238 • PART III: YogA foR EduCATIng foR SElf-REgulATIon And EngAgEmEnT
EngAgE: warm-up
The ENGAGE section of class warms the students up and gets them ready for more vig-
orous and challenging poses. The main components of this section are Sun Salutations
A (Sun A) and Sun Salutations B (Sun B). A Sun Salutation is a sequence of poses that
takes you from standing down to the floor and then back to standing. Some school-based
yoga teachers like to call them Warm-up Sequence A and B, as a more secular option,
discerning them from more traditional titles. Sun A is the basic core sequence and Sun
B builds on Sun A adding Chair and Warrior Poses (Herrington, 2012). See Table 11.1
for the sequences for Sun A and Sun B. I have also added suggestions for breath (i.e.,
in = inhale, out = exhale). All of the poses are described in the following section with
the exception of Half-Lift. In Half Lift, students’ feet are on the floor, legs straight, their
spines are extended so that they are parallel with the floor, and the crowns of their heads
are reaching toward the front of the room. Hands can be placed on the floor or shins. The
core muscles should be used to support the back.
During the ENGAGE section, continue to reinforce the breath, connection, and inten-
tion. You want to bring a deep engagement into the physical experience (principle 4, I work
toward the possibility of presence in my physical body).
PoSE 11.5 foRwARd fold
Pose Forward Fold
(Rag Doll)
Instruct From Mountain Pose, heel–toe your
feet to hip-distance apart, engage
your belly, and fold at the hips.
Allow the very tops of your femurs
to move forward while pressing your
shins back. Continue to pull your
naval in toward your spine. Allow
your head to hang heavy with a
soft neck.Anchor
PointThe naval pulling in and up toward
the spine. The focal point is internal
awareness if eyes are closed or a
spot directly behind you if eyes are
open.Breath
WorkBreath should be steady, even, and
natural.Photograph by Madison Weber; model Kayla Tiedemann.
Source: Curran, 2013; Flynn, 2013; Gillen & Gillen, 2007; Herrington, 2012; Walsh, 2008.