Planning a Yoga Sequence

There are tons of ways to set up a yoga sequence. If you’re stuck, here are a few of our favorite methods.

General Principles

Any sequence, regardless of the theme or style should have a beginning, middle, and end. What is the warmup? What is the peak, and how will they wind down?

Also take into consideration the level of the class. Is this a truly all-levels class with people of all skill levels including beginners? Or do most of them practice yoga regularly? This makes a huge difference in how you put together your class. Use the first few minutes of class during the warmup to assess the general mobility of your students. Every class is different. And even familiar students may be tighter or looser on different days. Pay attention to them and be willing to adapt your plans if it will better accommodate the people in front of you.

Pick a Theme

Maybe your heart is extra open tight now or you’ve been working on your tight hamstrings. You can pick pretty much anything and plan a sequence around it. you can pick an area of the body, a muscle group, or a chakra and run with it.

Teach Toward a Peak Pose

Pick a challenge pose like handstand and teach your class like a mini workshop with all the poses leading teaching principles needed to accomplish the final pose. Set up their expectation to hVe fun and that even if they can’t do the peak pose perfectly the first time, no worries. They are learning important keys that will help them get it.

Repeat A Mini Sequence

A fun way to put together a class is to flow poses together that move together like a slow yoga dance. Some people really have the magic touch to pull this off. If you try this, build a short sequence that you repeat. This way the class will feel like they’ve learned a routine and gotten better at something towards the end. Some of your more diligent students will be able to remember it enough to practice at home.