This Labor Day weekend Columbus will have even more yogis than usual as people come in for AcrOhio.
“This is the first Acro yoga festival in Ohio. We are pretty excited by it.” said Leigh Christine Cordetti co-organizer of AcrOhio with Jarred Keener.
Combining acrobatic skills with yoga poses, Acro is fun to watch and do. For several years, Keener and a crew of yogis under the moniker Columbus Acro Play have been holding “Acro jams” around the city, especially in Franklin and Goodale Parks. Co-organizer of AcrOhio, Cordetti noted, “There are great Acro yoga festivals around the country that we’ve been lucky enough go to. With AcrOhio, our goal is to bring 24 high-skilled, quality teachers to Gym X-treme here in Ohio to give people the opportunity to learn in a safe environment. We expect over 150 students from all over the country.”
Acro yogis from Colorado to Florida will be heading to Lewis Center where AcrOhio will be hosted by Gym X-treme. Columbus Acro Play has had practice sessions at Gym X-treme in the past.
“They were very interested and curious about hosting our Acro festival,” said Cordetti.
Not only will there will be Acro yoga jam sessions at AcroOhio, but also 10 hours of hands-on Acro yoga course work is scheduled. Among featured instructors are Micah and Monica Hartsfield of Hart2Hart Acro in Columbia, TN and Aaron and Veronica Brumbaugh of Detroit Acro.
Other special guests include Aaron and Amanda Holm “aka Weapons of Mass Exhilaration” and the AcroSmiths of Atlanta, GA. Danny and Aniane Smith have been married almost 30 years and are on a mission to spread love and Acro yoga all over the world. The AcroSmiths are doing classes on Shoulder Stands and ‘A Croc Cycle for Two.’
There is always a debate about what is yoga; the emergence and growing popularity of Acro has kindled the debate into something of a conflagration. Dr. Daniel Snider, PhD. Physical Therapy and a yoga teacher at Balanced Yoga observes, “You are breathing, engaging certain muscles, relaxing others, you are focused on your balance the whole time, and your alignment is huge.”
Ashtanga teacher at Yoga On High, Adam Wetterhan says that traditional yoga cultivates, “the breath, a steady gaze and the yogic bandhas [core locks].”
From my own look at Acro, it seems like they do a fair amount of all that, but take a look for yourself!
Columbus Acro Play will host AcrOhio this Labor Day weekend, 2017. The location is Gym X-treme, 7708 Green Meadows Drive, Suite A in Lewis Center, OH 43035. Columbus Acro Play also holds Acro yoga sessions all year long. Yogis jamming together.
For more information, visit acrohio.com.
