Saturday, June 03, 2006


weekly podcast delayed until tomorrow

don't worry -- it will come. life just interrupted a bit. thanks for your patience.

and also thanks for the email in reply to #3 last week. quite a few of you suggested that my blog is the coffee appreciation column the ny times should be running every week, which was quite kind.

in today's yoga news, i met up with a teacher pal of mine who had also taken the dread sonic yoga class. we discussed what makes sequences bad or good.

obviously we all agree -- well, ashtangis aside -- that there is not one perfect yoga sequence for everyone. but there are some common guidelines many yoga traditions roughly follow.

it turns out the teacher of said dread class was relatively new. this might explain the poor sequencing i endured, as a newish teacher worked to put together an original class.

i accept that each yoga teacher has to take the tradition and make it their own. they have to devise their classes from their heart as well as their knowledge to make the class seem sincere.

but! i expect them to have that knowledge to be able to put together a safe yoga class appropriate for a broad range of students.

there are many "classic" vinyasa yoga sequences. i think you could combine them almost as blocks, or groups of sets.

to make them original and personal, you as a teacher may have to add only yourself and what your yoga has brought you. especially if you are new and in a position where you are substituting for a regular class whose students you don't know!

i do often find that many newer teachers also make the mistake -- besides poor sequencing -- of teaching an unbalanced class. instead they subtly teach the poses they prefer or "do well."

while this may ensure that they look yoga-magazine-cover-picture-ok to students while standing up to demonstrate in front of the room, it doesn't really do much for the students.

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posted by fortune | 2:12 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 2 comments