In a world where everyone’s looking for a quick way to attain their level of perfection via vanity and fitness, there are those who take a slow but wholesome path to it all. One such example is Karachi AcroYoga, whose initiative to keep fit revolves around not just yoga but acrobatics.
A globally recognised fitness practice, in Karachi the initiative was started by a few friends who met while cycling at Critical Mass Karachi and they turned it into a head-turning form of yoga, thanks to some gravity-defying poses. However, apart from being a visual wonder, AcroYoga is great for improving strength, flexibility and balance, all while creating communication and trust.
Simply put, most of it involves a minimum of two individuals, a base – a person providing support against the ground to an elevated person – the flyer.
Ajlaan Raza, Â one of four friends who started the enterprise, talked about how the idea came about.
“We are a physically fit bunch of friends, who got to know each other through cycling with Critical Mass Karachi. After our early Sunday morning rides, we would gather at one of our friend’s place for nashta, board games, dance, the works. One day someone suggested we try out an AcroYoga move off of youtube. At that point we didn’t quite know what AcroYoga was, we were simply trying out something cool off of the internet. After several failed attempts, bumps and bruises, we managed to get a hang of what was happening and really started having fun with it,†he said.
Talking about AcroYoga’s global popularity he added, “We also realized that there is a whole AcroYoga community out there around the world. Since then, every weekend, someone would bring a new pose to the table and we would spend hours trying to figure out how it could be done. Gradually, our strength grew and we began to get better at it. Friends on Facebook started noticing the pictures we put up and wanted to join in and of course they were welcome…up until the requests grew to such an extent that we could no longer fit in a drawing room! Thus, Karachi AcroYoga was born.â€
If you’re lucky you will see masterclasses of Karachi AcroYoga in various spaces around the city. However, if you want to try it out yourself, you may find them at T2F soon.
“The concept of a Master Class came about, where we would invite participants to a large space, demonstrate the poses we had perfected and help others achieve the same. We’ve had two Master Classes and a host of jams in public spaces around the city in attempts to share the joy and build an AcroYoga community. Master Classes and Jams are free of cost. The response so far has been phenomenal. Our next Master Class is at T2F on Sunday, 6th of August between 5 & 7 pm,†Raza said.
So, if like us, you’re also interested in keeping with the trends and staying fit, you can check out Karachi AcroYoga here for their unique look on working out!
