Design Your Own Yoga Routine

The Bell Curve Of Yoga Sequences

Most yoga classes follow the same general sequence:

As you can see, this base sequence looks a lot like a bell curve in terms of intensity. You start off gentle, warm up, slowly move into more challenging asanas, then settle down and eventually return to relaxation.

Obviously this leaves a lot of room for personal interpretation and creativity. Teaching yoga gets fun when you infuse a sequence with your unique style.

A little improvisation and inspiration ensure that classes arent robotic. But you definitely dont want to wing it!

Planning in advance with a yoga sequencing app will help you clarify your vision and goals for a specific yoga class, and be sure that it flows naturally for your students.

The Yogidia Yoga Sequence Builder

This is a famous Sequence Builder that we use to design and share our own online classes. It’s intuitive interface offers drag and drop, cues and many more advanced features.

Advantages of our Sequence Builder

• Create sequences from our 350+ Asana library
• Upload your own poses and use them in the builder
• Add breathing cues, length of practice time, alignment cues and meditations
• Inspire like minded and be inspired in the Yogidia community!

How to create your 1st sequence

• Proceed to your Yoga Teacher Toolbox in your account page

Learn To Create A Website For Your Yoga Business

When weaving poses together, think about a couple of things:

• How do all of those poses fit into the sequence above?
• How do the poses relate to each other?

When thinking about how poses relate to each other, think about the areas of the body they focus on, the energies they create, and how each pose affects the pose before it and after it.

You want your flow to feel harmonious and, well, in flow!

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Join Thousands Of Yoga Teachers And Growing

“I have to say that your yoga sequence builder site is INCREDIBLE – I absolutely love it!! I’ve recommended it to all of my classmates and instructors.I’m getting preparing to graduate my RYTT in about 6 weeks and your sequence builder has proved invaluable. It’s taken away all the fear and reservations I had about putting my yoga sequence together – which is an amazing feeling (:Thank you so much for the outstanding customer service and for creating such a wonderful sequence builder!!”

Stacey Kelly, RYTT-200

“I think your yoga sequence builder website is one of the best existing tools. I recommended it to my yoga teacher colleagues.”

Monika Zameta, Yoga Teacher

“I ultimately decided tummee.com yoga sequence builder is the platform for me because of two main things:I was able to save and share all my yoga sequences in my own library and the great support and customer service for adding new yoga poses and dealing with any questions. Thank you!”

Coral Del Mar, Sound Method Yoga, RYT-200

“Thank you! Your yoga sequence builder has been a wonderful tool for me, as it has enabled me to provide additional assistance to private yoga clients with specialized sequences tailored to them and a place to save favorite yoga sequences for my group classes.”

Francine M. Gausch, YogaLife Institute RYT-200

“I am quite excited about your yoga sequence builder. I recently was certified and I find that it is much easier tosequence and teach using pictures than a script!”

• 15 Days Free Trial

How To Stay Motivated To Do Keep Doing Yoga Regularly

Setting up a home yoga practice is only half the battle now you have to roll out your mat and do it.

“The best advice I can give you,” says Yee, “is to make your yoga part of your morning ritual. This means getting to bed 15 minutes earlier so your yoga practice does not cut into your sleep time. The second piece of advice is to sit down with your weekly calendar and begin to cross out any activity that is not serving you anymore .

But in this interview clip from the intro to his A.M. Yoga for Your Week DVD, Yee says the real key to staying motivated to keep doing yoga at home gets back to listening to yourself and exploring what you need with a sense of curiosity and creativity.

“Another significant way to support your home practice,” Yee adds, “is to practice with a member of your family or a friend. Being held accountable by others can get you to the mat on the dreariest of days. Once you get to the mat, the magic often takes over after a couple of minutes, and you find yourself vibrating with the music of yoga.”

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As A Sequence Wiz Member You Will Be Able To

• Empower students to practice on their own
• Give them the confidence to know what they are doing
• Remind them of you and your services
• Encourage them to recommend your services

Keep class/session records

• Modify your practices quickly and easily
• Remember what youve been teaching even years later
• Collaborate with other wellness professionals

• Educate students on different yoga-related subjects
• Use the materials for class inspiration
• Fuel students interest in yoga
• Help them remember you and what you offer

• Evaluate students current condition
• Develop strategies for long term
• Create multilayered practices

Position On Your Hands And Feet

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How Can You Remember Yoga Sequences

If you’re teaching a class, it’s important to have your yoga sequence memorized. Split up your class into smaller yoga sequences, and memorize each section by repeating the order to yourself. Add in additional smaller sequences until you build up to a full flow.

If it’s a freestyle class, don’t be nervous if you miss an intended flow. Instead, go with the flow and improvise while keeping safety and goals in mind.

How Do You Sequence A Yoga Class

If you’re a yoga teacher, or creating a flow for yourself, sequencing a yoga class can be beneficial before beginning. Consider your goals for the practice and build a sequence around the purpose of the class. Begin with easy poses and build up to more difficult asanas. Balance each posture with a counter-posture, which will target alternating body parts.

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We Know Some Of You Will Be Missing Your Live Studio Classes Right Now But Practicing At Home Has Loads Of Benefits Too Heres How To Make The Most Of It

Having a home yoga practice has loads of benefits. You can practice anywhere , day or night, and you dont need much in the way of equipment. Theres a huge range of teachers and classes at your fingertips, plus, its also pretty inexpensive. You even do it in your pjs!

Best of all, having a home yoga practice teaches you to pay attention to your own body, without worrying what anyone else in class is doing. It encourages you to understand what you need on any given day and practice in a way that supports you physically, mentally and emotionally.

Best For Computer Use: Yoga Class Plan

Yoga Class Plan is an intuitive drag-and-drop sequence builder with customizable poses and easily printable class plans. The free trial is available for 15 days and lets you explore the sequence builder to its full capacity. You can modify existing plans and create new routines very quickly. The tech support is also very helpful.

They also have a nice yoga directory with real human photos for teachers and students to reference online for free. Yoga Class Plan is primarily a computer-based platform and does not have a specific app for mobile devices.

Pros

• Higher price point

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Making It Easy To Stay On Track

Don’t have time for a class right now? Schedule it for later. We will put it straight into your iPhone or iPad calendar so you don’t forget.

Schedule a single class or repeat your favorites every month, fortnight, week or day. Whether you prefer an hour a week or 15 minutes every morning, a regular practice is important, so let us help you fit yoga into your busy life!

Kids Yogaverse: I Am Sun I Am Moon

Kids Yogaverse is an amazing series of apps for kids of different age groups. Its very colourful and attractive with hand painted backdrops and carefully crafted stories that introduce 19 different yoga poses.

There are some built in games as well, such as Find Ha, the Sun Warrior character from the main story, who hides among the artwork on the pages! Ha joins Tha, the moon princess, in a story which brings together the sun and moon salutations.

• Platform: iOS
• Price:£3.99

Youll enjoy this app if youre interested in partner yoga or acro-yoga. This app comes in two versions, beginner and advanced, with each forming a complete course.

The beginners version comes with three flows: First Steps, Front Flow, and Back Flow. The poses and sequences are illustrated with full HD video, resulting in a hefty 400MB application! Every move is also accompanied by a text description.

• Platform: iOS
• Price:£4.99

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That Lets You Focus On Your Yoga

Candles, incense and statues are great, but we don’t think they belong in an app. Our class videos are free from distracting clutter so you can focus on what’s important: the yoga.

Navigating around is also simple and intuitive, so you can find what you’re looking for quickly and easily. Plus the app looks gorgeous on a retina display, and is optimized to show even more yoga on the larger iPhone X screen.

General Tips For Sequencing Yoga Classes

The Basics Are The Bomb

Dont overdo it. Beginner and seasoned practitioners alike can benefit from returning to the foundation of the practice. If youre a newer teacher, just focus on a beginner yoga class sequence.

Practice Your Sequence

This ensures that what you are delivering to your students is conveying what you want them to experience physically and mentally. It will also give you more confidence teaching.

Assess Your Students

Do you have an idea of the type of student attending your class? i.e. elderly, athletes, recovering addicts, etc.? Knowing this information can help guide what direction to take your sequence.

Practice with your playlist

If you teach with music, be sure to have your music on while practicing. Subtle cues in the music will help you know if you need to speed up, slow down, or just savor the moment. I recommend learning how create the perfect yoga playlist, its a powerful way to impact your students.

Consider a theme

High level themes for your classes can help guide your sequence. Here are 25+ theme ideas to guide your next class.

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Follow Some Basic Principles

Start with easier poses. Those that follow the more natural common movements of the body will limber the joints and spine as you work up to the more difficult postures. For example, you will need to warm up the neck, shoulders, and spine before doing shoulderstand.

Many posturesespecially inverted poses, backward bends, and twisting posesrequire counterposes. The principle of counterpose is that an asana that involves a significant effort should be followed by a milder posture that soothes and releases the affected areas. For example, an intense backward bending posture like wheel or bow should be countered with a few minutes in childs pose or with the knees drawn up to the chestpostures that gently round the back in the opposite direction. You may use different counterposes for the same posture, depending on where you feel the strain. Resting between postures is another good counterpose.

Any set of postures should strive for balance. The following sequence uses the principle of counterposes while covering postures that are necessary for almost all of us. The choice of which particular postures to include in this sequence will depend on your goals, needs, and abilities.

What Class Is Right For Me

There are many styles of yoga classes taught today. Some are very physically challenging and will leave you sweating others are gentle and restorative. Some teachers play music in class others dont. Some classes include references to yoga philosophy and spirituality others dont.

Here are a few types of classes your yoga studio or gym may offer:

Hatha: Most yoga styles being taught in America today are a form of hatha yoga, which is a general term that refers to the physical part of yoga, rather than yoga philosophy or meditation. A Hatha yoga class is likely to be a combination of poses and breathing exercises, but its hard to know whether it will be challenging or gentle. Check with the school or the teacher to find more about the level of classes that are described only as Hatha yoga.

Ashtanga Yoga: This is a challenging style of yoga that is centered around a progressive series of yoga sequences that, traditionally, students practice on their own under the guidance of a teacher. If you think that yoga is not a workout, you havent tried an Ashtanga class. Classes include advanced poses such as arm balances and inversions including headstands and shoulder stands. Beginner students are strongly advised to study with an experienced teacher. Ashtanga classes will also often include teachings in yoga philosophy.

Note: Its a good idea to try several yoga classes. How much you enjoy any class will come down to how much you like the teacher, not how its labeled.

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Where Are You Starting From

When you set goals, be willing to have them change. Begin by making an honest assessment of where you are. Be realistic about your strengths and weaknesses. This applies to everythingfrom the condition of your body, to your daily schedule and the other commitments in your life. As you plan your practice, take your whole environment into consideration, both internal and external.

When you set goals, be willing to have them change.

As you continually observe and assess yourself, youll want to adapt your routine to accommodate what you discover as you practice. For example, suppose you are working to learn the headstand and have designed a practice to achieve that end, but find yourself increasingly interested in exploring tension in the pelvis. This may be inhibiting your progress in all postures, so adjust your goals and methods accordingly. Similarly, if you realize that mastering the headstand is too ambitious at the moment, put it on the shelf with other long-term goals. Focus on developing confidence in the standing postures and increasing abdominal strength and shoulder flexibilityall of which are necessary for a comfortable headstand. Allow your practice to grow, and build on the discoveries you make as you proceed. Your purpose will change as your life changes.

Reasons To Use A Yoga Sequence

With that being said, there are practical and good reasons for placing some postures ahead of others and following a yoga sequence.

• Safety reasons: Many teachers will begin practice with floor asanas for safety reasons alone to gradually loosen tendons, muscles, and ligaments before launching into standing postures.
• Balance poses with counterposes: Other teachers will standardly follow certain poses with counterposes. For example, the fish may follow a shoulder stand to provide a counter stretch for the neck. Similarly, after a series of backbends, it is often nice to do a forward bend to help release the lower back.

But, even then, there are no hard-and-fast rules. For example, with Iyengar yoga, the concept of pose-counterpose is outright rejected and considered detrimental to a practice. Instead, classes are structured around a particular theme, with one pose leading to the next through its similarity rather than its opposition.

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Tips For Building Creative Yoga Sequences

As new yoga teachers, creating yoga sequences can feel overwhelming at first. But over time, as your teaching experience grows and you are consistent in your personal practice, creative yoga sequencing will flow to and from you as naturally as your breath.

Maybe you teach at a yoga studio that adheres to a specific style

but if this is not the case, which style should you incorporate into your sequencing?

With so many styles available to students hatha yoga, Iyengar yoga, hot yoga, and vinyasa to name a few choosing the best style to teach may feel daunting, but its actually pretty simple.

One of the biggest tips I give to students in my advanced teacher training course is to teach what you practice and let your own direct experience be your guide. These following tips will help you with the rest!

And Every Class Gets A Full Hd Video

We’ve done all the hard work, so making your own yoga classes is a breeze. Unique features like pose blocks and smart-link make it simple, intuitive and fast.

Best of all, we stitch together a full, flowing video of every class you make. Yes, you read that correctly. A full video, for every class. We call it video stitch and we think you’ll love it.

For a quick walk-thru on how-to make your own custom classes checkout our page.

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