The Importance Of Human Touch: How Acroyoga Profoundly Changed My Life

So it's day 3 for me on Steemit and I'm really loving it! I love how I can express myself, and pretty much say whatever and however I feel at this moment with the steemit community. Yesterday I shared a silly side of me, and I shared with you my craft tutorial on how to make DIY flower crowns. Today, I want to share with you a more serious side of me and tell you about my acroyoga journey. For me, acroyoga is more than just a fun activity to "do" with you friends, but it has profoundly changed and impacted my life in a positive way.

I've been practicing acroyoga for a little over a year now, and it has been healing.

Growing up as a child, I never liked to be touched. I take that back, it's not that I didn't like to be touched, rather I thought socially it was inappropriate to be close to someone (taught by my loving but strict and conservative asian parents). As I grew older into adulthood, I craved human touch and I realized that I needed more of it in my life.

The first time, I ever saw someone do acroyoga, I literally stared for an hour. When I was invited to try acroyoga, I got shy, and I kid you not, I ran away from the stranger asking (who later on in life turns out to be my significant other).

Two months after I ran away from the "stranger", I signed up for an acroyoga class at my gym, and my life forever changed. I would say that the changes acroyoga had on me were gradual, and I didn't notice all the changes about myself until recently.

I think most of the positive change in my life has come from the acro community. To share a little of my background, I moved from Texas to Sacramento without knowing a single person, and when I first moved, it was lonely. It was hard to adjust to a new city with new people. Since I've found this precious community, I have really settled in to Sacramento, and I love calling it home. People make a place, and the acro community was that for me. The acroyoga community helped me blossom and feel comfortable being my weird and quirky self.

So you might ask, what is so special about an acroyoga community? I think the very act of acroyoga instantly creates a strong bond between you and another human. You must touch and trust that the other person playing with you will keep you safe. Overtime, my practice has allowed me to meet so many special people who I now call my friends. I think the act of physically having to trust someone with your life, brings your relationship that much closer.

The human touch in itself is healing. There have been studies that show that babies that have never been touched, even though they had their fundamental needs met (such as eating) died from lack of human contact.

Acroyoga has helped me break down my invisible boundaries and given me a community I love and cherish.

I hope this blog encourages you to try acroyoga and see what it is all about. Below is a video of me and my "stranger" performing an acroyoga flow. We have really come a long way! Thank you for letting me share my experiences and thoughts.