If hanging upside down in a sling isnt your idea of fun, a fitness trend thats expanding across North America may not be for you.

But if blending the thrill of a circus with the chill of yoga sounds like nirvana, youll be glad aerial yoga has arrived.

During the last decade, aerial performers based in New York have adapted the fabric trapeze into a piece of equipment that allows people to suspend themselves above the floor for superior stretching, particularly in the spine. Their trademarked techniques are called AntiGravity Yoga and Unnata Yoga

The latest entry into the field is a small studio in a Coquitlam strip mall that offers 40 per cent of its classes in the air.

Its all about release, says Prestonne Domareski, co-owner of Gravity Yoga The point of it is to relax into the pose. If you do, gravity will do its job.

Although the yoga studio just opened in January, she says evening classes are already popular.

Once youre able to flip upside-down and stay there for a few minutes, your spine decompresses, your organs shift, even your skin moves. Everything works more efficiently afterward, says Gravity Yoga co-owner Nicole Whitman.

Two other Vancouver businesses Tantra Fitness and the Steve Nash Sports Club on Granville have offered aerial yoga for the past few years, but as a small part of their larger range of exercise classes.

Trying the class once at any of the clubs will cost around $25 with the price going down substantially for a longer commitment.

Tantra Fitness founder and owner Tammy Morris says her studio, which is moving to Gastown in April, treats aerial yoga as an introductory step toward a related circus art known as aerial silks, a combination of strength and acrobatics popularized by the Cirque du Soleil entertainment troupe that uses two lengths of fabric suspended from the ceiling.

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Aerial yoga goes head-over-heels in Vancouver (with video)