But the way we get into our poses has the potential to change our experiences of the poses themselves. It’s easy for all of us to get into ruts, sticking with a favorite transition for getting into a pose. Repeat all poses twice…but get into them differently. This time, notice if it’s easier to relax, and if you are better able to let go of the thoughts you meant to let go of the first time. Instead of proceeding to another pose, lie back again, resituating yourself in the same pose. After relaxing in supta baddha konasana (reclining bound angle) for several minutes, come up.

Repeating poses works in a restorative practice, too! Give yourself or your students a second chance at relaxing in the same pose. If you are teaching, on that second pass you could even decide to be silent-giving students the chance to integrate the instructions you provided the first time around (and giving yourself the chance to practice silence, while giving individualized adjustments). Or not: Instead you could notice whether a pose, done a second time (and without alteration), feels different than it did the first time. Why not apply this technique to your favorite poses and do trikonasana (triangle) on the right and left, then trikonasana on the right and left again? On the second pass at a pose, you could change things slightly-going deeper, or adding a variation. On that second chance, we can do everything we meant to do the first time! Though I’ve only dabbled in Bikram yoga, one of the things I appreciate about it is that we get a second chance at all the poses. Okay, this isn’t exactly new, or even all that different-certainly to practitioners of Bikram. And yet, since there are fewer common restorative poses for us to work with, you or your students may be hungry for variation-which can come from changes in sequencing like the ones proposed here. These extremely gentle classes are independent of peaks they instead have natural nadirs, winding down and down to bring students to the deepest depth of relaxation. Note that sequencing ideas one, two, and four work for restorative classes as well. (Admittedly, lovers of peak-sequencing could pair a few of the ideas here with a peak!) One way to refresh practice without adding new poses is to make changes to one’s sequencing methodology.īelow, I offer seven ideas for structuring a yoga class that, if not “new” (surely others have used these techniques before), are at least different from the usual peak-pose methodology. While certainly a peak does not have to be an acrobatic feat of daring-do, we may eventually find that we run out of accessible peak as we become familiar with the safest and most beneficial poses for us. There may be times when you find it necessary to explore other approaches to sequencing, since many of us-mature students, expectant mothers, or those with injuries or other range-of-motion restrictions-require a more limited palette of yoga poses. One way to refresh practice without adding new poses is to make changes to one’s sequencing methodology. When you do not have a peak pose as your goal, you have space for other goals-or even “goal-less” exploration. Regardless of the intensity of the pose you’ve chosen as a peak, a peak-pose sequence often creates a subtle (or not-so-subtle) emphasis on “getting somewhere.” So it can be a refreshing change of pace to de-emphasize destination. When our aim is to warm up our bodies in preparation for a difficult or unfamiliar pose, or to investigate a seemingly simple pose more thoroughly (so as to experience it more fully), it makes sense for us to use this method of sequencing.īut if you, like me, have been teaching or practicing with peak poses in mind for many years, you may find yourself hungry to explore new ways of putting a class together. I think of peak-pose sequencing as a pyrotechnics show in which different fireworks are shot off individually, then in groups, and then all at once for a grand finale. With this familiar and beloved strategy, we practice “component actions,” often in increasing level of difficulty, until arriving at the pose of greatest complexity-in which all the component actions come together. Sequencing toward a peak pose is indispensable for creating both our own home practice and yoga classes for our students.

Hatha yoga class sequence