Yoga Sequencing: Teaching Technique Reverse Engineering

Assessing the Peak Pose

What is a peak pose?

Many people get worked up when I mention a “peak pose,” because they feel yoga shouldn’t be destination-oriented. This is not actually what yoga teaches; yoga has a very clear goal, or destination, in every ancient text. No sacred teaching instructs us to eliminate the destination. Rather, the teachings reveal that focused attention on actions, thoughts, breath, etc. cultivate awareness. Some would call this ultimate awareness Samadhi, or Consiousness, Being, Union, Stillness, Mindfuless … The list goes on. Point is, these are all goals.

So asana practices are what help us move toward the ultimate awareness, BUT there is a caveat. If you are focused solely on that goal while you practice, you will not be aware of the elements of your practice and will miss out on important nuances. Ironically, keeping your focus only on the goal means you’re less likely to achieve it. This applies to a peak pose as well. If you are focused only on the peak pose and rush through the preparatory poses and techniques, you miss necessary learning and will be less likely to access the peak pose in the most efficient, functional, and even life-changing way.

As a teacher, you use a peak posture as a destination and work backwards. Think of it like using a GPS in your car: you enter the destination from your original point and it delivers step-by-step instructions. If you don’t pay attention to the steps, you don’t arrive.

Let’s assess Dancer Pose and develop a road map for your students so they can step into presence and action. With you as their guide, your students do not necessarily need to know the destination. In this way, you can keep calling their attention to “the now” every step of the way. This method is for you, the designer of an intelligent yoga sequence. 

Let’s think about the shape. You know that in Dancer Pose, you will need to reach your arm back. So what could you do with your students that would prepare their bodies to reach back?

Here’s the question:

What muscles are limiting the ability to reach back?

Answer: pectoralis major (chest), front deltoids (shoulder)

Do you need to know that? NO. Another easy way to assess is to reach back with your arm and feel what area of your body is stretching. To prepare yourself for this action, you would simply do other poses that stretch the same area.

Dancer Pose also requires balance. What pose could you offer that would require balance AND reach arms back? 

If you said Airplane Pose (Dekasana), we’re on the same flight 😉

Dancer Pose also requires a backbend, so you’d want to prepare your students by including yoga poses that extend the spine, like Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana). 

Bonus: Stretch the front thighs and hip flexors. You could prepare students for this in a low lunge (Anjaneyasana), perhaps with bound hands, or reaching for the back foot. (This might be too intense for some with tight quads. Use a strap to make it more accessible.)

All these poses that prepare your students for the peak pose are what I call “layering poses.” In my trainings, I teach my students to prepare 5-7 of these poses. These are the real substance of a good sequence. You can still include other poses to help warm up the body and get your students connecting their movements to breath, but layering poses are the ones you’ve put the most thought into. They are the poses that will transform your time with your students from a class to an experience. 

So let’s review. Here are the steps to design a powerful and effective yoga sequence for your yoga students. 

1.     Choose a peak posture.

2.     Assess the anatomy of that peak pose, or look at the shape.

3.     Teach 5-7 poses that mimic that shape and prepare your students for the peak pose.

FREE VIDEO PODCAST ON CREATING AN INTELLIGENT YOGA SEQUENCE USING THE TECHNIQUE OF “REVERSE ENGINEERING”

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