Partner yoga an experimental fitness class being offered at 9 p.m. Tuesday nights at State Gym, promotes exploring your mind/body, but now people do not necessarily have to do it by themselves. Now they can explore their mind and body with another person.

Yoga literally translates to "union" or more specifically, the union of physical, mental and spiritual disciplines. When practicing yoga, individuals are working to develop these aspects of themselves; but in partner yoga, these disciplines stretch beyond individual development.

When youre working in yoga, youre trying to build relationships with yourself. ... When you add a partner, youre working to develop a relationship, said Nora Hudson, fitness coordinator for Recreation Services. So you are always gaining insight into all the different levels of the relationship physical, mental and spiritual.

Partner yoga, Hudson said, involves a lot of coordination.

Theres definitely more balance work that needs to happen because you have to negotiate between two people, Hudson said. You have to quickly look outside yourself and be observant of that individual and their needs and physical abilities, and learn how to match that and coordinate it.

Hudson suggested this balance is a symbolic concept of any relationship a balance that gives and takes and understanding how to come together to form one unified posture.

[It] really helps develop a sense of trust within both people, said Paul Beamer, senior in horticulture and yoga instructor. You have to learn to communicate pretty effectively and be willing to trust yourself and the other person. Its a nice shared experience you dont get elsewhere.

Partner yoga requires a higher physical level at the core, making it a great challenge for core and body strength. Having a partner also allows you to reach a posture you couldnt do by yourself, or is dependent upon the second person to facilitate it deeper. This allows for a different experience of your body, Hudson said.

Chad Yuen, graduate student in chemistry and lead instructor of partner yoga, explained that partner yoga is a variety of different traditional yoga poses but taken to the next level.

Examples of these more difficult moves include, flying poses, which is one person as base, one balancing to fly similar to playing airplane as a child, or double downward dog," which is one person doing downward dog, while the other stands on their hands and rests their feet on the back of the downward dog.

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New twist to yoga: partner yoga