A blend of any of these elements: Partner Yoga, Acrobatics, Yoga Flow, Contact Dance and Thai Massage.

AcroYoga is also described as combining of acrobatic principles with a Yoga consciousness.

I stumbled over AcroYoga about 5 years ago, when I visited a friend's Yoga Studio in Seattle (YogiWay) and found myself in my first AcroYoga class. The the class was taught by Lux, one of the world's leading AcroYoga teachers (and definitely one of my all time favourite ones) who was just starting to spread his teachings on the West Coast that time.

Having practiced and taught Yoga for over 20 years, I was instantly intrigued by the new challenges of that modality. After twenty years of daily practice I found new meaning of the words "alignment, stacking, engaged core, and balance". I finally understood why we soften the toes, spread the weight equally in tadasana - only that way I can give stability and support to the person I lift up on my feet. And balancing that person safe on my feet taught me how to use my feet to better support my own weight when standing.

Only now I realized how many times I had cheated myself through poses, doing less than my best effort because of laziness or drifting off in daydreams. AcroYoga taught me to be present, every moment of the practice. Because if I am not, I am going to fall or drop someone. If I am not in perfect balance in myself and with my partner, I am going to fall or drop someone. Working with a partner reflects every moment instantaneously where you are at. Every contact becomes a perfect reflection, a mirror we can't escape. There is very little room for drifting off, very little space for pretending, very little time to be lazy in AcroYoga.

AcroYoga gave me a better understanding of the chakra system. Every Yoga session we start by establishing a safe ground to practice, exploring trust and letting go, realizing that spotting is as important part that doing the pose. Second chakra brings the creative bubbling life force to explore playfully, letting the creative process unfold. Third chakra teaches us that we can only proceed with a certain commitment, willpower and discipline to ourselves, our partner and our practice together. Fourth chakra brings us to our heart space, letting every single touch be one of pure, unconditional love. I quickly learned the challenges of communicating successfully with my partner during the practice, expressing effectively what you need from your partner without accusation (e.g. "you didn't put the hand where I needed it...") and blaming ("you dropped me and it hurt me..") or taking all blame ("I am so sorry - that was my fault") to something much for productive (maybe like "I didn't feel very balanced in this pose, why don't we try it this way next time...")

AcroYoga brought more depth, more body awareness, and more presence to my regular Yoga practice and is a continuous source of playful fun and exploration of every contact with my partner - and last but not least –is our most effective our regular couples therapy!

At the moment there are two AcroYoga school that offer certified teacher trainings:

AcroYoga Canada (Montreal, QC): www.acroyoga.com

AcroYoga USA (Berkley,CA): www.acroyoga.org

The term “AcroYoga” is a registered trademark. You are only allowed to call yourself an AcroYoga teacher when you are certified by one of the two mentioned schools.

Nicola and Pan are certified by AcroYoga Montreal, but also have taken many courses and classes with other teachers and found inspiration in all of them. They continue to practice with each other to find their individual style.

We believe that AcroYoga, such as any other style of Yoga, should be free to practice, free to be adapted to individual needs and free to share with who ever is interested to listen!