Are you brave enough to get off the ground with aerial yoga?

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Instructor Veronica DeSoyza, right, leads a morning aerial yoga class at Kinship in Highland Park. Shelby Williams-Gonzalez, left, holds a pose.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Aerial yoga makes use of fabric hung from the ceiling, which supports particpants’ feet, hands or other parts of the body during poses. At Kinship, instructor Veronica DeSoyza, right, leads Shelby Williams-Gonzalez through positions.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Instructor Veronica DeSoyza, center, with Araceli Contreras, left, and Shelby Williams-Gonzalez during an aerial yoga class.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Shelby Williams-Gonzalez holds a pose during an aerial yoga class.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Veronica DeSoyza leads an aerial yoga class at Kinship yoga studio. For aerial yoga, each student has a “hammock,” a light fabric hanging from the ceiling that can be bunched or spread out like a sling.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Shelby Williams-Gonzalez, left, holds a pose as Veronica DeSoyza leads a class.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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An inverted pose, supported by the fabric “hammock.” Instructor Veronica DeSoyza, right, leads Araceli Contreras through the position.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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At Kinship Veronica DeSoyza leans into a pose, supported by the fabric.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

By Mary MacVean

Dec. 5, 2015 9 AM PT

Just thinking about a relatively new sort of yoga, called aerial yoga, made my heart race. I finally convinced myself that I’d stop short of anything that felt too off-balance or too acrobatic and went to Kinship in Highland Park. I needn’t have worried; aerial arts — people high above the floor doing jaw-dropping moves holding on to fabric attached to the ceiling — looks scary. But my yoga class felt great and supportive — and close enough to the ground.

Kinship is a big studio, and our class was in a pretty, brick-walled room with high ceilings. The floor was covered in soft mats, and each student had a “hammock,” a light fabric hanging from the ceiling that could be bunched in your hands or spread out, like a sling.

Kinship, 5612 N. Figueroa St.; kinshipyoga.com

Aura

The teacher, Veronica DeSoyza, teaches a program called AIReal, developed by Carmen Curtis, a yogi who was looking to get back into shape after childbirth. DeSoyza says it’s a good method for anyone trying to heal from an injury or new to yoga and perhaps somewhat inflexible. The corpse pose at the end of class — traditionally a time to lie still on the floor — was done wrapped cocoon-like in the fabric, floating in the air. It was blissful. DeSoyza quite rightly called it “womb-like.”

Style

The idea is to use the hammock to support the feet, hands or other parts of the body during poses. For example, for a plank pose, we put one foot into the hammock, hands on the floor and then lifted the other foot into the cloth. The technique makes balancing a little easier because the fabric firmly holds you up and if you sway a little it doesn’t matter.

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Effort

Sometimes, I felt I was working harder than in a traditional yoga class and taking more chances. I had to take a deep breath to try the inverted star pose — the fabric wrapped around the hips to support us as we tipped upside down, arms and legs spread outward; my star was a little fractured. From there, more accomplished practitioners can move into a handstand. At other times, I had an appealing sense of lightness, thanks to the support of the fabric. The pace was steady and not too fast.

Cost

$15, with packages available.

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