In addition to teaching Nia classes for the city of San Jose, I was asked to teach a Gentle Yoga Class. I have taught three sessions and we have one more before the year is over. This last session before the holiday break is a short one, it is only four weeks. In the classes there is a large variety of fitness levels. Regardless of one’s level of fitness I believe it is very important for the emphasis to be on balance and flexibility. They also like to practice inner reflection which I believe enables a connection to the body. The connection is to allow for great stability and ease of movement. In order to meet the varieties of levels we do a cross between flowing through poses and holding them. I might have also mentioned before that we include getting up and down as part of our practice. With this next session we are going to do a progression of backbend poses. I have not yet decided on the progression of balance poses but I have the backbends progression planned. Since we only have four classes and there are five backbends I would like to progress through we will be doing two in the first class. As with my Nia classes, my yoga students are continually encouraged to do things in their own bodies way. Since yoga is a practice they can work into the poses. For the series of backbends they will be encouraged to stay at the level that is acceptable for their own body.
The first backbend we will do will be the standing backbend. Then, in the same class, we will progress to the Locust. The Locust has many modifications some of which can be done with just legs lift or the head and shoulders lifted.
Then in our next class we will move onto the Sphinx. I’ll probably include the Locust in the routine before moving on to the Sphinx, but the Sphinx will be the next in the progression. Then the next meeting we will move onto the Cobra. Excellent for strength, stability, and flexibility. The last class before the long holiday break will be the Upward Dog. Even though the idea will be for the students to progress through the backbends the modifications will be presented so each individual can progress only if they are ready.
Some students participate in yoga more than once a week so they are more likely to be able to participate in the progress whereas others will do so to a lesser extent – and modifications meet that need. This is a great way to work on flexibility. Everybody is moving in their own natural time through their yoga practice so I am excited to present this progression of backbends. I will include other flexibility poses and balances poses as in all the classes. I have been putting the emphasis on one or the other during a class which can still tie into the backbend progressions.
Of course, this is my plan prior to meeting with the class. It could be that after our first meeting I have to adjust my plan and that will be fine. I do like to see where the class is at and go from there, but it seems like our group has been pretty consistent. But I can easily adjust my plan for any new body.
I am very grateful and inspired by the students that come to class every week. It is very exciting to me to see their progress. Stay tuned for more on the poses that I have yet to post about.
Do you participate in a yoga class? How is it structured? Is it an on-going class or is it a series of classes?
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