Aerial Yoga for Beginners — What to Expect in Your First Class
5 May 2026 · 2 min read · By Reboot Editorial
If you’ve seen the photos — people suspended in fabric hammocks, balanced upside down, completely calm — you may have already decided aerial yoga is not for you.
We get it. It looks athletic, it looks vulnerable, and there’s no obvious way in. So here’s what your first class actually looks like at a well-run studio in Chennai.
Who it’s for
If you can sit comfortably on the floor and lift your own bodyweight off a low chair, you can do an entry-level aerial yoga class. You don’t need flexibility, you don’t need strength, and you definitely don’t need prior yoga experience.
The classes we run at Reboot start with people who haven’t exercised in years.
What to wear
- A close-fitting top (loose tops ride up when you invert).
- Leggings or knee-length shorts — bare-leg contact with the silk can chafe.
- No jewellery, no zips, no rough fabrics that could snag the hammock.
- Bare feet or grip socks.
What the first 30 minutes feels like
- Hammock setup. Your instructor will adjust your silk to roughly hip height. If it feels too high or too low, say so — small adjustments matter.
- Warm-up. Standing stretches and shoulder mobility. Nothing intimidating.
- Wrapping. You’ll learn one or two basic wraps — sitting in the silk like a swing, lying back into a “cocoon”. This is where most people relax.
- First inversion. Usually a partial one, where your head dips below your hips but you’re still supported by the silk. If you don’t want to go upside down, you don’t have to.
- Closing. A long, supported rest in the hammock — like a hanging savasana. This is the part people don’t expect to love, and almost always do.
Why people keep coming back
Aerial yoga decompresses the spine in a way that mat yoga and the gym can’t. For anyone who sits at a desk all day, that single benefit is often enough.
It’s also one of the calmer environments in a fitness studio — quieter, slower, and surprisingly restorative.
How often?
Once a week is the sweet spot for most people. Twice a week if you’re using it as your main mobility practice.
Want to try it? Book a tour and we’ll pair you with an introductory aerial yoga session at our Iyyappanthangal studio.