Beginning A Home Practice, Part 2: How To Sequence A Practice.

Sequencing a practice is a subtle art with many different approaches. The most general and well-rounded way is to approach it from an energetic perspective. Just as a workout at the gym has a progression, so should an asana practice. The different categories of poses have different effects, which need to be taken into account. We will think of the poses in terms of whether they are activating, balancing or settling.

Standing Poses

Standing poses are usually introduced first to the new student. No matter how stiff you are, they give you a chance to open up the legs, hips and lower back with more control than seated poses and forward bends. They also begin the process of opening up the shoulders and trunk in preparation for back bends. They are energizing and invigorating, and are the easiest to move through safely when you want a more active practice. Generally speaking, these can be considered activating poses, though they are also stabilizing for the nervous system. Standing forward folds such as Uttanasana (Intense Stretch Pose) and Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide Spread Feet Pose) can have a balancing and even settling effect if practiced with the head resting lightly on some kind of support such as the seat of a chair or blocks.

Surya Namaskar

Surya Namaskar, or the Sun Salutation, is a way of linking several poses together in a smoothly flowing sequence. (See the article "Surya Namaskar: The Sun Salutation" from April 2006.) Some variation of it is often thrown in at the beginning of yoga classes in order to warm the body up. It can be modified to make it easier or more challenging, to make it gentler or more vigorous. It can be immensely challenging for those with a limited range of motion. Sometimes people think that you are not doing yoga if you do not have a Sun Salutation in your practice. This is entirely untrue. It is not the external trappings, but the inner awareness of a practice that make it yoga. The Sun Salutation is merely a tool, as are all the asanas, with which to anchor your awareness in the body, in the present. Depending on which poses you choose to include, Surya Namaskar can be more or less invigorating and challenging. For the purposes of sequencing, it should be considered activating.

Seated Poses

These are perhaps the original yoga poses, the “asana” that Patañjali refers to in his Yoga Sutras. Just as Tadasana (Mountain Pose) is the foundation of all standing poses, it is in the seated poses that we find the foundation of all the forward extensions. Here we look for the calm, steady base necessary for meditative practices. They are balancing and settling and can be used as a transition from Standing Poses into floor work.

Forward Extensions

I prefer to think of these as “extensions” rather than. Extension of the trunk is essential to the effective practice of these poses. Forward extensions can have a deeply calming effect on the nervous system. This is only achieved by proper extension of the front of the body in order to balance out the stretch of the back of the body. They are balancing and settling introspective poses.

Reclined Poses

At first consideration, it would seem that these poses primarily target the hips. This they most certainly do, but at the same time they get deep into the pelvis, lengthening and balancing the core muscles. Energetically speaking, they are balancing poses.

Core Poses

This small group of asanas are often thought of as "abdominal" poses. It would be fairer to say that they are full body poses. Certainly, at the outset, you may feel their effects in the lower abdominals, thighs and hip flexors, but the challenge is to engage the whole body to distribute the effort evenly throughout the frame. These are activating poses.

Arm Balances

By "Arm Balance" I am referring to such poses as Bakasana (Crow Pose) or Tittibhasana (Firefly Pose). Up to this point, the poses have focused mainly on the lower part of the body. Here weight is borne on the arms, strengthening the whole upper body and core. These intermediate and advanced poses are extremely activating.

Twists

These revolved poses start to take you deeper into the trunk. The twisting action has a two-pronged effect of toning and massaging the internal organs, promoting improved functioning of the gastrointestinal system and blood circulation in the viscera, as well as accessing the deeper muscles of the trunk which will be used in backward extensions and inversions. These can be activating after seated or reclined poses. After standing poses and backward extensions they would be considered balancing.

Backward Extensions

Powerful and exhilarating, these poses need to be approached with care. Just as with forward extensions, “back bend” is perhaps not the best way to describe them. In none of them are you, in fact, asking the back to bend. More appropriate would be to say that you were asking the back to arch so that each segment of back and spine contributes evenly to the pose. They are generally activating, as they stimulate the nervous system. Restorative backward extensions, where the extension is less and the body is fully supported, can be considered balancing and settling.

Inversions

Inversions are thought to have the most powerful effect on the body of all the poses. The nectar of immortality is said to be housed in the skull where it drips down steadily to be consumed in the fires of the belly. Being upside down prevents this from happening. The reversal of gravity on the internal organs is thought to be rejuvenating for them. The greatest effect of these poses is that on the nervous system. The attention necessary to invert the body, coupled with the literal change of orientation can profoundly alter your mood and your frame of mind. There are four basic inversions (with many variations): Hand Stand, Forearm Stand, Head Stand and Shoulder Stand. Hand Stand and Forearms Stand can be thought of as preparations for headstand and are extremely activating. Head Stands are thought to be invigorating and heating whereas Shoulder Stands are thought to be calming and cooling. These balancing and settling poses are often best performed towards the end of a practice.

Restorative Poses

These balancing and settling poses can be thrown into a practice pretty much anywhere: at the beginning as a nice transition into a contemplative frame of mind after a hectic day or a night’s sleep; in the middle as a transition from one set of poses to another, at the end as a period of integration after the work you’ve done. You don’t even have to get involved in a full practice to enjoy these poses. I will often set myself up in a simple restorative pose between classes to center myself and gather myself up for the rest of my day.

It is extremely important not to neglect the restorative poses, as they give the both the physical body and the subtle body a chance to recover. Women in particular need to avoid practicing inversions and focus on restorative poses during their menstrual period. And, even though men do not have the monthly physiological changes of the female menstrual cycle, they also ought to allow themselves regular periods of an exclusively restorative practice that does include inversions to help regulate their hormonal balance.

Shavasana (Corpse Pose)

This is, unquestionably, the one pose that does make a yoga practice. (See the article "Shavasana: Corpse Pose" from April 2006.) It is in Shavasana that the gross and the subtle have a chance to merge. The shifts and changes you have put your body through have a chance to integrate in this pose, both on the gross and the subtle level. The release of body, mind and breath in the pose is the first step towards practice of pranayama (breath control), and dhyana (meditation), the more subtle and internal practices of Patañjali’s eight-limbed path.

The Flow of a Practice

Think of this as an extremely general guide that should be altered according to your mood and energy: