Courage is defined as: -
‘The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty’
Courage is what it takes to turn your world upside down and take that first ever inversion in the Aerial Swing. Trying anything new requires a certain amount of courage and as we approach a new year, we think about trying new things. Taking new action takes courage. Taking an action you didn’t think possible takes courage.
The Aerial Swing acts as a powerful tool to support inversions, while still activating the necessary muscles, proper alignment and bone stacking as well as grounding. This is truly freeing – physically, mentally and spiritually.
Letting yourself fall backward and hang takes people out of their comfort zone. This is a scary and daunting prospect into the unknown. Physically, hanging upside down may initially seem risky, but one can invert in the swing without putting pressure on the head or spine as in classic inversions. There is a softer alignment in an Aerial inversion.
Courage is required to hang down and strength to come up again. It is about losing your ground to find your centre. This can be a mind-body-spirit experience that builds courage because of the unfamiliar setting – liberating, as the body does something it has not experienced before.
Once the body has been to this place often enough and found that everything feels okay, it will feel more bold, playful and courageous. “Just let yourself fall backward.” pretty soon changes to ‘I just need to hang upside down!’”
‘Courage is the most important of all virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently’ – Maya Angelou
Please do not attempt your first inversion without having first received safe instruction and guidance from an experienced Aerial Yoga teacher