Twister meets Simon Says... Anti-Gravity Yoga

I love yoga. I've been practicing yoga for a few years now. And by "practicing" I mean mayyyybe once every two months I'll get together with a friend and go.

Inspired by a post written by Salty Mom I decided to drag my friend Allison along and give Anti-Gravity yoga a try.

The class was at Gravitas in Portland, a facility that I HIGHLY recommend.

The whole hour ride up there I was nervous and excited. I couldn't figure out if I should eat before? I didn't want to be full and upside-down. Should I drink before? I didn't want to be dehydrated, but I didn't want to have to pee. Oh life is so hard!

We were about 40 minutes early (oh the excitement!) and were greeted by our instructor. She was super friendly and even gave us a tour of the whole facility.  I instantly felt at home here, and you can't say that about all yoga studios. The space is bright, well lit, painted in rich colors, very feng-shui, comforting, spacious, and all around beautiful. They also have some sort of "wall" yoga, and Gyrokenesis. I'll have to try those too since I have no idea what either of those are.

After she checked us in, she let us play around in the room and get used to the swings.

Nope, not excited at all.

I was also afraid the class would be really big, and I'd be lost, but there were only 9 of us, and six of us were first timers.

Relief.

We were taking a beginning class called "foundation" and it wasn't intimidating at all. We started off with a few easy stretches and simple moves to get us used to the swings.

The whole "swinging" action had me nervous enough, but when our instructor asked if anyone had any issues with seasickness, so I immediately started to feel sick to my stomach. Yay hypochondria! I really didn't want to be "that girl" and ralph all over the yoga floor. Ewww. And even when you're not moving in the swings, you are MOVING. But once we did our first inversion (being upside down) that whole feeling went away and I had no problems. YAY!

The class was not as difficult as I expected.  She did a really great job of showing the class the moves first, then having us try it on our own. She also went around to each person and helped them into more difficult moves. The hardest part is honestly trusting the swing, and trusting that you won't fall out on your face.

One main thing that struck me, as that there aren't many poses with different modifications for different difficulty levels. Its pretty much go, or no. There was only one post that gave me much trouble, and mostly because I'm not super flexible, so I only stayed in it for about ten seconds.

It's definitely a foundations class but there were lots of very nice students in the class and I was surprised at the diversity of the students.  Young and old, equal amount of men and women, some were very fit and flexible and some were like me, not that fit or flexible and needed modifications.

 

"Vampire" was the only pose I really had trouble with.
Stupid shoulders.

 To be honest, there were definitely a few "hurt so good" poses. A few really dug into my hips, which as our instructor called it, were "giving me physical feedback".

Definitely felt this one the next day.
No blood left in my feet.

My friend Allison, the former dancer, dominating "Swan" pose.

 
But the next day it felt sore, like I worked them out, not sore, like they were bruised. It was the weirdest senation, but awesome!

I HIGHLY recommend giving Anti-Gravity Yoga a try! Even if you aren't a big yoga person, its different enough that I think you'd enjoy it. It as SO FUN and I'm pretty sure I'm an inch taller.  Plus, after class, she let us all take pictures, and helped us get back into the poses for photo ops.

We are definitely going back. And we're dragging as many friends along as we can.

xoxo,

McGriddle Pants