from the hammock.
b. Then turn your back to the hammock, reach your hands behind you and gather up 5-6 handfuls of fabric.
c. Step back into the hammock and scoop your bottom up with the fabric, guiding the hammock into the back of your knee-creases.
d. Place your finger tips on the tops of each of your shoulders and draw the shoulders back and down into their ‘pockets,’ while drawing the elbows back so that they can expand open in the loose fabric behind your hips.
e. Once the shoulders are drawn back and down, turn the palms out to either side and press the arms into the letter ‘T’, the arms should open the loose fabric behind you creating a wingspan.
f. The lower body should be engaged with the inner thighs drawn together and the backs of the legs pressing down towards the floor. Find the lower body engagement while lifting tall through to the top of the head.
g. If there is any rounding in the back adjust the positioning of the pelvis so that the front of the pubic bone is pointing down towards the floor.
h. Breathe deeply into the expansion available through the ribcage with a focus into the heart space.
i. Keep the head and neck in a neutral and aligned position.
2. Seated Cat/Cow: An easily accessible dynamic movement that aids with the connection of breath to motion to bring mobility to the back body and improved circulation for the practice of opening the heart.
a. From seated inside of the hammock with your legs out the front and your arms out the back opening of the fabric, reach your hands high onto the back edges of the fabric.
b. Clasp the fabric high and lean back to let your hands take the weight of your torso.
c. As you inhale, scoop yourself forward, bending the elbows out to the sides as you lift through your chest and send the tailbone out behind you. This is cat pose from a seated position.
d. When you exhale, lean back and straighten the arms, rounding the back and bringing the chin towards your chest while sending the tailbone towards your knees. This is cow pose from a seated position.
e. Inhale and repeat the cycle forward to find space in the front of the spine and the chest, exhale to stretch through the back of the spine and the space behind the heart.
i. Keep the head and neck in a neutral and aligned position.
3. Crescent Lunge: An easily accessible pose that can be turned up for more of a challenge by including some gentle back bending with dynamic motion.
a. From standing with the hammock behind you, inhale the arms overhead and rotate the palms out to hook your four fingers onto the band of fabric with your thumbs to the front. Start to slide the arms out and bring the elbows over the top of the fabric
b. Press the hands forward on the bands to guide the band of fabric to press into the base of the shoulder blades on your back.
c. Step your right leg back behind you and adjust your left leg forward to set-up fora lunge position.
d. You will be on the ball of the right foot with the right leg extended. Your left knee should be stacked over your left ankle with your hips in alignment with one another. Guide the tailbone to point towards the floor as you engage through the pelvic floor and lower abdominals to lift into the naval center and stabilize the pelvis.
e. Slide the hands up the bands of the fabric so that you feel the fabric wrapping around the bottom of the shoulder blades, connecting to the backs of your arms and into your open palms gently pressing against the fabric.
f. You can add some dynamic movement to this posture for a deeper heart opener: exhale and slide the hands down the bands, while drawing the elbows down towards your hips, gently lengthening the chest up towards the ceiling and lifting your gaze for a back bend variation.
g. Inhale to slide the hands back up the bands and into your traditional crescent lunge position, exhale to slide down and lift bringing mobility into the upper torso.
4. Locus: A more challenging pose that requires the practitioner to be adjusted to the pressure of the fabric on the hip flexors through the hip creases, not recommended for those that are just starting their arial yoga practice.
a. From a down dog position with the hammock as a band around the base of the hip bones in the hip creases.
b. Reach one hand up to clasp the fabric with your four fingers to the outside of the fabric and your thumb to the inside with the thumb facing down. Draw the shoulder in and down on that side, then clasp the fabric the same way with the other hand and engage the shoulder.
c. Slide the hands up the fabric as far as is available to you.
d. Lengthen through the front of the spine and into the chest, letting the lifting of your gaze forward to be last, as an expression of the full extension through the front of the body.
e. Draw the legs together and engage the inner thighs, lift through the pelvic floor, and then lift the legs.
f. To release, lower the legs first to the mat and then release the hands to comeback into down dog.
5. Dhanurasana: An inversion asana and advanced posture that can be modified to meet the practitioner where they are at, please listen to your body and honor where you are at, this is a big backbend and will take some time to develop your practice in order to attain it in such as way that you activate the full engagement possible
a. Standing and facing the hammock, press your thumb down on to the outer edge of the fabric and fan the fabric out from side to side.
b. Reach your other hand through the tunnel of fabric and grab the edge that is furthest from you and draw it towards you inside of the tunnel of fabric to fold the fabric in half.
c. Turn around and hold onto the edges of the fabric and scoop your bottom inside to sit on top of the folded fabric.
d. Float through a few of the cat/cow motions as described above and then when you are leaning back on your 3rd to 5th cow position, slide your hands down the back of the fabric and relax your head and neck backwards, surrendering into the inversion. There is the option to stay here holding onto the back edges of the fabric and enjoying the heart opening received through this inversion.
e. To continue forward into the full expression of the pose, release one hand at a time and reach for your ankles.
f. If you are able to clasp onto your ankles, press your feet away to facilitate opening on your chest while allowing the shoulders to rotate inwards. At the same time as pressing the feet away, draw the toes down towards the floor engaging though the whole back body.
g .To release, let go of the feet and bring your hands to the back edges of the fabric, take your time coming out, breath by breath staying as relaxed and mindful as possible while sliding the hands up the fabric and drawing the chin to the chest to get the head above the heart, eventually making your way all the way upright
As you relax in a final resting pose of your choice, invite your intention to settle into your heart space. Notice all the energy flowing and moving around your heart. Breathe in the color green to illuminate your heart space and exhale out anything that surfaces that is ready to be released, even the tears that may want to be flushed out and cleansed from your system that you have no idea where they are surfacing from. You are safe, you are held in the sanctuary of your cocoon, give yourself permission to heal and give yourself permission to receive and expand, your heart is ready, you are ready.
Thank you for sharing your practice with me today!
Holly Johnson is the visionary behind Aviana and the author of “Soaring with the Soul: An Aerial Yoga Training Guide”. Since 2012, Holly has been leading the way in aerial yoga with her innovative Aviana style, which combines the art of aerial yoga with a mindful approach that honors traditional principles of yoga as the cornerstone of each practice. Her passion extends beyond instruction; she is committed to guiding aspiring aerial yoga instructors on their journey towards success in the industry. Holly also curates and leads transformative destination retreats to breathtaking and life-changing locations, offering an unparalleled experience that deepens the practice and enriches the soul.
