Build Mindfully & Gradually: Sequencing Fundamentals & Guidelines

• This key principle of sequencing states that in moving through the arc of class, from simple to complex and back down again, the steps you take are safe, mindful and gradual.
• In this 2-minute video, Eddie Modestini speaks to the importance of building mindfully and gradually.

Build Gradually

It’s a rare human body that is so resilient that all the asanas come easily and safely, even if appropriately warmed. Take Wheel Pose as an example. Yes, there’s a small fraction of intermediate level students who can easily and safely explore it after some simple warming. But open the hip flexors and thighs, create space and ease along the spine by warming and stretching the spinal erectors, multifidi, and abdominals, and do a variety of shoulder openers… and I assure you all yoga students will find the this asana more accessible, intelligible, and sustainable, and the integrating sequence that follows will take it all a lot deeper. I want teachers to make the practice more accessible to all, to always assume they don’t precisely know the conditions of their students, and to make it altogether less likely that they’ll be featured in William J. Broad’s next New York Times installment on how yoga can wreck your body. – Mark Stephens