60
january 2018yogajournal.com.austudents arrive at yoga with many
different goals, like fi tness or stress
relief, one of the inherent goals
of yoga is to consider the question, who
am I? This work, while endlessly
open-ended, can be approached at any
level: physically, mentally, emotionally
and spiritually.
Is there a method of sequencing that
reliably produces these goals? And is
there a way of knowing if a practice has
achieved this?
Recently I overheard a conversation
after class. “Wow I never knew my left
shoulder was so much tighter than my
right one.” And then the reply, “I know,
me too! But I am getting better at not
pushing myself too far.” This shows that
the student’s goal of a physical focus can
be infused with mindfulness, evolving
a clearer sense of how one lives in one’s
body, and even sensitivity into one’s
habits and the capacity to change.
Regardless of conscious goals, everyone
wants to leave yoga feeling like they have
learned something—with a sense of
accomplishment.STRATEGIES AND THEIR
SHORTCOMINGS
The Peak Pose Method
In the Peak Pose method, a challenging
pose is chosen for a class, and poses
are selected to move towards that pose.
This may give the feeling of a deepening
practice, however, the obvious goal
orientation can give the feeling of
attachment, greed and indeed pride
if the student is successful. At worst,
students may push themselves to
pain or even injury.Random Sequencing
Random sequencing is that
seat-of-the-pants style, when the
teacher shows up with no plan and puts
poses together as they occur to them. It
seems to be easy to forget what one did
on the fi rst side, producing a sequence
that is not even right to left. It’s true that
the random feeling can be fun, full of
unexpected twists and turns, but only
the most seasoned teachers can reliablycreate a feeling of balance, safety, and
closure.Well-Rounded Class
A well-rounded class is one that
includes a short warm up, a few
standing poses, a few twists, backbends
and forward bends, and a little rest: a
buffet of sorts.There is some obvious
intelligence here: make sure you move
the body in all directions. If this were
your steady diet however, you wouldn’t
move too deeply in any one direction.
Well-rounded is a good context for yoga
sequencing, but inherently lacks depth
and enquiry. This approach may be
helpful for students we see only once a
week, or randomly, so that we can be
sure they move in all directions
consistently; nonetheless it tends to
limit our ability to go too deeply in any
one direction.How to deepen focus in
sequencing: Especially
for teachers
Yoga has the potential to deliver so
many benefi ts: Fitness, health,
awareness, community and of course,
fun! The bottom line is that everyone is
looking for a sense of meaning in life;
and yoga can deliver just that. Creating
practices that have at their heart a deep-
ening focus is a strategy for imparting
meaningfulness and giving
students “a way in.” By choosing an
accessible and highly specifi c physical
exploration at the opening of practice,
and following it throughout the
evermore-challenging practice and even
through the cooling down into fi nal rest,
teachers can invite mindfulness and the
capacity to discern the Self. While still
offering a sequence with a highly
discernable theme, we in effect give the
practice to our students to sense and
create precisely what they need. We
become the guide along the path,
reminding each voyager to awaken,
again and again, to their own journey.
The idea of Deepening Focus is to
have students see and sense advancing
in yoga as a process of interiorisation. In
this view, enquiry is coupled with an
increasing and mindful challenge and
success is measured in a clearer sense of
Self. While we want to balance the work
in our students’ bodies in each class, it’s
a good idea to have a clear focus - one
physical exploration that “advances”during the practice. (^) PHOTOS: MILJKO/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM