You’ve heard of yoga, maybe you’ve heard of children’s yoga … but have you heard of kids aerial yoga? Local youngsters can try this gravity-defying practice at FlyDog yoga, which offers classes and summer camps for little kids (ages 4-8) and big kids (ages 8-12). In the aerial studio, 10 silk hammocks securely attached to the ceiling allow children to move, jump, play, and do things in the air that they wouldn’t otherwise get to do, says FlyDog owner Eliza Whiteman. “Kids are sort of missing that aspect of play in their lives now, with their schedules and activities being so structured. Aerial is an opportunity to play!”
During an aerial class, a trained instructor leads everyone through safe entry and exit from the hammock, demonstrating yoga postures on and off the ground. “There are safe boundaries,” Whiteman says. “The instructor demos how to do things, and then lets the kids play some.”
Some benefits to this high-flying playtime? “The kids learn about their bodies: proprioception, body awareness, and strength-building,” she says. “We mix in some more grounding yoga postures, too, so kids start to understand being in their body, getting out of their thinking brain.”