How To Do Aerial Yoga At Home

Rule #3: Never Attempt Things From The Internet That You Are Unfamiliar With

We have over 550 moves in our video library, but hopefully you’ve noticed, we don’t advertise our site as “Learn Aerial Online.” No one should be advertising that to the aerial community. It’s not safe.   You should always learn new things from someone who knows the move. Then they can tell you what wrong thing will happen if you hook this way instead of that way, etc. Then, use a resource like AerialDancing.com’s crazy library to review moves, or find new variations to moves that you are already familiar with.

Aerial Yoga Equipment: The Best Yoga Swings And Yoga Hammock For Home Use

DISCLOSURE: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, we receive a commission.

Ready to buy your very own aerial yoga hammock for use at home? You’ve come to the right place to read reviews about the best yoga swings and inversion tools currently on the market!

Aerial yoga, or anti-gravity yoga, is a relatively new form of yoga that involves a metal frame or rig on the ceiling supporting an aerial yoga hammock, or silk. Practitioners can use the hammock like a swing, gently bending forward or backwards, or engaging in more advanced yoga postures, much the way trapeze performers in the sky engage in acrobatic spinning maneuvers.

Some studios offer aerial yoga, but you can do aerial yoga at home if you’re motivated and have the right gear. The best yoga swings and aerial inversion tools are fairly easy to purchase and set up.

Where can you buy aerial yoga equipment? Yoga shops and sporting goods stores may have one or two swings available, but is the best place to find the biggest variety of options. Read on for our top recommendations for yoga swings and trapeze products!

Rule #4: Dont Do Drops Without A Trained Aerialist Spotting Your Wrap

The second rule–about not practicing along–is in case something happens, you have someone who can call 911 or somehow help you down. THIS rule is to prevent something from going wrong in the first place. Only another trained eye can spot what’s right/wrong in a wrap, so get with them when you are going over drops. Heck, I’ve wrapped wrong for drops I’ve done a 1,000 times. It happens. I was in an open gym, but no one was watching me, and I missed half a wrap. Thankfully the fabric caught me 10 feet later, but it wasn’t comfortable. It could have been prevented had someone been eye-spotting my wraps.

Everything You Need To Know About How To Perform Aerial Yoga At Home

Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=qYSqcjsN_kA

Performing aerial yoga at your home is easier than you think. There is an online influx of communities, forum, and tutorials that you can use for this purpose. These resources will assist you in creating your own relaxing space at home and develop a home practice. Developing a habit of home practice can strengthen your commitment towards Aerial yoga too.

For the purpose of creating a space for aerial yoga meditation won’t take much area in your home. Once you have created it, you will have your own aerial oasis within the comfort of your home. It will also allow you to go with the practice at your own schedule and pace comfortably. Now, how good is that!

Yoga Swing Installation How Do You Set Up Aerial Yoga Equipment

Disclaimer: Those wishing to participate in aerial yoga should read and follow all safety instructions for setting up their equipment, or hire a professional rigger to set up the rig for you. Yogauthority is not responsible for injuries that may occur during or after setup of a home aerial yoga hammock.

We cannot provide step-by-step instructions for yoga swing installation for liability reasons, but your aerial yoga hammock will come with details on how to install it. For additional guidance, the Gravotonics website has a great guide for installing a hammock, whether indoors or outdoors, and with ceiling hooks or beams.

RELATED READING: The Best Yoga Mats for Traveling in 2020

Other brands such as Seasofyoga, F. Life, Vertical Wise, and Yogatail also offer anti-gravity swings, so shop around for the aerial yoga hammock that best meets your needs in terms of durability, price, color, and comfort.

If anti-gravity yoga is too much for you, and you’re not interested in buying a trapeze or silks, check out our post on how to set up a basic yoga practice in your residence You can even do 4 person yoga poses together as a group!

Top 6 Aerial Yoga Swings And Hammocks Recommendations For 2021

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Aerial Yoga also called Anti-gravity yoga is a unique type of yoga founded in 2007 by Christopher Harrison. This special type of yoga incorporates traditional yoga postures with the addition of using silk hammocks or yoga swings. The benefits of aerial yoga include relieving compression on the spine, reducing stress, improving strength and flexibility. This practice is beginner-friendly, thus if you’re interested in trying this fun yoga style, check the following list of the top Aerial Yoga swings and hammocks for 2021, and choose the right equipment for you!

Aerial Hammock Conditioning Full Workout With Lydia Michelson

So what are you waiting for? Get upside-down!

Melina Gale is an Ashtanga Vinyasa trained yoga teacher from Chicago based in Greece. She trained with The Yoga People at All Yoga Thailand, and has furthered her studies in Swaha Aerial Yoga, and Prenatal Yoga. Melina’s teaching style is encouraging and lighthearted, her mission is to “help her students navigate their busy lives with the help of Yoga, all with a smile on their face”. For more information, check out her website and Facebook.

Aerial Rigging For Your Yoga Hammock What Are Your Options

When it comes to the options for installing aerial yoga rigging in your own home, you have lots of choices! Manufacturers have caught on to the popularity of aerial sports so there are lots of brands and types of equipment available. This section of the article will help you understand your options for using aerial hammock rigging at home so you can decide what will work best for you.

Differences Between A Hammock Aerial Yoga Swing And Frame

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There is a big difference between Aerial Yoga and Swing. First of all the swing was originally designed just as a product along with a users guide which one could use on their own to aid in certain stretches/strengthening exercises and inversions. Aerial Yoga is a whole yoga practice adapted to the use of the hammock, taught by certified yoga teachers. The fabrics are also completely different; Aerial yoga hammocks are made of a soft, slightly stretchy fabric which is at least 6 meters long and 2 meters wide.

The Swing has handles on it and is made out of parachute material which has no stretch and is much shorter, limiting the range of movements one is able to explore. You can not step on the swing or fully get into it as you can with the Aerial Hammock. 

The frame is a metal frame that you can buy and set up at your house to hang the Aerial hammock or swing from if you don’t want to hang it from the ceiling. There is also the handy doorway frame, that doesn’t need screws; it just wedges in your door frame!

You can get the aerial yoga swing and frame set on

Factors To Consider When Purchasing Aerial Yoga Hammocks

All of these yoga swings and hammocks look pretty similar. So how do you choose between them? Take into account these main differences:

Size of hammock. The most common size is 98 inches by 59 inches. Eight feet by five feet is generally enough to allow practitioners to perform all the usual aerial poses and exercises. Most hammocks come with extension straps in case you have high ceilings or want to hang it from a high tree branch. Some brands, such as Wellsem and Uplift Active, do produce much larger hammocks.

Weight capacity. These trapeze devices are designed to hold at least 200 pounds. The average hammock holds around 400-600 pounds. Some hold as much as 2000 pounds. Since it’s possible to have multiple people perform tandem poses together on the same swing, be sure to get a swing with sufficient load capacity.

Materials. Most inversion swings are made of parachute material, typically nylon or silk blends. There isn’t a huge amount of variance when it comes to materials, but a handful of brands may use different materials, so check the fine print of the hammock you’re considering.

Color. This one obviously isn’t as important as the others, but if two hammocks are pretty much exactly the same except for the number of colors offered, it makes sense to go with the hue that most appeals to you.

How High Off The Ground Should An Aerial Yoga Hammock Be

This is a key question, as you don’t want to be banging your head on the ground during inversions! Basically, keep the hammock high enough to keep your head off the ground, and low enough that you can bend over in a forward fold position. If your hammock has adjustable handles or daisy chains, changing the height should be a simple task.

The Best Yoga Swing: Upcircleseven Swing Inversion Tool

Right now the king of the aerial yoga marketplace is the company known as UpCircleSeven. has been around for more than four years, and it’s currently one of the best-selling items of its kind.

The parachute and rope material are sturdy, so they will give you plenty of support for poses like Banana Man once you find the right door frame or rafter to attach it to. In fact, its stated load capacity is 550 pounds, which is far more than anyone will need.

One great plus with the UpCircleSeven is that its handles are larger and have more padded foam than those from some other companies. This increases the comfort level and makes it a solid choice for newcomers. This one comes with two extension straps and a printed guide for people who may be getting into anti-gravity yoga for the first time.

The UpCircleSeven swing price is about average compared with other anti-gravity yoga swings available for sale. You don’t want to pinch pennies when it comes to a device like this that requires stability and quality construction!

How To Set Up Your Aerial Yoga Hammock & Training Space

A quick guide on how to set up your aerial hammock. Please see video below for a guideline on how to attach fabric to hardware.

How to prepare your space to use your hammock safely:

Ensure you have an optimal 2-3 metres clearance available in ceiling height , and at least 1.5 metres on all sides of you to avoid collisions.

Ensure your rigging point is inspected by a rigger or builder to ensure it is suitable for load bearing associated with aerials. Ensure a rigger or builder installs a suitably rated eyebolt or system.

When setting up your hammock, you will need to rig it to your height and your preferences. This can be a little fiddly – so allow some time to get used to the process. When hung up to your rigging point, stand in front of your hammock. The base of your hammock should sit approximately at waist height when hung naturally. Use both hands to hold the base of the hammock and pull down securely. Your hammock should now sit at hip height. This is important to ensure if you choose to go upside down, you’ll remain above the floor. If your hammock is too low, either adjust your daisy chains, or you may need to make your hammock a little shorter by re-rigging onto your carabiners with a little excess fabric on the ends. The height and rigging is completely adjustable to your location and space and preferences.

Always ensure your hammock is square in the width – if it is not square, it can affect stretch.

What Type Of Aerial Yoga Hammock Is Best For My Child

Aerial hammocks are available in single or double point.  Preference is typically individualized as each type of hammock has it’s advantages.

At Mindful Child, we have specially designed our Mindful Child hammocks to move easily from a single point to a double point depending on what poses we are doing. This way we can have the best of both worlds!

Single Point Hammock. The single point allows for lots of spinning and hours of fun and is better suited for children who like fluid movement and spinning.

Double Point Hammock. The double point allows for more stability.  There is a gentle rocking motion, but you do not spin.  The double point is easier to swing in and sway side-to-side.

Swivel. Rotational devices or Swivels are not necessary for Aerial Yoga Hammocks, but they do allow an additional spinning component to single point hammock use.  Swivels also decrease the force placed on the attachment point.

Mindful Child Aerial Yoga uses swivels, while performing single point poses, to allow versatility with hammock use, full movement in all planes, decreased twisting of hammock straps, smoothness with movement and extra fun!   Most kids love how the swivel adds a sense of flow to movement in the hammock and allows a spinning component, but some kids and adults can be overwhelmed by spinning, which can lead to nausea.

What Studios In The Usa And Canada Offer Aerial Yoga

What if you want to try out aerial yoga before buying the rigging and hammocks to set up a yoga swing in your own home? A growing number of studios across North America and the world are offering yoga suspension classes and even aerial yoga teacher training.

This is a small sampling of the studios that currently offer some variation of hanging yoga trapeze practice in their studios.

Canada:•The Flying Yogi, Toronto •Soul Spin Studio, Calgary •Tantra Fitness, Vancouver area •Fly Studios, Saskatoon

United States:•D&A Flying Yoga, Los Angeles •Kinship Yoga, Los Angeles •Air Aerial Fitness, Chicago, Denver, and other locations nationwide •Defy Gravity Yoga, South Florida •In Balance Yoga, Blacksburg VA •Gotta Yoga Studio, North Carolina

Any of these studios would be a good place to experience the practice if you’re not yet ready for aerial yoga at home.

Common Mistakes To Avoid When Practicing Aerial Yoga

Kaisa KapanenTeacher and Entrepreneur

Sensitive introvert entrepreneur, writer, scuba diver, wellness enthusiast and Yin yoga lover . View more

If you want to learn a new perspective and take your yoga practice to a whole new level, Aerial yoga is a must-try. Aerial yoga, also called anti-gravity yoga, makes you feel weightless. It allows you to say bye-bye to gravity and all those delicious inversions will come much easier.

Aerial yoga is beneficial for the spine as it decompresses and re-aligns the spine when inverted, and the adjusted poses with the hammock release muscle tension. And let’s not forget—the precious Savasana cocoon at the end of a class!

If you are new to aerial yoga, here’s a list of common mistakes to avoid when enjoying your next flying yoga class.

The 5 Rules For Having An Aerial Rig In Your House

For the first time in 8 years, I have a rig in my house. We just moved back to Colorado, and I picked out our house based on the fact that it had a living room with 17-foot-tall ceilings. As soon as I saw that, I was sold.

Even though I knew I was destined to rig in my house , I didn’t quite know how I was going to accomplish this goal. I have three portable rigs, but they are all like swing sets and require an exorbitant amount of space in their footprint, so I couldn’t exactly put them up even if I was desperate enough to want to try.

I have several friends who have rigs points mounted in their houses that look seamless and that’s what I originally wanted. I was so that 5 year old all over again “But this is what Sally has in HER house.” We had a general contractor around doing some work on our house , so he was the first person I asked to see if he could help me do it. He said that he would do it if I found a structural engineer to create plans so that way he could guarantee that it would hold the required loads. Well…as you know, aerial rigging loads are high as they need to be to be safe, and that’s not an easy thing to do with what’s in your house. Bottom line: It’s typically not safe to rig into the structure of your house. It’s not designed to handle those loads unless built from the ground up to do that or reinforced with the stamp of an engineer to handle required loading.

So I knew I had to find another option….

Thinking I Got This Can Have Serious Repercussions

Training in the aerial arts is risky in itself, but it can have incredibly serious and heavy consequences if you mess it up. You might be under the impression that just because you have what you think is enough strength, and you think you know what you’re doing, you will be fine without supervision, but remember that all it takes is one small misstep or missed grip to hurt yourself. In a miraculous situation you will leave unscarred, but in most cases you will end up slipping or falling, pulling or tearing a muscle or ligament, land on your head, or, heaven forbid, break your neck.

What You Really Need For Doing Aerial Yoga At Home

This practice requires a special commitment from you to really extract a number of benefits from it. IF you want to enjoy the maximum mental and physical effects from it, you’ll have to give it some time of your daily routine.

And we all know that a little effort on a daily basis will go a long way in the future. You must believe in this process for living the best version of yourself. But practicing at home is no walk in the park; it’s pretty challenging. However, the yoga hammock will be a pretty amazing tool for relaxation, motivation and helping you out with those difficult postures.

This will be extremely beneficial for you particularly in the earlier stages of your practice. You need to keep putting up the good work on a regular basis with open mood and high motivation. Furthermore, you will feel really good about yourself when you see your hanging hammock and dedicated space.

You don’t have to put in hours in the beginning, but make sure that you give a few minutes of your daily routine to this practice to be more motivated and active towards your new activity. And the best part is that you don’t have to be on time for your daily schedule as well. Just take out ten minutes any time of the day and go to your yoga room and start doing your yoga. Just make sure that you have the right set of equipment at your home for this aerial yoga and everything will be just fine.

Use Concrete Ceiling Or Wooden Joists Yoga Hammock

This method is consider to be the most stable and permanent place to hang your Swing. With the help of ceiling hooks, you can get yours done too. You can easily purchase ceiling hooks from a hardware store or the home furnishing stores for sure. 

WOOD BEAM: All you need is a wrench, power drill, two ceiling hooks, and the wood screws that come with it. The screws have a bolt head so you can tightly crank them deep into your wood mount.

• Position your ceiling hooks 70 cm apart from each other and press them against the wood.
• With a pencil, color in the circle where your screws will go in exactly.
• Now take the power drill and make pilot holes for the wood screws. Make sure they are not too big or too small since the entire bolt needs to fit in.
• Later slide the bolt inside them, tighten them and expand them.
• The next step is to take the wrench, screw the plate to the ceiling tight and strong with two bolts per plate.
• Follow the same instructions above for using the ropes to hang your rig.

 Yes, we agree, mounting the yoga hammock swing set on the ceiling is a little complicated and surely involves a bit of a technicality. If you feel this is not for you, you can always call a professional while hanging a yoga hammock to a ceiling using ceiling hooks.

CONCRETE: All you need is a wrench, a power drill, two ceiling hooks and do not forget the expanding concrete bolts that come with it.

Use Existing Exposed Beams To Set Up Yoga Hammock

The first and most important thing to do here is to look around the house and nearby arena if you find a beam anywhere. If you are lucky enough to have an exposed beam somewhere in your home, then it is simply perfect. Within no time you’ll be set up and hanging upside down. Make sure to select a safe spot having at least 1-meter distance in all directions in order to move freely. This is the minimum amount of space required but remember more would be ideal.

• Drape your ropes or straps over the pole or beam you’re using to hang the Swing from. The two ends of each rope will hang down on either side.
• Now carefully use your fingers to pull back the fabric on the carabiner clips of the main sling.
• The next thing you do is clip through both the looped end of the rope as well as through the knotted end of the rope. If wrapping the straps over a beam thread one end of the straps through the loop on the other end. Pull tight
• Now repeat the same with the carabiner clips on the handle sets. Clip one handle set to each side.
• Place a cloth over the beam where the rope drops over and down to the floor.
• Try and test the strength of the hammock if necessary and this would also give you the confidence of the work being done rightly.

Yes, just these four simple steps and the job done. Simple, right?

What Kind Of Poses Can You Do On An Aerial Swing

Any kinds of inversion exercises are ideal on these swings. For instance, aerial yoga is a great way to learn handstands, since you can invert with no extra weight on your head or arms. The hammocks can also be used for many regular yoga postures, such as sun salutations, warrior pose, Superman pose, and pigeon pose. For a really cool experience, try inverted pigeon pose, where you’re literally hanging upside down!

We’ve got an entire article with photos and explanations of some of the best poses you can perform with hammocks.

Like Other Yoga Styles Aerial Yoga Is Not A Cure

It’s important to note that some sources may say that aerial yoga will combat aging by permanently and continually improving overall circulation. While these benefits may materialize for a few hours after class, your overall circulation will not be improved over and above any other what any other kind of exercise would offer you.

However, the short-term benefits are incentive enough! And if the health pluses weren’t enough…it’s also simply a really fun way to work out.

Because you’re essentially floating above the floor, you get more full-body engagement, and especially core work, as your body keeps itself steady and works against gravity to transition between poses—this makes aerial yoga a great body weight cross-training exercise that improves flexibility, strength, and stamina.

In addition to improving your balance in daily life and asana practice, the support and suspension that you receive in aerial yoga can also uniquely aid in digestive issues, stretching and relaxing your abdomen and providing relief for any symptoms of irritable bowels.

Aerial yoga is a great way to mix up your usual yoga routine, and push your body to go deeper and be stronger in poses you’re familiar with from mat yoga. Have you tried it? Let me know how you liked it down in the comments below!