Using props in Yoga was popularised by the late and great yoga master B.K.S. Iygengar. Of course, there would have been yogis hanging upside down from trees and other devices hundreds if not thousands of years ago, but Mr. Iyengar when teaching his students really pioneered and encouraged a practice that included many different types of props such as blocks, belts, straps, ropes, and chairs as well as improvised inversion slings.
Admittedly, thanks to this form of yoga being relatively new it is a confusing world out there with all these different names for it flying around that denote the same thing – a type of yoga that at times can take place off the ground and uses a device to wrap around that is a bit of material hanging in the air… with straps (more on this later). These names for it include Aerial Yoga, Yoga Trapeze®, Air Yoga, Aeroyoga® and Yoga Swing as well as many others often respective of what country or location the practice is being practiced or where the teacher has received their training. For further clarity the type we are talking about here is a device made out of material akin to that of a parachute that is not stretchy or elastic and has the option of detachable side straps with handles that can be used for additional exercises and poses.
Currently, the earliest record we can find of a device similar to this was developed in the US in 2001 by the Physical Therapist, Antonio ‘Tone’ Cardenas and originally dubbed the "Yoga Swing", now known as the "Omni Gym”. On the island of Bali in Indonesia the "Gravotonics Yoga Swing & Exercise System" was launched in 2003 owned and managed by Kerrie Neal but recently purchased by Paul Jenkin. "YOGABODY" Founder, Lucas Rockwood first discovered inversion slings in 2004 while living in Thailand and spent three years working on a practice he then dubbed the “Yoga Trapeze®”. Besides a few design and dimensional differences such as the length of the three straps and size of the main sling these all pretty much are the same device that Tone Cardenas created.
By 2011, in the UK, Richard Holroyd founded Aerial Yoga London, pioneering and developing a deeper yogic understanding of the practice over several years before moving to India in October 2017 and now living in Lithuania continuing its evolution there as Teaching Aerial Yoga. This form of Aerial Yoga follows more in the Hatha & Iyengar tradition and has a spiritual element rather than exercise focus.
Understandably too it seems students recognise best and get more clearly what the experience will entail when it is described as Aerial Yoga at least in the UK. In the US, Yoga Swing is popular & aided by a strong marketing campaign there Yoga Trapeze® is gaining traction and in Russia Air Yoga appears to be a common term whereas in France and parts of Spain Aeroyoga® seems to be prominent.
