At first glance, Aerial Yoga can look like yoga lifted away from the floor. A fabric hammock hangs from above while practitioners lean into it, place parts of the body inside it and, in some classes, move completely away from the ground.
Yet the hammock can do much more than create dramatic suspended shapes.
Depending on how someone uses it, the fabric can support part of the body’s weight, change the experience of balance, provide feedback during familiar postures or create entirely different possibilities for movement. Some practices remain closely connected with yoga, while others move considerably closer to aerial fitness or acrobatics.
This variety makes Aerial Yoga difficult to understand from photographs alone.
So what exactly is it? Where did it come from? Who developed it? Why use a hammock at all? And what should someone know before stepping — or climbing — into one?
What Is Aerial Yoga?
Aerial Yoga is a contemporary form of practice that uses a suspended fabric hammock as a movement and support tool.
Specialist rigging normally secures the hammock to purpose-designed overhead attachment points. Depending on the posture, a practitioner may keep both feet on the floor, place only part of the body into the fabric or become fully suspended.
This creates a wide spectrum of possibilities.
In one class, the hammock may function much like a yoga prop, supporting a posture, changing weight distribution or helping someone explore a familiar movement differently. Another class may include dynamic transitions, strength work, inversions or more recognisably aerial movements. A gentler session might use the fabric close to the floor for supported positions and rest.
Consequently, the label Aerial Yoga does not guarantee one standardised experience.
The apparatus may be similar, but the purpose and teaching method can differ considerably.
Where Did Aerial Yoga Come From?
Aerial Yoga is a modern development rather than an ancient branch of yoga historically practised in fabric hammocks.
Its emergence belongs primarily to the late twentieth and early twenty-first-century meeting of yoga, dance, aerial arts, gymnastics, fitness and experimentation with suspension.
However, earlier forms of modern postural yoga also used suspension and external support.
B.K.S. Iyengar became particularly associated with extensive use of props, including ropes attached to walls, to support and investigate āsana. Rope work in Iyengar Yoga is not the same as contemporary hammock-based Aerial Yoga. Nevertheless, it demonstrates an important principle: supporting or suspending the body can change how someone experiences and explores a posture.
Modern Aerial Yoga developed this idea through a different apparatus while also drawing influence from aerial performance and other movement disciplines.
Who Invented Aerial Yoga?
There is no simple answer because several distinct systems contributed to what people now broadly call Aerial Yoga.
Michelle Dortignac, a yoga teacher, dancer and aerial performer, developed what became Unnata® Aerial Yoga in New York during the mid-2000s. The first public Unnata classes took place in 2006.
Dortignac’s approach uses the hammock as a prop through which practitioners can investigate yoga both on and away from the floor. She has also discussed B.K.S. Iyengar’s use of ropes and other props as an influence on her thinking.
Another influential development came through Christopher Harrison, an aerial performer, choreographer and former gymnast. His AntiGravity® system grew from aerial performance and suspension-based movement and later incorporated programmes drawing on yoga, fitness and Pilates.
Other teachers and organisations subsequently developed their own hammock-based approaches.
For this reason, attributing the invention of all Aerial Yoga to one person would oversimplify its development.
It is more accurate to understand contemporary Aerial Yoga as a family of modern practices shaped by several intersecting movement traditions.
What Is an Aerial Yoga Hammock?
The most obvious difference between Aerial Yoga and a conventional mat-based class is the apparatus itself.
An aerial hammock consists of strong fabric connected to secure overhead attachment points through specialist rigging components.
Rather than providing the stable, flat surface of a yoga mat, the fabric forms a suspended loop that can receive and redistribute some of the practitioner’s weight.
That distinction changes movement considerably.
The hammock may support the pelvis, legs, arms or torso. A practitioner can pull against it, press into it, balance with it or allow the fabric to carry more of the body’s weight.
As a result, the hammock is not merely decorative equipment added to familiar yoga poses.
It changes the physical environment in which movement takes place.
Why Practise Aerial Yoga with a Hammock?
There is no single reason.
For some practitioners, the hammock provides support. For others, it introduces challenge, novelty or a different way of understanding movement.
A posture that feels demanding on the floor may become more approachable when the fabric receives some of the body’s weight. Conversely, a familiar standing position may require greater attention when part of the body interacts with a moving support.
The hammock can also provide tactile information. Contact with the fabric may make weight distribution, direction and movement particularly noticeable.
At other times, suspension creates possibilities that are difficult to reproduce on a mat, including particular hanging positions and transitions.
However, these possibilities should not automatically be considered superior to floor-based yoga.
The hammock changes the conditions of practice. Whether that change proves useful depends on the person, the purpose of the session and how the teacher uses the apparatus.
Does Aerial Yoga Always Mean Being Completely Off the Floor?
No.
This is one of the most common misconceptions created by images of Aerial Yoga.
Many aerial positions maintain substantial contact with the ground. Someone might stand while holding the hammock, place the pelvis into the fabric while keeping both feet down or use the hammock to support only one part of the body.
Other movements involve partial suspension, while some take the body completely away from the floor.
Teachers may also adjust the height of the apparatus according to the method and intended practice.
Aerial Yoga therefore exists across a continuum rather than simply dividing movement into on the floor and in the air.
What Happens in an Aerial Yoga Class?
There is no universal class sequence.
A session may begin by helping participants become familiar with the hammock while maintaining contact with the floor. The teacher might introduce ways of holding, leaning into or sitting within the fabric before progressing towards movements that require greater weight transfer.
Depending on the approach, the practice might then incorporate standing postures, balances, supported stretches, strength work, inversions, flowing transitions or periods of stillness.
Some classes conclude with participants resting inside the hammock. Others maintain a much more athletic or aerial emphasis throughout.
This variation makes the description of a class particularly important.
A beginner-friendly, yoga-oriented hammock class and an aerial fitness class may use similar equipment while asking very different things of the practitioner.
What Does an Inversion Mean in Aerial Yoga?
Inversions are among the most recognisable images associated with Aerial Yoga.
With the hammock supporting part of the body, a practitioner may move into a position where the pelvis and legs travel above the head while the fabric carries some of the weight.
This differs mechanically from an inversion in which the hands, forearms, head or shoulders support the body against the floor.
However, additional support does not automatically make an inversion appropriate for everyone.
Moving upside down changes orientation and can create unfamiliar sensations. Some people may experience pressure from the fabric, disorientation, apprehension or dizziness.
For that reason, inversions are better understood as one possible component of Aerial Yoga rather than the defining achievement of the practice.
You do not need to hang upside down for a hammock to have a meaningful role in movement practice.
Is Aerial Yoga the Same as Aerial Silks?
No, although the practices can overlap and share influences.
Aerial silks is an aerial arts discipline in which performers use lengths of fabric for climbing, wrapping, suspension, drops and acrobatic shapes.
Aerial Yoga generally uses a hammock configuration and incorporates elements associated with yoga practice. Depending on the method, these may include āsana, breathing, attention or periods of rest.
Nevertheless, some Aerial Yoga classes contain substantial aerial or fitness content. Teachers may also come from backgrounds in yoga, circus arts, dance, gymnastics, Pilates or combinations of these disciplines.
The boundary is therefore not always visually obvious.
A more useful question is not simply Is there fabric hanging from the ceiling? but what is the fabric being used to teach?
Is Aerial Yoga Still Yoga?
This depends partly on what somebody means by yoga.
If yoga is defined only through particular postures, adding a hammock can appear to create little more than a variation of āsana.
Yet yoga has never consisted of posture alone.
A hammock-based practice may incorporate attention, breathing, ethical considerations, meditation and other elements of yoga. Alternatively, a session may primarily pursue fitness, performance or acrobatic goals while borrowing the language and appearance of yoga.
The apparatus cannot answer the question by itself.
As with many modern forms of yoga, the distinction lies partly in intention, content, teaching and context.
A hammock can form part of a yoga practice. Its presence does not automatically turn every suspended movement into yoga.
Who Can Practise Aerial Yoga?
Aerial Yoga is sometimes presented as exceptionally accessible. At other times, images make it appear suitable only for adventurous and highly flexible practitioners. Neither description captures the full picture.
The hammock can provide substantial support, and a teacher can adapt how much weight it carries, how high it sits and how someone approaches a movement.
At the same time, suspension introduces its own demands.
Grip, balance, spatial orientation, pressure from the fabric and transitions into or out of the hammock can all affect the experience. Some people enjoy these sensations immediately; others may need considerably more time or may prefer another form of practice.
Previous yoga experience does not automatically predict how someone will respond to aerial movement.
Likewise, being unable or unwilling to perform complex suspended positions does not make somebody unsuccessful at Aerial Yoga.
Adaptation is part of the method, not evidence of an inferior practice.
When Might Aerial Yoga Need to Be Modified or Avoided?
Not every aerial technique suits every person or circumstance.
This becomes particularly important with inversions, substantial suspension, rapid changes of orientation or positions where the fabric creates concentrated pressure against the body.
Individual circumstances may affect what is appropriate. Relevant considerations can include health history, pregnancy, recent surgery or injury, difficulties with balance or dizziness, and other factors that influence safe participation.
Rather than relying on a generic internet list of contraindications, practitioners should communicate relevant information to an appropriately trained teacher. Where individual circumstances require clinical advice, a qualified healthcare professional can help determine whether particular activities are appropriate.
A responsible class should also allow participants to remain grounded, modify a movement or decline an inversion without pressure to progress.
Novelty is not a reason to override individual judgement.
What About Aerial Yoga Safety and Rigging?
Conventional mat-based yoga begins with a stable floor. Aerial practice introduces another safety-critical system: the apparatus and everything supporting it.
The hammock itself represents only one component.
Attachment points, structural supports, connectors, fabric, installation, inspection and the surrounding space all matter. Equipment also experiences wear, so appropriate inspection and maintenance form part of responsible practice.
For this reason, an improvised overhead attachment that merely appears strong enough is not equivalent to purpose-designed professional rigging.
Teaching competence matters as well. An instructor needs to understand the movements, the apparatus, appropriate progression and transitions. They also need to know how to respond when somebody becomes uncertain or cannot safely complete a movement.
In Aerial Yoga, safety begins before anyone enters the hammock.
What Should You Wear to Aerial Yoga?
Practical clothing can make a noticeable difference.
Close-fitting garments usually interact with the fabric more predictably than very loose clothing. Covering areas where the hammock commonly creates pressure or friction may also improve comfort.
Studded clothing, exposed zips, jewellery and other sharp objects are normally avoided because they can catch on or damage aerial fabric.
Individual studios may have additional requirements, so their guidance should take priority.
The aim is not to create a particular aerial aesthetic. Appropriate clothing simply allows the practitioner and equipment to move without unnecessary interference.
What Are the Benefits of Aerial Yoga?
Aerial Yoga is associated with many claims, ranging from improved flexibility and strength to spinal decompression, circulation, stress reduction and other health effects.
Such claims require proportion.
Moving against body weight and interacting with the resistance or instability of the hammock can create physical demands. Different positions may also provide opportunities to explore mobility, balance, coordination and strength.
Some practitioners find supported suspension comfortable or enjoyable. Others value the novelty and attentional demands of moving differently.
However, individual experience should not automatically become a medical claim.
Research specifically examining Aerial Yoga remains much smaller than the evidence base for physical activity more generally. We can therefore discuss the practice in terms of its movement possibilities without promising that hanging in a hammock will treat pain, correct the spine, regulate the nervous system or produce particular physiological outcomes.
A plausible movement experience and a demonstrated clinical effect are not the same thing.
Why Has Aerial Yoga Become Popular?
Part of its appeal is immediately understandable: suspension changes our ordinary relationship with gravity.
Movements feel different. Familiar postures can become unfamiliar. Meanwhile, the hammock creates possibilities for support, play and exploration that a mat cannot reproduce in quite the same way.
Its visual character has also contributed to the prominence of Aerial Yoga within contemporary wellness culture and social media.
Yet its most photographed expressions are not necessarily its most representative ones.
A dramatic inversion may attract attention, but Aerial Yoga can also involve small movements, substantial floor contact, supported stillness and careful investigation of familiar postures.
As with yoga more broadly, what photographs most dramatically does not necessarily tell us what matters most within the practice.
A Common Misunderstanding: The Hammock Does Not Make a Posture Better
Aerial Yoga can make familiar movements feel strikingly different.
That difference can easily become confused with improvement.
A deeper-looking stretch is not automatically a better stretch. A fully suspended posture is not necessarily more advanced than one performed with a foot on the floor. Likewise, an inversion does not demonstrate a deeper understanding of yoga.
The hammock is a tool.
Like a block, bolster, strap, wall or chair, its value depends on what it helps someone explore.
Sometimes that may involve support. At another moment, the hammock may deliberately make a movement more challenging. Elsewhere, the most appropriate choice may be not to use it at all.
The prop should serve the practice rather than become the purpose of the practice.
An Orenna Perspective: Support Can Change the Question
We often think of support as something that makes a practice easier.
Yet support can do something more interesting: it can change what we notice.
A block alters distance. A wall changes orientation. A bolster changes how the body receives weight. In Aerial Yoga, the hammock changes our relationship with support, movement and gravity.
That does not automatically make the resulting experience deeper or more effective. Instead, it creates another set of conditions in which to pay attention.
Sometimes the fabric carries us. At other times, we have to organise ourselves around it. A familiar movement may also feel entirely different when the ground is no longer our only reference point.
Perhaps this is the more useful way to understand the hammock: not as a device for performing extraordinary shapes, but as another means of inquiry.
Changing the support can change the experience without changing the purpose of practice.
References & Further Reading
Dortignac, Michelle — Unnata® Yoga. Dortignac’s account of the development of Unnata Aerial Yoga and the influence of yoga, dance and aerial practice on her method. Explore the history of Unnata Aerial Yoga.
Unnata® Yoga. Information about the Unnata method and its use of the aerial hammock as a prop within yoga practice. Explore the Unnata method.
AntiGravity® Fitness. Background information on Christopher Harrison and the development of the AntiGravity suspension system from aerial performance and movement practice. Explore AntiGravity.
