Love In All Directions: Teaching Yoga on the Grassy Knoll: January 11, 2022

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep — Rumi

Yoga sequencing has always fascinated me. I started as a Bikram yoga teacher, and it suited me well because the sequence was made for you. It was not to be deviated from, right down to the words you were allowed to use. As a new yoga teacher, this structure was a relief. I might even say, this structure saved my life.

The poet Rumi writes, “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” As I began to dive deeper into yoga, I’ve come to trust alignments from within. I have Erich Schiffman to thank for providing a roadmap on how to do that, and I have the Grassy Knoll yogis during the pandemic, too. They are the road. Trust and love move in all directions.

Rumi’s poem goes on to say “the breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.” When I sit on my mat at dawn to prepare for class, secrets reveal themselves and sequences begin to channel through me and onto my mat. Can I offer standing splits and half moon in the opening of our class sequence? It is in no way classic, I’ve never seen it offered in a yoga class. But my body moved into these shapes at dawn, so that’s what we did in class.

The whole world is taking about structure and rules. Do this, don’t do that. External authority, I’m finding, is ever so helpful, but ultimately can only go so far. I’m vaxxed and boosted on one hand, and eat organic and meat-free, on the other. I teach a yoga class about honoring internal alignments, but encourage breaking out of our limits by standing on one leg, upside down, on the other.

I love the field beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing. I feel like I’m meeting my deepest self there, finally.

Here’s our sequence:

Green tara with side bend
Matsendrasana
Standing splits
Shiva squats
Half moon with chapasana

Malasana
Supine windshield wipers

Tadasana
Downdog with figure four
Dragon’s tail
Warrior I with shoulder stretches
Humble warrior
Warrior III
Temple dancer

Utkatasana dips
Utkatasana with twist
Twisted high lunge
Crescent
Warrior II
Peaceful Warrior
Trikonasana
Prasarita
Low lunge
Anjayasana
Half hanumanasana
Dancing shiva at the back of the mat

Repeat sequence in all directions

Navasana
Seated upavista with ankle rolls

Easy supine twist

Savasana

We exited our practice with Dancer’s and tadasana because I left it out on the second side ha!

Namaste