By Alpa Shah
Guest writer Alpa Shah talks about her journey into Trapeze Yoga, a practice which consists of yoga inspired poses and inversions (head below heart level) using a large sling as a prop for suspension. Trapeze Yoga additionally incorporates trapeze handles, bringing in strength training.
My journey into Trapeze Yoga started back in 2020 at the beginning of the Covid lockdown when my younger daughter mentioned a class where you could hang upside down and do fun monkey bar tricks. I laughed – this was so far out of my comfort zone! I have a prolapsed disk and 30° rotation in my pelvis causing chronic back pain. The idea of being upside down and having fun doing so seemed impossible.
I took my daughters in for a trial class and I watched in awe as they had a fabulous, fun session working out, flipping upside down, floating in and out of the sling. We signed up for family sessions once a week and for a long time they worked out, they had fun and laughed and tried new things and I sat on my sling and watched. I often felt awful at my own inability to do what they were doing.
Determined to do more than just watch during our family sessions, and after several disastrous failed attempts, I eventually committed to twice weekly classes and slowly started working on being more comfortable being inverted.
I was petrified of falling and making my back pain worse, backbends and heart openers were painful and brought long suppressed emotions to the surface. Pretty much everyone in the class could do more than I could. But determined not to give up I kept turning up to classes. After what felt like an eternity, and with a great deal of encouragement I learned to have faith in my ability, to trust the sling and myself and, eventually, to have the confidence to try new things even if they made me very uncomfortable. One of the greatest lessons I have taken away is the power of YET. If I couldn’t do something, it was only a matter of time, practice and patience until I could.
My progress was painstakingly slow. But one day as I got out of bed I realised my back didn’t hurt. It was such a glorious realisation! I became more adventurous, trying new things without crippling fear. I started having fun, becoming stronger and more flexible, and slowly fell in love with this beautiful practice. I met some incredible people who have become amazing friends. I became part of this community.
I remember trying zip lining once and after one zip I was in agony. Soon after Trapeze Yoga became part of my regular fitness routine I went ziplining, pain-free!! Pain no longer had the power to hold me back.
With no intention of teaching, I did the teacher training to support a dear friend who was planning to leave Nairobi and wanted company during the course, and to deepen my own practise. I finally had the confidence to explore the science behind the practice. Once I got my Yoga Body trapeze teacher certification in July 2023, the studio where I started my practice assigned a class time to me.
Teaching didn’t come naturally or easily to me! I wanted to share my experience of being pain free. I knew I wanted to have inclusive classes where anyone who attended left feeling stronger and empowered. My conscious intention is to offer fun, functional workouts that are accessible to anyone, irrespective of age, size or fitness level.
I love the safe space my class offers, the fun we have, how incredibly brave and powerful every butterfly who attends my class is. Teaching humbles you; I have to work through my own fears and many uncertainties, and find a way to connect to each person who comes to a class of mine. I continue to work on myself every single day. I recognise my limitations but also find alternatives, and show myself kindness.
Trapeze Yoga has taught me that exercise has never been more fun then when you incorporate inversions with beautiful functional benefits. An inversion is simply defined as anytime your heart is above your head. Using the sling, suspension and gravity, trapeze yoga allows the building of flexibility in a whole new way. The trapeze acts as a prop that allows for deeper and supported hip and shoulder openers, backbends and hamstring stretches. In conjunction with traditional workouts it offers a truly comprehensive fitness regime. It allows pushing, pulling, holding, twisiting and bending; deeper passive back bends that can be held for longer periods of time. And for those who suffer from back pain at some point in their lives (as much as 80% of the population) Trapeze Yoga uses gravity to elongate the spine and find pain relief.
With gratitude I would like to acknowledge some incredible people in my life, without whom my journey thus far wouldn’t be possible: My younger daughter Siana, who introduced me to Yoga Trapeze, and recently came to a class of mine and gave me the ultimate compliment “You did good ma!!”; my older daughter Ria, my biggest cheerleader and supporter; my husband, for never allowing me to take myself very seriously; Yarden my magnificent mentor, who taught me the power of “yet” and never let me give up; Puja for ignoring all my excuses and pushing me into teaching!; Rita and Beej who have encouraged, supported, laughed and cried with me.
I am because we are.
Alpa teaches at Beyond Body in Kitisuru. Check out her instagram for inspiration @trapeze_time_with_alpa