Aerial Yoga Teacher Training - Day 4

Today we were to learn tricks and flips - all of those things that you really don't think you can do but in reality it is more of technique than raw strength.

After watching Devi demonstrate the poses I would think to myself how straight forward it looked but somehow it was much more difficult than I thought as I struggled to separate my left from my right and stop the hammock swaying alarmingly. Persistence paid off though and I worked my way through each one step by step with some success.

My favourite was Dragonfly. It is a really nice backbend and you feel so full of confidence being held by the fabric at your shins and shoulders. Check out the pictures below:

Estelle had been staying with Devi all week and she had planned to spend Saturday night out to give Devi a bit of space so I asked her to spend the evening with us instead and happily she agreed. 

Estelle discovered the raw food diet last year and this is the first time I have invited someone into my home who provided their own food. "What's a raw food diet then?" asked Mike when I told him the night before "Just lettuce and carrots?" "No'" I laughed 'It's more complicated than that. It's really inventive, we had lots of it in India and I remember an amazing lasagne made from courgettes. They made the Béchamel Sauce from Cashew nuts" "Sounds awful!" he grimaced "Well it wasn't, it was really tasty" I could see that Mike would take some convincing that raw food was more than a few lettuce leaves and grated carrot!

We worked hard in the studio all day, preparing for our assessed lesson on the final day and then headed off home.

I had prepared one of our favourite meals from the River Cafe Cook Book Penne with Tomatoes and Balsamic Vinegar in the morning as it is so easy to do and incredibly tasty. Estelle bright back different vegetables and whilst I pulled our dinner together she ferreted around the cupboards and used vinegars and spices to make a great salad with spinach and sun dried tomatoes and put some in a bowl for us as a side salad, of which Mike had two helpings!! "Well it's still only salad!" he said

After dinner the guys went out to the pub and Estelle and I settled into the kitchen. She wanted to make a raw chocolate cake and breakfast bars to celebrate the end of the course tomorrow so I sat back and watched with interest. It appears to me that the main kitchen appliance you need is a food processor and soon she was pureeing seeds, nuts and so much other stuff I had never heard of. It was completely alien to me and mesmerising. The raw chocolate cake had a biscuit style base and the filling was made with banana and avocado. She used simmering water to reconstitute the coconut oil and mixed it with cacao to make the chocolate. The finished product went in the freezer overnight. The breakfast bars were also created in the food processor again with nuts and seeds of various descriptions and then refrigerated. By the time Mike and Andrew had returned it was all done and I had even had time to tidy up. It is fair to say that preparing the food is fiddly and a bit messy but I really enjoy spending time in the kitchen doing this sort of thing - so that doesn't put me off in the slightest.

The coffee machine was switched on and the breakfast bars taken out of the fridge for testing. They were delicious, sweet, chocolatey and crunchy ... yum yum. Even Mike looked amazed that he had just eaten a raw chocolate bar and Andrew had two!

The next morning we were up early practising our lesson before the Devi's aerial class, which really stretched and rejuvenated us. This was followed by a written test before our final assessment. Liam, Devi's son, came to take part in the class to make it a little bit more challenging for us and what a difference it made to the dynamics. When Estelle and I had been practising we did not have to keep an eye on what 'the student' was doing but suddenly there was someone in class who was making mistakes and needed keeping an eye on. It came home to me then how alert you need to be as an aerial yoga teacher in order to keep people safe. Don't get me wrong ... aerial yoga is safe but it can be easy to make a mistake especially if you are unfamiliar with how the hammock works; so as a teacher you need to be alert to ensure that everyone enjoys the experience.

Fortunately all went well and we both passed ..... yey! We now have to complete 20 one2one sessions to be a fully qualified level 2 teacher. Let me know if you fancy it?

Estelle got the cake out of the fridge and I have to confess to eating two bits. The texture was a little bit like a chocolate cheesecake and you would never have guessed it was raw. Don't tell Mike but I have ordered a raw food cookbook ... so soon there will be 85 cookbooks on my shelf. I think secret reading is in order before I choose something and serve it up ... I wonder if he will notice it's raw? Watch this space for the results!

The course itself was fantastic and I am so enthused about it. Aerial yoga is so much fun and makes you feel amazing. Anyone can do it ... honestly you can!

We just don't do this kind of thing as adults but when you try it you realise how great it used to make you feel to hang upside down, you are that kid in the playground again with the world at your feet and the confidence to achieve anything.

I can fly .... come fly with me!