Friday Q&A: A Week of Home Yoga Practice

Q: I am a 65 year old student of Iyengar. I thankfully found Iyengar after trying Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Anusara. All the styles helped me positively, with Anusara coming the closest to the perfect style, but Iyengar has been a godsend. My question is how do I create 4 or 5 daily sequences so I am covering all the asana groups in a week? Reason being is as I age I'm finding that I can wear myself out if the daily practice is too long and or too strenuous.

A: This is a wonderful question! And it’s just up my alley (which is why you get me, Nina, answering your question) because I practice regularly at home, and try to cycle through all the asana groups in a week.

Your basic strategy should be to give up on the idea of doing a completely balanced practice each day. The only way to create a practice that includes every single type of pose (standing poses, backbends, twists, forward bend, inverted poses, arm balances, Sun Salutations, etc.) would be to have a very long practice. Instead, on each day that you practice, focus on a particular group. I wrote a post about this inspired by food writer M.F.K. Fisher called A Week of Yoga Practice, so check that out. For now, as a random example, you could plan a week of sequences like this:

• Monday: Backbends
• Tuesday: Twists
• Wednesday: Forward Bends
• Thursday: Inverted Poses
• Friday: Sun Salutations and Upper Body Strengtheners
• Saturday: day of rest
• Sunday: Restorative yoga

(I have left standing poses out of this list because most sequences for the other groups include some standing poses as well). I believe this is the way that many of us Iyengar style yoga practitioners practice, though not everyone breaks the poses into the same categories (and I'm sure we could get into some interesting debates about whether backbends should come at the beginning of the week or not!). If it works for you, you could adhere to a strict schedule, or you could switch things around each week. I actually change what I practice on given days depending on the focus my teacher takes for my class that week, and also what I’m in the mood for. Sometimes your body will tell you what you need to do that day.

And if there are too many groups to cover in the week (say you want a day to focus on arm balances and hip openers or on core strengtheners), just let that flow over onto the second week. There is no law that says you have to cover all the poses in a single week! Because I knew this question was coming up, I wrote a post earlier this week Creating a Mini Yoga Practice that describes how to create a shorter practice by combining related standing poses or Sun Salutations with poses from a single group. So go ahead and apply the simple formula I described in that post to create your own customized yoga sequences.

I hope this is enough information to get you started. If not, let me know. Or if anyone else has further questions about home practice, leave a comment on this post or contact me via the Contact Us tab at the top of the page. This one of my favorite topics!

—Nina

Creating a Mini Yoga Practice

by Nina

Most of us start doing yoga in a class, and those classes are relatively long, usually ranging from one to two hours. So we often get the idea that practicing at home means doing the equivalent of a full-length class. Finding the time and/or energy to do that can be overwhelming, preventing us from ever getting started.

Practicing with a Friend by Nina Zolotow

But all of us here at Yoga for Healthy Aging believe that even doing a single pose constitutes a yoga practice, and we strongly encourage anyone who wants to get started with a home practice, to go ahead and start small! You’ll probably find that if you’ve bothered to change into your yoga clothes and get out your mat, and you've done your single yoga pose, you’ll feel ready to add on a few more poses. You’re not ready for a full-length practice, but you definitely feel up to a well-rounded “mini” practice that is, say, about 15 or 20 minutes long. But how do you decide what poses, and in which order you should do them for your mini practice?

Of course you could ask your favorite yoga teacher for some suggestions, but, although there is definitely an art to creating a sequence of yoga poses—especially one where you are preparing yourself to take on some challenging pose—you can also start very simply on your own, especially for a short sequence. Here are a few simple guidelines:

1. Ask yourself: what class of poses do I want to today: backbends, twists, forward bends, or inverted poses? Pick one of these general categories to counteract what you’ve been doing lately or what you did yesterday in class, or just because you’re in that kind of mood.

2. Pick an appropriate warm-up pose or two for that category of poses to start the sequence (see Warming Up for information). 

3. Choose a few standing poses or a few Sun Salutations that incorporate elements of the category of poses you’ve chosen. Some ideas:

• For backbends: Sun Salutations, or Warrior 1, 2, and 3, Tree pose, Eagle pose
• For twists: Sun Salutations, or Triangle pose, Extended Side Angle pose, Half Moon pose and the revolved versions of all three
• For forward bends: Downward-Facing Dog, Standing Forward Bend, Wide Angle Standing Forward Bend, Triangle pose, Extended Side Angle pose, Half Moon pose, Pyramid pose (Parsvottanasana)
• For inversions: Downward-Facing Dog, Standing Forward Bend, Wide Angle Standing Forward Bend. 

4. Pick a few of the poses from your category, starting with the easiest first: easy backbends, seated twists, seated forward bends, or Headstand followed by Shoulderstand, Plow pose, Bridge pose, or Legs Up the Wall pose (skip Headstand if you don’t do it).

5. Select a counter pose to balance your practice. After doing backbends, it’s helpful to do a twist, leg stretch or another back releasing pose. After doing forward bends or twists, I recommend doing a gentle back bend to restore the natural curve to your spine. 

6. End with Relaxation pose (Savasana) or another symmetrical restorative pose.

I’ve including standing poses and/or Sun Salutations in all the mini sequences because most of us tend to be sedentary at work, but if you’re on your feet all the time during the day, feel free to skip the standing poses and just add more warm-ups or more poses from your category. Don’t over-think it! Just have fun getting started with your home practice. You’ll be surprised at how rewarding it is. As a matter of fact, Timothy McCall will be writing post for the near future about how much more valuable a home practice is than just going to classes.

Healthy Treats: An Indulgent Yoga Practice

by Nina

Last week I wrote about taking on a yoga challenge (see Taking on a Yoga Challenge). As I said in that post, working on a difficult pose can help you start a home yoga practice or inspire a practice that’s starting to feel a bit stale. But, as fate would have it, the very next day after I wrote that post, taking on a yoga challenge felt like the last thing I wanted to do in my home practice. I was feeling on the anxious side, so I thought that doing poses that made me feel any stress—even in tiny amounts—was probably not such a good idea. Instead, I decided to indulge in a practice just of poses that made me feel good. Some days you need that!

I know from experience, that for me forward bends are soothing and quieting. So I decided to create a sequence that ended with seated forward bends. Usually in my forward bend practice, I warm up for the seated forward bends by doing a sequence of standing poses that stretch my hamstrings, some of which, like Standing Hand to Foot pose (Utthita Hasta Padangusthanana), really challenge my balance. But on that day, I decided to eliminate the stressful poses from my sequence, and just do the standing poses that felt easy and comforting (in my case, Triangle Pose and Pyramid pose). The result? A nice relaxing sequence that felt nurturing in just the right way, for that particular day.

Treat for the Eyes by Brad Gibson

Of course, I had to laugh at myself that the very day after I was recommending to people that they take on a yoga challenge, I was doing the very opposite. But then I realized, of course, sometimes indulging in poses that you love can do the same thing that taking on a yoga challenge does: help you start a home practice or inspire a practice that’s starting to feel a bit stale.

So how would you plan an indulgent yoga sequence? Start by thinking about which poses sound good to you today. These could be a certain class of poses (like my choice of forward bends) or they could just be any poses that sound particularly appealing, like whichever poses are your “favorites.” You could then, of course, make a list of the poses that sound appealing and sequence them according to the traditional Iyengar style of sequencing (see Iyengar-Style Sequencing, Part 1). But you know what? You could also do them in just about any order you feel like. Of course, we are usually taught to warm up for the more challenging poses and cool down afterwards, so you could think about that as you are planning your sequence (see Iyengar-Style Sequencing, Part 2). Your intuition will probably tell you not to start with the most challenging pose in the list, but on the other hand, maybe that’s exactly what you feel like doing. Experiment! On the other hand, you could also start, instead of ending, with a restorative pose. Maybe you need a good rest in Relaxation pose, Legs Up the Wall, or Reclined Cobbler’s pose before you move onto more active poses. Try it!

Go ahead. Sometimes indulging yourself in your practice is exactly the right thing to do.

Sequencing in the Style of Krishnamacharya, Part 2

by Baxter

Last week, I introduced a few key concepts for you to consider as you think about trying to design a home practice using T. Krishnamacharya’s approach (see Sequencing in the Style of Krishnamacharya).  Before diving into today’s discussion, you might want to take a few seconds to review that post. As we build our understanding of how to put a practice together, I’d like to share another foundational perspective and also introduce the concept of the “mini-vinyasa.”

In addition to having an eye to a goal for your practice, and understanding which stage of life you are in and what additional work or reflection you need to do as you start your practice, you need to evaluate on any given day whether your overall system in a state of fatigue, depletion or weakness or if you are in relative good health, energized, strong and balanced. Once you have an honest sense of that, you can apply another essential concept to how you will design and approach the yoga today.

Two terms help to clarify the way in which you will practice and even the attitude you will cultivate as you work: brahmana and langhana. Both concepts are very helpful when you are addressing injury or illness, but I find them helpful for everyday practice as well. And although Desikachar first connects these terms to how you breathe as you move between poses, I find the concepts can also be applied more generally.

Brahmana, which can translate as “to expand,” refers to a lengthening of the inhalation, with the possibility of adding a short pause or retention at the end of the inhale. This tends to energize and heat the body, which could be perfect for someone who’s underlying energy is a bit sluggish. Brahmana breathing tends to affect the chest and lungs more and anatomically fits better with back bending poses.

Langhana, which can translate as “to fast” or “to reduce,” refers to extending the length of the exhalation, with a possible pause or hold at the end of the exhale. Langhana practices tend to have a quieting and cooling effect on your system, so could be helpful in anxious or stressful times, as well as when you are generally depleted and need support. Langhana breathing tends to work better for forward bending practices and has a greater effect of the upper and lower belly, so could be good for processes of elimination.

In this system, unlike some others, you start working consciously with your breath with your very first asana sequence, since something called a “mini-vinyasa” is used. Instead of coming into a pose, say Warrior 2, and holding it for one to two minutes, with the mini-vinyasa method, you begin from a starting position, coordinate with your breath as you come into the full pose, and then return to the starting position with the next part of your breath. Typically this cycle is repeated about six rounds. 

As an example, for Warrior 2, you would begin with your feet four feet apart, adjusted as usual, with your arms relaxed to your sides. On an inhalation, you would lift your arms up parallel with floor and bend your front knee to 90 degrees. Then, on your exhalation, you would lower your arms and straighten your front leg. You would then repeat this cycle five more times. And after completing six rounds on the right, you would repeat six round on the left.

To any mini-vinyasa, you could apply the concept of langhana or brahmana.  In our example, since there is a natural expanding quality to the Warrior 2 pose, brahmana works more easily.  So, as you enter the pose, you could take a four second inhalation, pause for one to two seconds in the pose, and then exhale naturally out of the pose. If your breathing gets ragged after only one or two rounds, you may not yet be ready to do this brahmana variation, so go gradually. 

A full sequence or practice would involve a series of mini-vinyasa linked together to move you closer to your goal. To see illustrations of mini-vinyasa, see The Heart of Yoga by TKV Desikachar or Yoga for Wellness by Gary Kraftsow. 

We’ll continue our journey toward understanding sequencing in the style of Krishnamacharya next time in Part 3!

Sequencing in the Style of Krishnamacharya, Part 1

by Baxter

We have spent some time on this blog talking about how BKS Iyengar and his teachers in the US approach the concept of sequencing yoga poses to create a practice. This is of practical value if you want to design and practice Iyengar style yoga on your own at home. It can also give you insight into the class you took last week as you try to understand the framework that your teacher may have used to put the class together.

But there are so many other yoga traditions and sequencing styles! Today, I'm going to begin exploring how to design a sequence in the tradition of Krishnamacharya. For those unfamiliar with T Krishnamacharya, he is sometimes considered a kind of godfather of modern Hatha Yoga practice.  And although he never traveled to the US to teach in his lifetime, many of his students who became advanced teachers have, most notably his son and grandson, TKV and Kaustub Desikachar.  Some of us in the US know this style of yoga as viniyoga, but this is a name that Gary Kraftsow, one of Krishnamacharya’s American students, coined.  TKV Desikachar prefers to say that they teach yoga in the tradition of Krishnamacharya, and that calling it “yoga” is sufficient without other branding.

Trunk and Branches by Brad Gibson

Two foundational concepts will assist us in looking at this way of sequencing: first, a yoga practice has goals, overriding ones and personal, individual ones, and second, the yoga practice you do today has to take into account all the personal variables of your life as it is today. This makes attending public classes a challenge from this system’s perspective. They consider it essential that you have do a good amount of svadyaya, or self-study, before or as you begin to practice to get very clear on where you are starting from and where you would like to go.

In addition, there are three stages of life that will help to determine the kind of practice you will do, and an analogy to the tree is used.  Regardless of which stage you are at, this system uses the Yoga Sutra concepts of sthira and sukha as underlying qualities you will be cultivating in your practice.  Sthira can be thought of as firm and steady, and sukha as gentleness. So you will be balancing these two different aspects no matter what yoga tools you employ in your sequence (for example, a practice that incorporates asana, pranayama and mantra).

Using this as the foundation of developing a practice, you put into action via something called vinyasa krama.  Desikachar defines the term as follows: 

Krama is the step, nyasa means “to place,” and the prefix vi- translates as “in a special way.” 

So you have to have a correct direction in order to have success with your practice.

Then there is the decision on what part of the “tree” you are.  When you are young, you are like the twig on a tree, young, flexible, yang in nature, strong.  Designing a practice for this group of people is known as “Svsti Krama,” and would resemble what in the west is knows as power flow or Ashtanga in the Pattabi Jois style.  For those of us after about 25 years of age, we are looked upon as more like the branch of the tree, a bit less flexible, a bit more differentiated in personality, thinking and body. These are the students who need to study their individual characteristics prior to jumping full bore into practice. This style of practice is termed “Raksana Krama.” Finally, for those with illness of any kind, the practice requires greater care in designing and the style is called “Cikitsa Krama,” cikitsa meaning “therapy.”

No matter which group or age category you personally fall into, Desikachar suggests that you start out where you are, taking a gradual and intelligent course in your practice, looking towards a certain goal. Then you choose the steps and tools to lead you towards your goal. Next time, we’ll start to get into the practical nuts and bolts of how to make that happen.

Iyengar-Style Sequencing, Part 2: Warming Up

by Nina

As I mentioned in my post "Iyengar-Style Sequencing, Part 1", Iyengar-style sequences typically begin with starting or warm-up poses. Today I’m going to write a little about how to choose the appropriate warm-up poses for a particular sequence. One useful way to choose your warm-up poses is to think anatomically about the main poses in your sequence. Don't let that term "anatomically" scare you, please! Just picture the shape of the pose, and notice which parts of your body are stretched the most while you are in the pose. This will help you figure out which parts of your body need to be warmed-up for you to do your main poses most comfortably.

Bulbs About to Blossom by Nina Zolotow

 In the seated forward bends, four main areas are to target are:

• hips
• backs of legs
• torso/back body
• shoulders (you reach for or clasp your feet with your arms overhead)

So poses you might choose to prepare for seated forward bends would focus on hip openers to make the seated positions more comfortable, reclined or standing leg stretches, shoulder openers, and poses, such as side stretches and Tree pose that lengthen your torso, and stretches that open your shoulders in an overhead position. The standing poses with straight legs and forward bending elements, such Downward-Facing Dog, Standing Forward Bend, Triangle Pose, Half Moon pose, and Parsvottanasana, also prepare you well for seated forward bends.

For backbends, four main areas to target are:

• fronts of the thighs
• chest openers
• torso/front body
• shoulders

So poses you might choose to prepare for backbends would focus on lunges or Reclined Hero pose to stretch the fronts of your thighs, passive backbends to open your chest, poses such as Downward-Facing Dog, side stretches and Tree pose that lengthen your torso, and stretches that open your shoulders in the same direction they will go in the backbend (overhead and or behind your back, depending on the type of backbend). Standing poses that include backbend elements, such as Warrior 1, Warrior 3, and Dancer’s pose, also prepare you well for backbends, as well as Sun Salutations.

For seated twists three main areas to target are:

• hips
• spinal length
• spinal flexibility

So poses you might choose to prepare for twists would focus on hip openers to make the seated positions more comfortable, poses such as Downward-Facing Dog and Tree pose that lengthen your spine, and poses that gently twist, bend forward or bend back, to create general flexibility in your spine. Standing poses that include twist elements, such as Revolved Triangle, Revolved Side Angle, and Revolved Half Moon poses, also prepare you well for seated twists, as well as Sun Salutations. If you bind in twists, you could also stretch your shoulders in the behind your back position.

For inversions, three areas you should target are:

• legs
• shoulders
• torso

So poses you might choose to prepare for inversions should focus on reclined or standing leg stretches to make getting into the upside down position easier (and your legs lighter while you are upside), shoulder openers that open your shoulders in the overhead position, and poses such as Downward-Facing Dog and Tree pose that lengthen your torso. Standing poses that partial inversions, such as Standing Forward Bend, Downward-Facing Dog, and Widespread Standing Forward Bend, also prepare you well for full inversions.

These are just very general guidelines. For, as we always say, sequencing is an art, not a science, and different body types respond differently to various poses. Eventually you’ll start to learn which types of warm-ups are most effective for you, For example, if you’re tight, you may wish to stretch more than someone who is very flexible, and may want to warm up for a pose like Downward-Facing Dog. While someone who is more flexible maybe able to use Downward-Facing Dog itself as a warm-up pose.

Iyengar-Style Sequencing, Part 1

Flowers in Summer by Michele McCartney-Filgate

by Nina

Before I start delving into some of the more subtle aspects of how to sequence yoga poses in the Iyengar tradition, I thought it would be useful to give you an overview of how to sequence the basic categories of poses. Typically most Iyengar sequences are based on the following template:

1. Starting Poses
2. Standing Poses
3. Headstand
4. Backbends
5. Neutral Pose
6. Twists
7. Shoulderstand (and Plow)
8. Forward Bends
9. Restorative Pose
10. Relaxation Pose

Obviously if you were going to do all those kinds of poses within a single practice, your practice would end up rather long! To create a shorter practice, you simply eliminate certain categories of poses from the list while keeping the remaining ones in the same order as they are on the list. The following examples show typical formats for Backbend, Twist, Forward Bend, and Standing Pose practices.

Backbend Practice 
1.    Starting Poses
2.    Standing Poses
3.    Backbends
4.    Neutral Pose
5.    Relaxation Pose

Twist Practice
1.    Starting Poses
2.    Standing Poses
3.    Twists
4.    Relaxation Pose

Forward Bend Practice
1.    Starting Poses
2.    Standing Poses
3.    Forward Bends
4.    Relaxation Pose

Standing Pose Practice
1.    Starting Poses
2.    Standing Poses
3.    Shoulderstand (or another inversion)
4.    Relaxation Pose

Although our classes typically include standing poses, they are by no means required. You could, for example, use the inverted poses to prepare yourself for forward bends as in the following sequence.

Forward Bend Practice with Inversions
1.    Starting Poses
2.    Headstand
3.    Shoulderstand
4.    Forward Bends
5.    Relaxation Pose

Or, you could design a seated practice with twists and forward bends.

Seated Practice
1.    Starting Poses
2.    Twists
3.    Forward Bends
4.    Restorative Pose
5.    Relaxation Pose

The Starting Poses and Standing Poses you select for your sequence typically relate to the focus of the practice. For example, if you are focusing on forward bends, you might do leg stretches as your starting pose and the standing poses with straight legs to prepare your hamstrings for the forward bends. For backbends, you would do shoulder openers, lunges, passive backbends and/or standing poses with backbend elements (such as Warrior 1). For twists you might select poses that lengthen your side body (Half Dog pose), that move the spine in all directions (various standing poses), and that incorporate twisting elements (such as Revolved Triangle).

I’ll do a separate post on how (and why) to choose warm-up poses in the near future. But, in general, sequencing is art rather than a science, so start out by practicing some of that “post asana assessment” that Baxter recommended in yesterday's post (and probably some pre-asana assessment while you are at it). You'll soon start to learn which sequences of poses suit your particular body and which do not, and which warm-up poses help you do your subsequent poses with more ease and comfort.

Sequencing: An Essential Skill for Home Practice

by Baxter

We recently received an inquiry about how to sequence a home practice. Although this is a large topic in many respects, it is an essential skill you can develop that will go a long way to make your home practice more enjoyable and rewarding. 

Sequencing refers to the way you constructs or put a practice together. In some ways, it is like a mini journey we take each time we come to our mats to practice yoga asana. Like any journey, you want to consider where you are heading on that given day, what you’d like to accomplish and how much time you have to devote to the practice. Time of day can play into designing a sequence, as we tend to be a bit stiffer in the morning, requiring a bit more warm up if we want to do some more challenging poses in our practice; whereas a practice later in the day might be able to forgo too much warm up, as we tend to be more open from simply being up around for many hours. 

I find it helpful to start by simply sitting for a few minutes. I get my body centered, become aware of how my body is feeling, how my mind and emotions are operating, how my breath is flowing, and out of that information a plan for the day’s practice will often begin to emerge.

Pathway at Dripping Springs by Brad Gibson

 On a very simplistic level, I usually design a practice to follow this plan: a period of warming up movements that may or may not be official yoga poses, often done reclining or sitting or on hands and knees. Then I will work my way toward standing poses, often with some vinyasa, such as a round or two of Sun or Moon Salutations. I will often have a goal pose or two that I have decided I would like to include in my practice, and I usually work on those poses at the midpoint or two thirds of the way through my session. Then, a period of cool down, perhaps with one or two more restorative poses, follows. I will often do some breath work just before taking a rest in Savasana for at least 5, and hopefully 10 minutes. 

An additional factor to consider is adding in counter-poses if you have a particular focus on a group of poses that are similar. For instance, this week I have been doing some backbends in my practice, so I have been adding some gentle forward bends, like Child’s pose, to counteract any untoward effects of the backbends.

Each style or system of yoga has general guidelines on how they view proper sequencing, so in a future post, if you all are interested, we can look at some of the systems and how they specifically approach this skill. Until then, give a try, be willing to experiment, and listen to how your body and mind feel at the end of your practice.

A Week of Yoga Practice

by Nina

Is anyone else a fan of the brilliant food writer M.F.K. Fisher? I not only love her beautiful writing, but also her ideas. When I first started reading her work, I remember being struck by a simple but profound of advice she had for eating well:

“Instead of combining a lot of dull and sometimes actively hostile foods into one routine meal after another, three times a day and every day, year after year, in the earnest hope that you are being a good provider, try this simple plan: Balance the day, not each meal in the day.”

(You can read her entire advice on this subject on the Less Is Enough blog.)

What Fisher meant was that you did not have to eat every single food group at every single meal (what we used to call a “square meal,” something American nutritionists used to insist on) but rather you could have grains for breakfast, a salad or soup for lunch, and meat or fish with vegetables for dinner. You'd still get all the nutrition you needed—just not all at once! Thirty years later, I still follow her advice.

I recommend applying the same advice to your home yoga practice. Rather than trying to make every single yoga practice like a balanced “meal” by including some of everything, you can focus each day on one or two of the major classes of poses. And by the end of the week, you’ll have done a very wide range of poses, balancing your body by moving all your joints within their range of motion and reducing problems associated with repetitive stress.

So what are the basic pose “food groups” you could think about trying to cover in a week? Leaving out a few poses that don't fit that well into general categories, they are:

• Standing poses
• Backbends
• Forward bends
• Twists
• Inverted Poses
• Restorative poses

Depending on how many days a week you want to practice (and how long you want your practice to be) you could focus on single class of poses each day, or you could combine two or more in a given day. If there’s something in particular you want to work on (such as balancing or abdominal strengthening), you could add that into your practice on a regular basis. Does this mean that even though your teacher always includes standing poses in every single class, you can skip them yourself at home? Yes. That's exactly what I mean.

A Pose You Can Skip from Yoga: The Poetry of the Body by Yee and Zolotow

It does make sense to do a little balancing, however, by adding one or more counter poses to the end of your practice. After doing backbends, it’s helpful to do a twist, leg stretch or another back releasing pose. After doing forward bends or twists, I recommend doing a gentle back bend to restore the natural curve to your spine. And after standing poses, inverted poses or restorative poses can help calm you down and relax your muscles before Savasana.

I hope this helps you feel more comfortable about starting a home practice because the main thing is just to jump right in. I’ll do another post soon on how to plan a single practice, but in general there are no hard and fast rules, and there is no reason why your home practice has to look like a class.

Friday Q&A: Sequencing Two Poses

Q: I love the variation of Viparita Karani with the chair. I also love Knees to Chest, which you featured in an earlier post. What I am wondering is should I do a pose in between these 2 as a transition or is it OK to go back & forth between the 2?

A: There’s no need to do any poses between these two, as they’re both gentle, symmetrical poses. It’s only when you are doing a deep forward bend, backbend, or twist that you might want to consider a counter-pose.

Can you go back and forth between the two? Personally, if I were going to sequence these two poses, I’d do the Knees to Chest pose (see here) first because moving with your breath is slightly stimulating. Even if you don't move with your breath in this pose, you are actively engaging your muscles, which makes this an active, rather than passive pose. I’d follow Knees to Chest pose with the Viparita Karani variation (see here) because this is a deeply relaxing passive pose, and it’s traditional to finish your practice in a state of relaxation. Put them together, and you’ve just created a nice little mini practice for winding down at the end of the day.

In general, a good way to sequence poses is in an arc like this:

1. Warm-up poses
2. Active poses
3. Counter poses and/or cool-down poses
4. Relaxation poses

—Nina

I agree that the poses are fine sequenced as Nina suggested, especially if you are ultimately trying to quiet the nervous system. However, if you needed a rest but wanted to do a mild stimulation of system prior to heading back into your day, you could reverse them. I don’t think any particular pose needs to go between them, but both would be a nice counter-pose sequence at the end of a back bend practice.

—Baxter