Sequencing and Theming Yoga Classes Around Transitions (video)
Something I’ve been interested in this past week is how we can make transitions an opportunity for greater conscious awareness in our practice and in our lives.
We have all sorts of transitions in life, from childhood to adulthood, from school to the workforce, from our parents’ house to our own house, maybe from yoga teacher training to yoga teacher. And we have practices or rituals around those big transitions to help us to mark those moments, to move from one state of being to another – candles in the birthday cake, wedding celebrations, moving the tassel from one side to the other on a graduation cap.
We have little daily transitions too, from work to home, from waking to sleeping, from weekday to weekend.
For many of us we have practices that are useful in making those transitions, to create a gateway of awareness – the pre-bed ritual that creates the right space for sleep, the first thing in the morning ritual that wakes us up, the getting home from work ritual – perhaps that’s getting the uncomfortable bra or tie off – that helps us transition from work to home.
I’m interested in the idea of making transitions more conscious, bringing greater awareness to all the transitions in our lives, both big and small, through our practice.
My question is, can our yoga practice be a place where we practice and hone the skills of transitions from one activity to another, from one place to another, from one state of mind to another?
In yoga class, that might be the ritual of entering the practice space, taking off your shoes, turning off your phone, lying on your mat.
That might be a focus on the transitions between poses – which are poses in themselves – how do we mindfully get from here to there? That might be the transition between inhaling and exhaling. It might be the transition from meditation back to wakefulness, taking the class with you from the practice space and out into other areas of your world – bringing yoga to your relationships, self-care, work, driving.
Anyway, that interested me, and I thought I’d share it.
If this is interesting to you, this is a great week to theme and sequence for yourself or for your students a class that focuses on transitions.