Savasana has never been more relaxing than the moment I give in to the swinging, silk hammock.

Most yoga lovers look forward to Savasana, the corpse pose at the end of every class that requires total relaxation. I usually struggle to turn my brain off, to submit to the peaceful state.

Not this time. Im spent. This isnt your average yoga class. Ive dared to try aerial yoga at Lucia Aerial Performing Arts.

Have you seen the lovelies of Kansas Citys Quixotic mastering the silks and trapeze? Im not one of those sky-high dancers, but I do like to try the latest fit crazes. Last year, I experimented with Mixed Martial Arts fitness, the trampoline workout and the Bar Method.

This year, I believe I can fly. Or at least peacefully swing back and forth in the purple silky hammock that Ive made my Savasana cocoon. I could lie here for hours.

Ashley Prohaska did this to me. She worked me out hard enough to yearn for stillness, but not in a boot camp way. She encouraged me to challenge myself. Youre stronger than you think, she said more than once.

Aerial yoga requires you to do three things: Trust yourself, fight your fears and find your center. The hammock, made of stretchy yet sturdy aerial silks fabric, is used to suspend the spine and other parts of the body to enhance traditonal yoga poses even the upside down ones. Just like mat yoga, with practice, you can improve your flexibility, balance and strength.

When I walk into Lucia Aerial at Town Center Plaza in Leawood on a Thursday afternoon, I dont know what to expect from the class. And then I see my teacher Ashley. Shes ballet dancer tiny. She smiles, but her vibe is very go-with-the-flow casual. As I take off my coat, I notice shes listening to Madonnas Material Girl.

I hope you dont mind 80s and 90s music, she says. And sometimes I sing.

I love her. Instantly. She and her sister Jenny (former director at Quixotic School) opened the studio a few months ago. There, you can take lyra (aerial hoop), silk, trapeze, contortion, aerial yoga and childrens classes, too. Ashley used to teach introductory silks classes at Quixotic School but got into the aerial silks about four years ago when she and her sister took a class at Voler, another aerial academy and performance group.

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