AntiGravity yoga review: A white-knuckle ride in a hammock

'You will need to cling on for dear life'

(guruXOOX/iStock)

I've just spent an hour trapped in a room with a woman who I am pretty sure was trying to kill me. Well, I'm almost certain that if I'd followed her instructions to backflip while hanging upside down with only a precariously folded hammock preventing me from falling on the hard wooden floor below, I would have done myself serious damage.

Before starting AntiGravity yoga - a class where you perform a mixture of classic yoga and dance all while suspended from the ceiling in a hammock - we were told there was one rule: hold on tight.

You will need to cling on for dear life, but I'd add another rule. Participants will also need to be able to interpret what I like to call instructorise, a version of English that I've had issues with ever since being told to breathe in through my left nostril and out through my right in a previous yoga class.

"Hands go high, legs go wide", this particular instructor announces before seamlessly launching into a handstand. The rest of the class seem to have no issue in understanding her commands but I stand there, confused, sweaty and mildly terrified.

Seconds earlier we'd been climbing up our hammocks before somersaulting back onto the ground. All the blood has rushed to my head, and all I can think is that I need to get out of here. That's when I realise I'm actually having a fight or flight reaction to an exercise class.

So, the full verdict? I've lived off a diet of grapefruit, eggs and black coffee, delivered blankets to pensioners alongside Page 3 girls and worked 22-hour straight shifts but I'm pretty sure AntiGravity yoga is the worst thing I've ever done in the name of journalism.

What I thought would be an hour of fun (yoga! hammocks! gravity! what's not to like?) turned into a white knuckle ride. Try this by all means if you are either super fit or super adventurous, but for anyone else I'd recommend keeping your feet firmly on the ground when working out.

AntiGravity Yoga is available through the Wonderush activities website. New subscribers get their first month for £5 using the code HIGHFIVE.