Crystal Wise
We’re not here to say that yoga studios are a dime a dozen or carbon copies of one another. We’re aware some studios or instructors focus on exercise while others thrive at mindfulness. Some run hot (literally), and others run at 70 degrees. But some, and by some, we mean one, does yoga in the air. That’s right, aerial yoga.
Lynn Rozak, founder of Sunshine Yoga Shack in downtown Mansfield, has been teaching yoga since 2012, when she was teaching what we’ll call regular yoga in her backyard. But a magazine advertisement for a yoga trapeze opened her mind to gravity-defying techniques. “I was, like, ‘Oh, my gosh! I can do yoga off the ground? This is everything.’”
Catching the hint, her husband wound up buying Rozak the advertised product for her birthday, but she’d soon trade in her trapeze for aerial silks — you know, those long pieces of fabric that we often associate with acrobatic, gravity-defying cirque du solei acts — after attending a fellow yogi’s aerial class in Southlake. But, Rozak says her version of aerial yoga is much different from her friend in Southlake. One could say she was inspired and took the practice in her own direction. Rozak doesn’t claim to have invented aerial yoga. “It’s technically been around since the 80s,” she says. But teaching a class in aerial yoga that’s both undaunting and challenging while also applying mindfulness into the practice?
“When I started doing this aerial stuff, there wasn’t anything around that was like it,” Rozak says. “So, I kind of had to just make it up as I went along.”
Rozak soon got a brick-and-mortar in Mansfield and started teaching classes in aerial yoga, which were an immediate hit. But she stresses Sunshine Yoga Shack is a yoga studio where one can expect to find all of the classes and practices of a normal yoga space.
Crystal Wise
“We have traditional yoga. We have Hatha-based yoga, which is for beginners and people who like to have a little more mindful practice. We have heated yoga and power yoga, and we also do yin yoga. We really encompass anything you would need from a yoga studio.”
But even Rozak will admit the studio’s main differentiator is its offering of air-bound yoga. The practice has to be seen to be believed — a class will have attendees using aerial silks to prop up their aerial movements and poses, which includes becoming inverted.
For those concerned, Rozak says the floor is covered in crash pads, and the limited class sizes allow the instructor to demonstrate and assist each student. Thus, the crash pad is simply a failsafe that’s rarely used.
Crystal Wise
“[When one first does aerial yoga], it’s really kind of shocking, and they’re kind of scared,” Rozak says. “But it’s something everyone can do. It gets you out of your head and focused on your body and breathing.
“I did a private class with this gorgeous 28-year-old super fit girl, and she brought her mother who was in her 60s. And the daughter just struggled and struggled, and the mom did all of the things. And she didn’t even have on yoga clothes; she was in scrubs.”
Last August, the studio moved to their current location in Mansfield’s downtown historic district. The building is over 100 years old and Rozak, who says she always wanted to be in a historic building, is well-versed on its history. Their new home was built in 1856 but burned down in 1898 and was rebuilt in 1900.
With wood floors and distressed walls that show patches of the building’s beautiful brick façade, one could blink and think they’re in an old Brooklyn apartment. “We’ve just poured our heart into this place, and it’s beautiful. It’s a fun, great place,” Rozen says.
And, most importantly, the ceilings are plenty high, too. Fourteen-feet high, Rozan confirms, giving plenty of room for air-bound spins, drops, and poses.
“It feels amazing, and it heals your body,” Rozak says of aerial yoga. “It decompresses all of the joints and your spine.
“And the beautiful thing is, [aerial yoga] is for all types of bodies and fitness levels because you cannot train for aerial unless you’re doing aerial. So, the kind of muscle mass and skill level that you need is only something you can build while you’re here.”
sunshineyogashack.com
