Carmen Curtis is one of the original creator of aerial yoga and the founder of AIReal Yoga. Carmen has been teaching yoga and aerial for over 20 years. AIReal Yoga was the first 200 hour teacher training program to be recognized by the Yoga Alliance.
AIReal Yoga brand is accessible yoga for physical & mental wellness using an aerial hammock as a yoga prop and as an instrument for human performance & healing.
E-RYT 500 AIReal Yoga™ (aerial yoga) teacher.
Certified Mindful Movement Instructor.
Offering online and in-person aerial yoga classes, retreats and teacher trainings.
Trainings include:
200 hour (learn to teach Hatha Yoga and Aerial Yoga)
300 hour (advanced teaching methods and module based at your own pace)
50 hour CE - aerial yoga teacher training
15 hour CE - Restorative aerial yoga training
15 hour CE - Hands on adjustments/assisting aerial yoga training
More info at www.airealyoga.com
Social: @airealyoga
"Yoga in the AIR, and REAL Yoga."
AIReal Yoga is based in Hatha Yoga using a aerial hammock as a prop to assist, refine and support ones yoga practice. The aerial hammock used as a yoga prop helps to make yoga accessible for everyBody at every level and for multiple styles of yoga.
About Carmen...
A zealous yoga practitioner for more than 25 years, Carmen first found yoga as a way to restore her body from the extreme sports of gymnastic and Cirque performing, and has been teaching it ever since. A testament to the masterful-blending of athlete, art and yoga, Carmen, who is deeply influenced by the teachings of Shiva Rae, Gurmukh and Bryan Kest, has garnered a reputation as the go-to guide for self-love through yoga and the aerial arts.
Hailed as a "teacher's teacher” who guides practices with great empathy, compassion and a desire to help serve, the highly sought after traveling yogi teaches workshops, retreats, conferences, teacher trainings and performs all over the world. More than a teacher, a visionary, Carmen is also the founder of AIReal Yoga™, a leading of brand aerial yoga with teacher trainings recognized by the Yoga Alliance.
Following the birth of her second child and wanting to return to her yoga and Cirque roots, Carmen designed AIReal Yoga to use an aerial hammock as a yoga prop to align, deepen stretches and safely do inversions. Carmen’s AIReal Yoga also offers a 50-hour, for certified yoga teachers, and a 200-hour and 300 hour teaching training course recognized by the yoga alliance, where yogis learn both floor based yoga and aerial yoga.
AIReal Yoga has expanded their student learning experiences to include multi-day immersions, destination retreats, and continuing education modules. Now well-known as a pioneering & successful brand that makes yoga accessible to everyone, AIReal Yoga also has the distinction of being licensed to luxury resorts and hotels throughout the world such as The Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa at Beaver Creek Mountain in the heart of Vail Valley, Colorado.
As well, Carmen Curtis and senior certified AIReal Yoga instructors are featured presenters at leading global yoga festivals, such as Wanderlust 108, Wanderlust Festivals, Bhakti & Shakti Festival, and Telluride Yoga Festival.
When not traveling, Carmen can most likely be found hanging around at The Aerial Studio, in Ventura, CA, a certified RYS that she was encouraged to open in 2012 after wowing the community with her aerial abilities that she practiced out of her garage. Carmen co-owns the popular multi-faceted modern cirque, acrobatics, dance, yoga and AIReal Yoga studio, along with her husband and fellow former Cirque performer and creative, Gregg Curtis. The duo also co-owned AIRealistic, an internationally renowned aerial theatre and rigging company, that has worked with such prestigious clients as: Dancing With The Stars, Cirque Du Soleil, Julie Taymor's A Midsummer Night's Dream, The 2008 Beijing Olympics, The World Stunt Awards, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Bregenz Opera Festival, Toyota, Disney, Red Bull and many, many more.
Celebrities are often among the thousands of people Carmen touches with her craft, most recently training Beyoncé and her dancers, in the art of aerial dancing, including harness and AIReal Yoga, for the superstar’s current Formation World Tour. In addition, Carmen choreographed, and Gregg directed the aerial acts featured in what is Beyoncé’s biggest and most spectacular world tour to date. Other well-known students Carmen has trained and worked with include such incredible talents as Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Edyta Sliwnke, professional dancer often appearing on the hit television series Dancing With The Stars, and Ruby Rose during her appearance on Lip Sync Battle.
A star in her own right, Carmen has performed in many incredible shows including De La Guarda, where she was drumming, harness flying and running the walls, in NYC, Las Vegas and South Korea. and has worked for such high-profile outlets as Cirque Du Soleil, MTV and the Olympics. So impressed with her talent and ability, the director of Cirque Du Soleil, Franco Dragone, hired Carmen to collaborate with the research and development team for Le Reve, in which she also performed, at the Wynn hotel.
Carmen also continues to support her love of aerial arts with her involvement in such events as the Reno Aerial Fest and VIVA Fest. Carmen is a former gymnast at UCLA where she helped her team win a NCAA National Championship. From early childhood and throughout her college and post-graduate career, she consistently trained in dance, theater and swimming. She earned a B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Higher Education at UCLA and pursued her M.S. in Holistic Nutrition.
Fast-forward to present day and Carmen is still masterfully maneuvering life with grace and balance as a successful working mother of two, literally walking and dancing on air...while jumping through an occasional hoop.
Follow her journey @carmencurtis1