How does a yoga teacher design a six-day program of classes? The answer is, “backwards” (begin with the end in mind).
What do you want to achieve by the end of the allotted time? If the goal is clear, then all you have to do is put in place the steps to get there.
To kick off the Yoga Shed classes for this year, I’ll have 12 students show up at 7 in the morning. Most will not have done any yoga for 5 wks., so we will have to go slowly and methodically in order to get back in the yoga groove and wake up inner and outer bodies.
My goal for this week is to have the students learn ways to bring balance into their lives. You know how the year seems to speed up as we get back into our routines after holidays. Well, I’d like for us to stay in balance even if/when we find ourselves getting incredibly busy and at times disordered and out of sorts over the course of 2012.
I find that working on physical and mental/emotional balance in yoga practice can help reinforce evenness and equipoise in everyday life.
Standing poses, and especially the ones which require physical balance, are symbols for stability and firm foundations. So it follows that we make these the core of the practice:
Warm-up
Supta Padangusthasana
Arms and shoulders: Gomukhasana, Garudasana, Urdhva Hastasana, Baddha Hastasana, Paschima Namaskar
Adho Mukha Svanasana, with partners
Dynamic:
Step-back lunges x 6
Tadasana
Trikonasana
Parsvakonasana
Vrshkasana
Ardha Chandrasana
Prasarita Padottanasana
Preparation for Sirsasana/Sirsasana
Setu Bhandasana Sarvangasana
Sarvangasana
Cool-down
Ardha Jatara Parivartanasana
Janu Sirsasana
Paschimottanasana
(Viparita Karani – time permitting)
Ujjayi Pranayama
Savasana