Partner yoga — an experimental fitness class being offered at 9 p.m. Tuesday nights at State Gym, promotes exploring your mind/body, but now people do not necessarily have to do it by themselves. Now they can explore their mind and body with another person.

Yoga literally translates to “union” or more specifically, the union of physical, mental and spiritual disciplines. When practicing yoga, individuals are working to develop these aspects of themselves; but in partner yoga, these disciplines stretch beyond individual development.

“When you’re working in yoga, you’re trying to build relationships with yourself. … When you add a partner, you’re working to develop a relationship,” said Nora Hudson, fitness coordinator for Recreation Services. “So you are always gaining insight into all the different levels of the relationship — physical, mental and spiritual.”

Partner yoga, Hudson said, involves a lot of coordination.

“There’s definitely more balance work that needs to happen because you have to negotiate between two people,” Hudson said. “You have to quickly look outside yourself and be observant of that individual and their needs and physical abilities, and learn how to match that and coordinate it.”

Hudson suggested this balance is a symbolic concept of any relationship — a balance that “gives and takes” and understanding how to come together to form one unified posture.

“[It] really helps develop a sense of trust within both people,” said Paul Beamer, senior in horticulture and yoga instructor. “You have to learn to communicate pretty effectively and be willing to trust yourself and the other person. … It’s a nice shared experience you don’t get elsewhere.”

Partner yoga requires a higher physical level at the core, making it a great challenge for core and body strength. Having a partner also allows you to reach a posture you couldn’t do by yourself, or is dependent upon the second person to facilitate it deeper. This allows for a “different experience of your body,” Hudson said.

Chad Yuen, graduate student in chemistry and lead instructor of partner yoga, explained that partner yoga is a variety of different traditional yoga poses but taken to the next level.

Examples of these more difficult moves include, “flying” poses, which is one person as base, one balancing to “fly” — similar to playing “airplane” as a child, or “double downward dog,” which is one person doing downward dog, while the other stands on their hands and rests their feet on the back of the downward dog.

He said the class requires a deeper stretch but gives a good back massage while strengthening it.

“I’ve realized it’s almost effortless when you have someone to help you into a stretch,” Beamer said. “[There’s] so much of a benefit in being with somebody to help you get to a deeper level of your practice.”

The atmosphere in partner yoga is a much more social environment. Instead of a flowing yoga class, the instructor will demonstrate and instruct, then have participants attempt the pose.

Communication between partners and instructors is key for this class, and people often laugh when attempting, sometimes failing to complete a pose.

“It’s awkward at times,” Beamer said. “If you don’t laugh, you’ll continue that feeling of being awkward — it’s good to laugh and let go of stress that way — to feel more comfortable with each other. Ultimately, that’s what it’s about — doing it with other people allows you to be more comfortable.”

Mahala McDanel, junior in event management and another yoga instructor, said partner yoga satisfies the human need of touch, making it a more spiritual journey. Beamer agreed that touch communication is something he believes our society has lost.

Yuen said he hopes that more people come in and try it out; see what it is. Although the class is partnered, that doesn’t mean you need to come with someone. When individuals show up, they are partnered with other individuals, which is not abnormal.

The class is open to all levels, beginner-advanced, but Yuen does recommend some individual yoga experience.

Hudson said partner yoga is a place for those willing to step outside of a comfort zone, have a good laugh and get a great mind/body workout.

When asked why students should feel encouraged to give the class a try, Beamer said: “A question we need to ask more is — do you want to fly?”