#Easy yoga sequence how to#

Sequencing with a particular pose as your destination can also involve practicing poses that demand the same muscular engagement as needed in the peak pose but in completely different shapes. Separately, you would take students into twists with the upper body in which the arms are outstretched, perhaps while reclining on the mat early in class with knees to one side, and then again later in Low Lunge and High Lunge. You might include Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) and perhaps Parsvottanasana (Pyramid Pose). If you were sequencing a peak pose of Parivrtta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose) you would want to ask students to first practice stretches for the hamstrings and, separately, twists in the upper body. This might include taking students into Low Lunge before High Lunge so they start to work hip flexion and extension close to the mat before you ask then to add strength and balance. This familiarizes students with the basics of the posture before asking them to coordinate different shapes in a single pose. It also asks that you practice the same shapes required by the challenge posture but in less demanding scenarios. However, a challenge pose approach involves more than simply warming the muscles. For other students, a peak pose might be a backbend like Wheel Pose ( Urdhva Dhanurasana) or an arm balance like Firefly Pose ( Tittibhasana). For students who have less experience with yoga, a peak pose might be Half Moon Pose ( Ardha Chandrasana) or Pigeon Pose ( Eka Pada Rajakapotasana). Class progresses from simple to more complex poses, with careful consideration given to warming the muscles that will come into play later in the peak pose. This technique structures class around properly preparing students’ bodies to come into a particular pose. 4 ways to sequence a yoga class (Photo: Andrew Clark Clothing: Calia) 1. Let them guide your decision-making process. There are four common approaches that teachers take when it comes to how sequence a yoga class that you can turn to as a starting point. It’s not unlike putting together that puzzle-except there is no single right way to do it.

#Easy yoga sequence how to#

This means getting on your mat and moving through each posture and transition by yourself, before you teach it, to understand what feels right-or wrong-in your body as you progress throughout the practice and what helps you feel balanced at the end, as if all the pieces of the puzzle finally fit.īut that leaves a tremendous amount of variability in terms of how to put together all the potential parts of a sequence, and to do so in a way that keeps in mind all of the above and has a logical organizing principle to guide you. It’s something that you learn, in part, by taking classes with other teachers and observing what feels right-or wrong-in your body. The art of sequencing a yoga class isn’t something you learn from a manual. And it requires thoughtful consideration of what will help your students find strength, release, and awareness in their bodies-all while being mindful of keeping them safe. It demands an understanding of anatomy and of transitions that are intelligent and, if you desire, creative. Sequencing requires planning, practice, making adjustments, and more practice. Yet there is so much more to learn about developing a sequence of poses for a yoga class.

Maybe you were instructed on how to break down the class into sections-including mat stretches, standing postures, balances poses, core work, and cool-down-and approximately how much time to dedicate to each during a one-hour class.

If you teach vinyasa, you probably also learned the standard trajectory from warm-up to intensity to cool-down. In yoga teacher training, you probably learned the basics: Progress from warming the muscles in basic poses to more intense postures, and start with simple shapes and movements before you ask students to combine them in more complex poses.

Learning how to sequence a yoga class isn’t easy.