INTRODUCTION
By Jason Nemer, author of “The Tao of AcroYoga: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Movement“
I have had the honor and pleasure of uncovering and distilling the practice of AcroYoga since 2003. As AcroYoga passes its twentieth birthday, I am proud to say it has become a global movement with millions of practitioners on every continent. The publication of my first book, Move, Connect, Play: The Art and Science of AcroYoga, was a huge accomplishment in my lifelong mission to grow the global AcroYoga community to one billion practitioners. With 2000 certified teachers in over 60 counties, we are off to a great start. I see a world where people that do not share words in common can find joy in lifting one another up. I choose to live in a world where we play games with each other because it grows the oldest human currency, trust.
Since I started writing that first book in 2019, I have been steadily developing advanced yoga sequences, acrobatic flying transitions, and other philosophical gems from studying ancient practices that I have not shared until now. The Tao of AcroYoga presents these new practices, accompanied by philosophies drawn from my life experience and studies of the Tao Te Ching This book will expand your capacity to balance, nourish, and grow yourself, your relationships, and your communities. The Tao of AeroYoga is a training manual that offers countless pathways into a deeper experience of the present moment. Here, in the present, there are more opportunities for joy, connection, and heightened stares of consciousness waiting for you.
AcroYoga’s physicality is very obvious. AcroYoga is a merging of acrobatics, therapeutics, and yoga that offers undeniable fitness benefits. Beyond its physical benefits, it also provides a wide array of life lessons that include elements of desire, fear, trust, accomplishment, struggle, and teamwork. Through all my experience teaching and developing this practice, it is abundantly clear to me–its true value lies in deepening our humanity through the unmistakable power of connection with others. This allows us to be present with one another’s gifts and challenges. The gems we can all unearth are inner balance and a grounded self-knowing, the desire and skills to nourish others, and the capacity to grow community through play.
There are many pearls of wisdom that any person can read and enjoy in this book without any prior experience or understanding of AcroYoga. That said, as the sequel to Move, Connect, Play, I wrote chis book to expand upon the teachings and tools covered there. This book is similar in that it is progressive, practical, and inspirational. After decades of studying movement and healing arts, I am so excited to share how these ancient practices have changed my life and hope they provide benefit co your life by expanding your knowledge and skill of AcroYoga. The foundational practices outlined in Move, Connect, Play will prepare you to enjoy the intermediate and advanced practices derailed here. Limitless expansion awaits as you absorb the principles and blend the practices of AcroYoga in your own way, with partners, and with the global AcroYoga community.
This book is organized by three specific movement traditions char form the roots of AcroYoga: acrobatics, therapeutics, and yoga. It also draws heavily on the wisdom of Taoism and the related movement practices of Qigong, infused with the inspiration of circus arcs for the extroverts and performers out there.
Section I, Balance, focuses on practices concerned primarily with the self: hatha yoga, Qigong, and calisthenics. Section II, Nourish, focuses on practices char connect us to ochers through the healing arcs of therapeutic flying and Thai massage. It is full of therapeutic concepts and philosophies from traditional Chinese and Indian ayurvedic medicine. Section III, Grow, expands the lens even further to include fostering community through ancient circus arts lineages. There are three levels of flying transitions, an acrobatic sequence called flight school, and progressions to standing acrobatics to keep the thrill seekers progressing toward their dream skills. The mystical practices that inform this book have given me countless tools to become a master of flow, to make friends with people from many different walks of life, and to be, on average, an extremely healthy, happy human.
There are many self-help books full of information to learn, absorb, and then activate in your life. While this book can support you in those ways, these pages will pose questions that lead you to not know, to unlearn, and empty yourself from old, stale wisdom that is no longer relevant. Letting go of our attachment of needing to know is central to Taoist teachings. If some new ideas in this book do not make sense at first or if you find yourself scratching your head from time to time, that is perfect–that means it’s working! I invite you to think less and feel more. Let go of who you have been to allow yourself to become a more present, grounded, empowered, and flexible version of you. It all starts with a very short book written in China a long, long time ago.