Acroyoga
Origin of Acroyoga
Mixture of Acrobatics and Yoga has existed for 1000 years. It is difficult to trace back the masters who explored Acroyoga. The master of modern yoga, Krishnamacharya was the pioneer in blending these arts. There is a footage from 1938 of Krishnamacharya flying children like we do in modern Acroyoga.
Acroyoga by Jason and Jenny
Jason and Jenny met each other in December 2003 in San Francisco through mutual yoga friends. Jason had trained in gymnastics and had competed in acrobatics and gymnastic for many years. Jenny used to teach youth circus acrobatics and had studied Contact Yoga, which is a partner flying and macro practice. In their first meeting they jammed and explored various sequences for many hours. After few hours of practice a partner practice that would blend their passions was born.
In January 2004, they started teaching partner doubles acrobatics class at San Francisco circus centre. They conducted their first public workshop at Yoga Tree in San Francisco on a valentines day. They sold it out and that inspired them to take the show to the roads on California.
Expansion of team
Their first dedicated student, Carolyn Cohen used to come to every class and bring a new friend each time. She was a Thai therapist and Chinese Medicine Doctor. Jason’s Roomate and friend, Francisco Morales- Bermudez was a yoga teacher and a Thai therapist as well. Jason and Jenny both invited Carolyn and Francisco to join their team which was then called Contact Acro.
All four of them, played jammed, and expanded the practice every where in San Francisco in the early days. In April 2006, Contact Acro was renamed as Acroyoga. During this transition, Jason and Jenny took a key role in developing this practice. Carolyn became their first senior teacher and Francisco started his own partner sequence under the brand Synergy where greater emphasis was on Circus asana and healing arts.
After 3 years of travelling and teaching, Jason and Jenny met many students who wanted to go deeper into their practice hence they started Acroyoga Teacher’s Training with 19 students in August 2006.
Definition of Acroyoga:
The word Acroyoga is derived from Greek word ‘Akros” meaning high and Sanskrit word, ‘yoga’ which means union. Thus Acroyoga means High Union. Acroyoga is to bring individuals into a state of union with themselves, with each other and with the community. Acroyoga is a combination of acrobatics with yoga.
Source: Elements of Acroyoga by Jason Nemer
Acroyoga by Yog Gokul Yoga Team at Koramangala, Bangalore