A vital part of any professional asana teacher’s repertoire of skills is their ability to put together sequences of poses that are intelligent, effective, varied, and interesting; and which leave the practitioners who come to these classes feeling satisfied, and enriched through repeated experiences of authentic yoga practice.

To that end, I created a simple process for sequencing any type of asana class that gives just enough structure to satisfy the desired outcomes that exist for most asana classes, but also allows enormous freedom and creativity to have infinite other types of outcomes.

I knew I was on to something when I started showing this structured process to other experienced asana teachers. They would almost all say to me, after having a look at it, “ Oh yeah, that is pretty much what I do in my head when I sequence my classes”.

This week’s podcast is about one of the more controversial topics being discussed in the yoga world today: physical contact between teachers of asana and their students.

While most of what we teach is transmitted verbally, the actual learning more likely takes place, in the context of an asana practice, through what the student feels when they follow your instructions. Oftentimes, it is appropriate to enhance the kinesthetic experience of asana with hands-on adjustments.

Touch is an extremely powerful mode of communication and transference of energy. Use it wisely. There are benefits to the practitioner that simply can’t be given in any other way. The flip side of the power of adjustments to help is that they can harm or misguide as potently as they can do good.

This week’s podcast is about teaching that’s based on knowing what your desired outcome is for what you are doing, then executing it so that your teaching has clarity and consequence.

To provide context for the teaching methodology that I will present in this season, I want to introduce you to my teacher, Maty Ezraty.