Figuring Out Sequencing, September 2009, www.yogacitynyc.com
As
a yoga teacher as well as a student, I often ponder all of the things
that separate an amazing class from a class that is, well…not so
amazing. Sequencing is the key. Theme, energy, skill level, flow,
alignment, pace, physiology, subtle body and even music selection are
just some of the things a teacher takes into account when sequencing a
class. It’s how you get from start to finish, and all of the juicy bits
in between.
Wanting
to hone my skills, I attended the “Sequencing Workshop for Teachers” by
Forrest Yoga certified instructor, Erica Mather (of The Fierce Club, Om
Factory and Life in Motion). After the weekend long workshop I sat down
with this inspiring teacher to pick her brain.
Auble: When it comes to sequencing in a yoga class, what separates the good from the bad?
Mather:
Good sequencing leaves the student feeling physically and emotionally
“blissed out,” like something beautiful and thrilling happened during
class, like their armor was cracked a little bit, but not so much as to
make them too raw or vulnerable. Thoughtful sequencing is also crucial
to students’ safety and progress, and passing the teachings ahead with
integrity and beauty. Inadequate sequencing does the opposite. It only
touches the surface of a student’s feeling potential. They can leave
feeling like nothing happened or at worse injured or feeling emotionally
and energetically vulnerable without the proper guidance and support to
help them.
Auble: How do the different styles or schools of yoga vary in regards to the way they sequence?
Mather:
Each one has its own philosophy about how best to reveal the truths of
the body and spirit. Often you will find some theory of expansion and
contraction at work. For example in my Vinyasa classes I put the poses
together, balancing yin and yang, strength and flexibility. An example
of this would be ab work (yang energy: sun, heat, strength) which
contracts the front body, into bridge pose (yin energy: moon, cool,
receptive) which then expands the front body.
Auble: Where do you start before putting together a class?
Mather:
I think about the needs of my students, and where they are on their
learning path. I then work from there considering how best to move them
forward. Sometimes this is in alignment with something I would like to
teach—a pose, or a concept—and other times it is not. If not, I
privilege their needs—not their desires. One of the reasons we do yoga
is to awaken. You come in with a story about your life, which leads you
to desire something. Our job as teachers is to see through those stories
and help our students wake up by seeing through the illusions, and to
give them what they need through asana, dialog or coaching. Another
thing to consider is what injuries and health concerns the students in
the class possess. If many say they are having neck and shoulder
problems, I’ll sequence a class that works to open those and show them
how to support them. I’ll stay away from poses that could exacerbate
the issue.
Auble: What drives your sequencing?
Mather:
What I call “apex poses” or a broader theme—such as twists,
strengthening, backbends, etc.—drive my sequencing. Often I’ll pair
these to make things more interesting—twists with hips, or hips and
shoulders, hamstrings and inversions, etc. This kind of approach to
theming a class can unfurl naturally from breaking down an apex pose
into smaller components before bringing it together into a “grand
finale.” Let’s take a pose like Easy Bird of Paradise; I would think of
what you need to do. The pose requires you to stand on one leg and to
bind, it also requires the hamstrings, hips and shoulders to be warmed
up and open. Then I work backwards from there making sure that students
are fully prepared before they go into the pose; that they have already
done a pose where they balanced on one leg, and one where they were in a
bind, etc….
Auble: Okay. Once you decide the “Apex” what elements do you take into consideration?
Mather:
How to teach systematically and incrementally. For instance, if a
particular pose is quite complicated, then breaking it down into small
pieces in ways that allow the students to feel each piece individually
before putting it together.
Auble: Is there a particular order that you would recommend as a framework to build upon?
Mather:
I suggest this order—intention setting, pranayama, warm-up, core work,
hot part (suns, standing poses), apex, warm down, cool down, savasana.
I’ve adopted this design from Forrest Yoga, and Ana Forrest who first
articulated this blueprint. For me, a warm up would be seated poses.
Core is a blend of core strength Vinyasa, some things I have made up or
from Forrest Yoga. The hot section would be sun salutations followed by
standing poses. An apex can be anything, it really depends upon the
level of the class, backbends, arm balances, inversions. Warm down would
be more standing postures, maybe some hip work and more core poses to
re-stabilize. Cool down would be seated or laying down poses. Basically
for a safe class you want to make sure your students are put back
together, from whatever work you did during class, before they walk out.
Auble: How does sequencing help you better meet an open class, with students at varying skill levels?
Mather:
To accommodate the varying skill levels in class I’ve developed a set
of up-levels and down-levels for each posture, and also keep in mind
alternatives for people who are working with specific injuries. With
this repertoire in mind, I can offer these up to students to play and
experiment with.
Auble:
By up leveling or down leveling do you mean, for example, going from
Parsvakonasana to Utthita Parsvakonasana or adding a half or full bind?
Mather:
Exactly, each pose has a variety of components to it where you can
increase or decrease the degree of difficulty so students can access
your teachings.
Auble: Do you always plan the sequence in advance or do you ever do it “on the fly”?
Mather:
Sequencing of the fly requires a certain amount of experience and
skill. At the beginning of my teaching career I wrote out every class.
Now I write out some, but more often come in with a game plan and then
read the room and sequence intuitively.
Auble: Will you explain why it might it be good for teachers to be able to sequence more in the moment?
Mather:
Because a class is a dialog, an exchange between you and the students.
If it becomes evident that the skill level of the class is above or
below that which you originally thought, it makes sense to adjust your
plan. Or, if suddenly the energy level in the class shifts up or down,
you may wish to do the same, to respond accordingly in the moment. For
instance, if it is 90˚ outside and you are teaching two classes back to
back. The 1st class is handling the heat fine and has a lot of energy,
so you allow that “burn” with a high-energy class. The 2nd class is not
managing the heat well, and is energetically drained, so you allow them
to move in a more gentle way. This is part of what we teach—how to be
present and respond to what a situation calls for, so we must learn to
do this as teachers too.
Auble: What about safety in sequencing?
Mather:
I believe that if you warm up the core at the beginning of class, and
continue to emphasize core connectivity throughout that it increases
students’ mindfulness as well as their innate strength and flexibility.
These things help to keep students safe during class. It is also
crucial to think carefully about the degree of opening you are asking
for from a student and prepare them to go there. For instance, I know
few people who can drop back or go into a split without substantial
preparation. For many students gentler backbends or hamstring stretches
are just as dramatic in their bodies so you need to prepare them well.
Auble: What are some problems that can arise from poor or unintelligent sequencing?
Mather:
Injury. Leaving students raw, vulnerable or incomplete at the end of
class. As teachers we have a responsibility to make sure our students
are “put back together” by the time we finish with them, so that they
are less prone to do absent-minded or rash things, but instead can use
their open state to their best advantage—to act out of clarity and
truth, to nourish their bodies and spirits.
For information on upcoming workshops check out: www.ericamather.com
-Kristin Auble
Meet Emerging Yoga Teachers in Your Community, by Rebecca Jane
The old books remind us that one does not learn Yoga by oneself; the guidance of a master is crucial.
In
ancient India, of all the initiatory disciplines and crafts, it was
Yoga that placed highest value on the critical role that one’s teacher
played in the journey to fulfillment. In ancient times, if a Yoga
practitioner wanted to qualify as a teacher, he had to undergo demanding
initiation. For instance, in early traditions, a guru performed a
ritual in which an angry god would take possession of an initiate. In
the more severe pre-Buddhist Ajivika order, the candidate’s body was
buried up to the neck and his hairs plucked out one by one.
Today,
although practices may have done away with burial and hair plucking,
Yoga teacher training is still rigorous. If one wants to become a Yoga
teacher nowadays, the process involves a 200 to 500-hour Yoga teacher
training program, after which a student receives certification from the
Yoga Alliance.
Please
meet Kelly Britton, Jennifer Cohen, Elizabeth Keady, Erica Mather, and
Sarah Wertzberger. These five women have completed, or are in the
process of completing, different Yoga teacher training programs. They
are a new generation of teachers on the rise in our community. Maybe
you still haven’t found the teacher you’re looking for, so you might
want to get to know some before enrolling in a class.
This
column also intends to help you make an informed decision if you are on
the lookout for a training program that suits you. Michele Cuomo is
the Director of Yoga Teacher Training at Spine & Soul in Bayside.
Her advice to anyone looking for a suitable Yoga teacher training
program is “Practice a lot and find what works for you before you sign
onto anything.” In the process of finding what works for you, the
experience of others provides precious insight.
Kelly Britton
Kelly
Britton learned about Jivamukti style Yoga at a community center almost
seven years ago. She yearned to try Jivamukti because she knew the
name well from living in the neighborhood and passing the studio daily.
But it was not until her children were grown that she started attending
classes there, and she never stopped. Kelly wanted to complete teacher
training with Sharon Gannon and David Life because they have such
strong reputations.
For
Kelly, one of the most overwhelming aspects of teacher training was
leaning how to coordinate all the students’ breath with their movement.
“When you’re just taking a yoga class,” she said, “you don’t realize
that the teacher must maintain heightened awareness about many things,
including the students’ breath, the posture sequence, and the
appropriateness of music.” Kelly had experience as a TA in college and
she has raised two children who are now teenagers. “Yoga teacher
training teaches you a little bit about teaching, but the practical
experience in your own classes helps most. When starting out, teach
every class you can. Substitute a lot.” Kelly can attest to the fact
that the Yoga teacher’s job gets physically demanding with adjusting
students, doing demonstrations of poses, and trying to find time to eat
when you are a fully booked Yoga teacher.
For
anyone looking for a training program, Kelly suggests one that is
well-established with a name and reputation because then you’re more
likely to find a job teaching afterwards. Kelly teaches at Jivamukti
and is always eager to help out if a substitute teacher is needed at the last minute.
In
Kelly Britton’s class, the breath is never ignored; students dedicate
the practice to all beings everywhere; yogis are encouraged to let go of
striving and turn inward to listen for authentic inspiration. At the
end of her practice, Kelly wakes students from Shivasana with her
gorgeous singing voice. She sings a Sanskrit prayer, and her voice
gives her away as someone who is generous and accommodating.
Jennifer Cohen
Jennifer Cohen has an education background and had her own Yoga for
years. Naturally, she started teaching Yoga to her kindergarteners.
Her classes were so well-received that she became interested in
enrolling in a teacher-training program because she wanted to be safer
with her students. She searched out a warm, friendly studio with a
training program that coordinated with her busy professional life. She
did her Yoga teacher training with Jonathan Fields and Lauren Hanna at
Sonic Yoga. She liked the combination of science-based explanations of
physiology and the tradition-based explanations of the subtle body
offered by the two different teachers. “The staff gave well-balanced
instruction and created a supportive group among the nine students
enrolled in the program.”
Cohen is currently writing
elementary and high school curricula that combine classroom objectives
with Yoga teachings. What has surprised her most about her Yoga path is
that now she teaches both children and adults. She never expected to
enjoy teaching adults so much, but she realized, “Adults actually listen
to you!”
In Cohen’s class, students can focus on getting in touch
with the elements doing a Vinyasa flow through fire, earth, air, and
water. Cohen is approachable, eager to serve public school communities,
and attentive to her students. She would tell anyone who plans to
train as a Yoga teacher to be prepared for the mentally intensity and
facing yourself. “It’s important to dedicate yourself to doing it, and
just let emotional things come up.”
Elizabeth Keady
Elizabeth
Keady did her Yoga teacher training with Spine & Soul in Bayside.
Elizabeth Keady had been working as a paralegal for almost 20 years
before discovering yoga. After years of sitting in front of a computer
all day, Keady developed burning sensations in her neck and down her
spine. She learned some basic Yoga moves and terms from a Denise Austin
video. She had never taught any kind of class in her life, nor had she
any real public speaking experience. She had to get over her dread of
being in front of her own group of students, but when Keady completed
her 200-hour training, she felt completely transformed.
The first
classes she ever attended were gentle evening classes that were held in
the basement of her co-op and cost her $8. That’s where she met Geralyn
Marchisello. Marchisello was impressed with Keady’s movement and
invited her to join classes at the studio at 213-37 40th Avenue in
Bayside. When Keady felt strong enough to expand her own practice, she
asked a Kripalu-trained instructor at Spine & Soul if she thought
Kripalu would be a good training program for her. The instructor filled
Elizabeth in on a secret: if Spine & Soul could round up enough
interested participants, they were ready to launch their first yoga
teacher training program at Spine & Soul. Keady felt eager to be
part of this first group of teacher trainees.
The most pleasantly
bewildering part of Yoga teacher training was learning human anatomy.
Keady said that less time was spent on meditation, but students were
given plenty of opportunity to write self-assessments of their strengths
and weaknesses.
She intends to continue teaching at Spine &
Soul, perhaps continue her training within the community because it’s
comfortable there. So comfortable, in fact, that a new guest to Spine
& Soul gets the feeling that everyone knows her name.
Elizabeth
Keady brings a kind and open attitude to her class. She guides students
through stretches that are both challenging and comforting; she
provides a thorough workout.
Erica Mather
Erica Mather
did her Yoga teacher training with Ana Forrest in Boston. She first
started practicing Yoga because she had adult-onset migraine headaches.
Ana Forrest Yoga draws on a healing component that attracted Mather to
that particular school.
Erica is enrolled in a Ph.D. program in
ethnomusicology. She has experience teaching sailing, wind surfing,
jazz piano, and Big Band. She enjoyed the 24-day immersion program
because “it forced you to deal with yourself; 40 people who worked
together felt like a family when it was over with, and many people
transformed their whole outlook so that there was a sense of life before
training and life after training.”
Erica is known, by her
colleagues and students, for her “magic hands.” She says that one thing
Ana Forrest taught her was how to touch students for adjustments: “Ana
said when we need to touch a student, we should touch every student as
if we are touching the Beloved.”
In Erica’s practice focuses on
generating heat in the body. Students get a chance to spill their
creative sweat all over the mat. Erica conducts a smooth and effective
class revealing she is intelligent, articulate, and gracious. Her goal
is to teach authentically.
Sarah Wertzberger
Sarah
Wertzberger considers herself a lover of movement. She did her Yoga
teacher training with five other students and Jonathan FitzGordon at the
Yoga Center of Brooklyn. Sarah originally came to New York City from
Kansas to be a visual artist, but devoted herself to Yoga in order to
feel a strong sense of physical and mental well-being. For her day job,
Sarah drives a truck to deliver art. She has experience grappling with
whether or not to give up the idea of becoming a career artist.
Teaching Yoga provides her a way to give energy to others. She intends
to teach small-sized community and private classes and eventually move
into a kind of Yoga practice that focuses as much on mental therapy as
on physical health. She recently came back from a Kripalu mind/body
seminar that inspired her. She thinks a strong personal practice and
continuing Yoga education are necessary parts of being a good
teacher.
Sarah’s workout is strong and controlled. Her voice is
gentle which balances her demanding practice. She has learned most
about Yoga from teaching it.
The founder of Jivamukti Yoga
School, Sharon Gannon says, “The number one job of a Yoga teacher when
they walk into a room that has 100 students, 50 students, 5 students or
only one student, is to see each student as divine. Everything else
should come from that; whatever other instructions the teacher may
convey should come from a space within themselves where they are seeing
the student as a holy being…”
Michel Cuomo said, “Yoga
teacher training is good for anyone who cares about Yoga; it’s a
retreat, a good way for you to deepen your own practice.”
According
to the Yoga Alliance, a complete Yoga teacher training program should
convey knowledge of Asanas, Modifications, Contraindications, Proper use
of props, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Methodology, Anatomy, Physiology,
Kinesiology, Assisting with Posture Alignment, Working with Special
Populations, Insider Yoga Teaching Tips, Yoga Teacher Ethics, Chakras,
Bandhas, Mudras, Doshas, Yamas, Niyamas, Pranayama techniques,
Meditation, Relaxation, Yoga Business Development, Communication,
Marketing, and Networking.
If you are looking for a suitable teacher
training, of course it is good to know that the program provides all the
above-mentioned requisites. But now that you’ve met five yoga teacher
trainees in your community, perhaps your decision to enroll in a program
will more deeply influenced by human spirit.
Rebecca Jane
Submitted to NY Spirit Magazine
March 21, 2007