For about a year now, Aerial Silks Yoga has taken me to new psychological, physical and spiritual places. The silks offer the opportunity to surrender into a physical lightness akin to weightlessness. From there, the spine, the legs, the head, arms and joints can move in playful and unusual ways. I have experimented with backbends and headstands. By hitching the silks right under the hinge of the hips, then leaning forward into downward dog, I can then lift my legs off the floor, criss-cross them over my torso and look at the world upside down for a while. The shift in gravitational orientation and visual point of view are incredibly refreshing to my body and mind.

Shavasana takes on a whole new dimension lying inside the silks. They swaddle and hold you. They move gently with each inhalation and exhalation. They rock you tenderly. Occasionally at night before I drift off to sleep, I feel that rocking. Shavasana in the silks reminds me that I am held in love!

I provided a soundscape for one class last year.  Floating in a Silky Belly is a piece I created especially for Shavasana in the silks. The scale is C Phrygian with lots of accidental tone harmonics (black keys). Kay Gardner, a pioneer of harmonics and healing, in her course Music as Medicine, offers a template for aligning  harmonic tones with colors, chakras, emotions, etc. The tones in this piece form a container for feelings, appetites, insights and intuitions. They hold and move the energies of the belly and brow chakras. Here is one version of Floating in a Silky Belly.

Uplift Aerial Yoga Classes are offered at The Wellness Station with Lorraine Davis, Co-Director of TWS. Lorraine is a gentle, loving spirit with a deep awareness of spirit and body mechanics. Her classes mix strength and balance training with stretches and relaxation. She offers orientation classes periodically, and on-going classes on Monday and Friday afternoons. Contact Lorraine and see if Aerial UpLift Yoga is for you. It has been a total gift for me! Here is a link to their website: http://www.thewellnessstation.co

(UPDATE – This is no longer available in 2022. The facility is still open for body work, but no Silks.)