Asana & Related Tools: Class Elements, Tools & Practices

Asana & Sequences

• Build to a peak pose.
• Use a connecting vinyasa or bring students back to a consistent neutralizing pose to “pause and feel.”
• Use mindful sequencing.
• Refresh your instructional cues.
• Choose inspirational readings or a visual.
• Asana Hub
• Asana Categories Hub
• Sequence Finder
• Planning & Sequencing Hub

Props

Not For Comfort But For Clarity

Indeed, there are times when a cushy bolster, a stack of blankets or a well-placed foam block hastens us off to yoga heaven. In other cases, such as height under your shoulders in shoulderstand, the props are there for safety… But most often, Iyengar yoga uses props for clarity, not comfort. Sometimes it’s the clarity provided by correct alignment. Sometimes a prop makes things clear by providing resistance to work against. – Eve Johnson

• Blocks, Blankets, Straps, Wall, Balls, Eye Pillows, Other – Consider any tools at your disposal for adapting poses to different conditions, encouraging specific actions of a pose & supporting restorative postures
• See Variations in Asana Digests for photos that include using props both for adaptation and for highlighting actions of a pose in a “workshop” variation.
• Fatigue Relief by Marla Apt
• Restorative Yoga for Chronic Pain by Kelly McGonigal
• Proper Props by Leslie Peters
• To Prop or Not to Prop by Claudia Cummins
• Props Are Friends: Get a Grip on Your Practice with a Dowel by Cora Wen

Partnering

• Give students an opportunity to feel support, connection, fun, variety and/or deepening of a pose.
• Partner Poses at a Glance – returning soon
• Partners in Play by Andrea Ferretti
• A Helping Hand by Charity Ferreir
• Partner Yoga Poses for Friends and Lovers by Fitsugar

Touch or Hands-On Adjustments

• Assist to make the pose safer, such as aligning sacrum in Parsvottanasana.
• Assist to communicate information such as the flow of energy from fingertips in Virabhadrasana II .
• Assist to guide a deepening such as increasing hip crease & arm reach in Exalted Warrior.
• Provide touch to release tension or convey support such as a foot or head massage in Savasana.
• Adjustment Guidelines
• Adjustments at a Glance – returning soon
• Asana Digests (Hands-On page with photos of adjustments & step-by-step instructions)

Mudras

• Teach hand or whole body mudras.
• Mudras