When I walked into my first hammock class at Aerial Dance, I was nervous, stiff, and fully convinced I would embarrass myself. I was just someone looking for something different—a workout, maybe, or a way to feel strong in my own body. 

What I found was so much more.

Confidence didn’t come from nailing tricks. It came from showing up. It came from climbing higher – even just an inch than the week before, from learning to invert, to getting tangled up and realizing I was still okay. Aerial taught me that strength isn’t just physical—it’s trusting yourself enough to keep trying.

Trust showed up in unexpected ways. I learned to trust my Aerial Dance instructors, who taught safety first, and saw potential in me long before I did. I learned to trust the hammock. But mostly, I learned to trust my body. That it could hold me, that it wouldn’t give up on me, even when my brain wanted to. 

And then there was letting go—the hardest but most freeing lesson. Sometimes it meant literally dropping into a spin or fall sequence with nothing but muscle memory to catch me. Other times, it meant letting go of perfection, comparison, or fear. Letting go became a choice—and a powerful one.

Aerial has a way of changing you. Not just how you move, but how you feel—about your body, your limits, and your power. It taught me that confidence is built in the moments no one sees, that trust is earned with repetition and care, and that letting go doesn’t mean losing control—it often means finding it.