A type of Yoga class is bringing in different Yoga equipment so that attendees can defy gravity and move their muscles without risk of strain.

AntiGravity Yoga has become popular in the UK, US and New Zealand in recent years because its devotees say being suspended from the ground in silk cocoons makes them feel light and more able to ease compressed joints.

According to the Associated Press, Broadway aerial choreographer Christopher Harrison started the craze in 1999 by hanging a silk hammock from the ceiling that could be used as a swing or trapeze.

''Let's take it up into the air,'' he reportedly said the first time he hung the material from the ceiling. ''Thus the silk hammock was born.''

Those who take part in AntiGravity Yoga sessions can sit inside the material and stretch out their legs, using their feet wrapped around the hammock for support.

They then turn upside down and can master traditional Yoga poses, along with positions from dance, gymnastics, Pilates and aerial arts, from inside their cocoon.

AntiGravity Yoga has already attracted some famous followers, including reality TV star Ollie Locke of E4's Made in Chelsea, who paid for Yoga master trainers Laura Armada Buch and Vanessa McCowen to fly from Drogheda to London to teach a private class to him and some close friends recently.

The Drogheda Independent reported that Ms Armada Buch discovered the new version of Yoga while she was in New York in 2008. She was offered the master license for Ireland and the UK a short while after.

Footage from Ollie's private AntiGravity Yoga session is set to appear in the next instalment of the show, which airs on Monday October 31st at 10pm.

Posted by Freya Harper