Ep 99: How Confident Are You That Your Sequences Support All Students?

We all want to create classes that feel safe, supportive, and empowering for every student who joins. But how confident are you that your sequences truly support different bodies, different types of injuries, and physical limitations in students' bodies?

In this episode, I'll explore the art of intentional sequencing, the kind that considers anatomy, the nervous system, and each student’s unique movement experience. Rather than chasing creativity or perfection, this conversation will invite you to slow down, reflect, and reconnect with why you teach.

Discover how to approach sequencing from a place of compassion and understanding, and how to reframe your role as a guide rather than a choreographer of poses. I'll also share journal prompts throughout the episode to help you identify your teaching blind spots, deepen your confidence, and strengthen your connection with your students.

This episode is intended to help you look at sequencing through a new lens, which honors the complexity of the human body and the diversity of the students in your classes.

Transcript

Monica: 0:00

We all want to create classes that feel safe, supportive, and empowering for every student who comes to class, but how confident are you that your sequences truly support different bodies, different injuries, and student limitations? Let's explore the art of intentional sequencing, the kind that considers anatomy. The nervous system and each student's unique movement experience rather than chasing creativity or perfection, this conversation will invite you to slow down, reflect and reconnect with why you teach. Get your journals ready because I'm gonna ask you a few questions to reflect on throughout this episode. Questions to help you identify blind spots in your teaching, deepen your confidence, and strengthen your connection with your students. This episode will help you look at sequencing through a new lens, one that honors the complexity of the human body and the diversity of the students in your classes. Welcome to the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast with me. I'm Monica Bright and I've been teaching yoga and running my yoga business for over a decade. This is the podcast for you. If you are a yoga teacher, you're looking for support. You love to be in conversation, and you're a lifelong student. In this podcast, I'll share with you. My life as a yoga teacher, the lessons I've learned, my process for building my business and helpful ideas, tools, strategies and systems I use and you can use so that your business thrives. We'll cover a diverse range of topics that will help you, whether you're just starting out or you've got years under your belt and you wanna dive deep and set yourself up for success. I am so glad you're here. Listen, I don't take myself too seriously, so expect to hear some laughs along the way. Now let's do this together. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Monica, and I'm so glad you're here. Here we talk about the anatomy, the injuries, the nervous system insights, plus all the real life knowledge you wish had been included in your yoga teacher training. No matter how long you've been teaching, you've probably questioned yourself at some point and wondered how confident. Am I that my sequences truly support students with different bodies, different injuries, Or different limitations. Now, before we go any further, I wanna acknowledge something. This isn't an easy question to answer, honestly. It can stir up feelings of self-doubt, insecurity, or even frustration because so many of us were never really taught how to think about sequencing in this way. When you first started teaching, you were taught to build your classes around themes, around poses, or even energy levels. Maybe you were told to make sure to include a peak pose, a counter pose, and a cool down. But very few of us were taught how to look at a sequence through the lens of human variation, Students with pain or students with some physical limitations. So today I want this episode to be a space for reflection, curiosity, and growth, not judgment, and definitely not perfection. Just an honest look at where you are and how you can begin to expand the way you think about sequencing so that all of your students feel supported. Scene, take a deep breath with me, and if you're able to grab a notebook or a journal, because I'm gonna ask some questions throughout this episode that are meant to help you explore your own teaching a bit more deeply. So let's start here. When you plan a class, what's the first thing you think about? Okay. Is it the physical structure of the class? Is it the energy that you wanna create Or are you sequencing for the students you expect to up to your classes? Now ask yourself this. How often do you think about the range of bodies and abilities that might be in your classes? For many teachers, the truth is that you plan with an average body in mind. Not intentionally, but because that's often how you were taught. You imagine a student who can do most poses, who doesn't have pain and who moves in the way that your teacher training emphasized as safe or aligned. But in reality, that average body doesn't exist. Every student who steps onto their mat brings a different history, And a different lived experience with them. So let's pause here for a moment and think about another question. if five different students in your class had completely different hip structures, spinal curves, and injury histories, would your current sequence support all five of them? This question is meant to help spark awareness within you because when you start looking at sequencing as a flexible, adaptable framework, rather than. Fixed plan. That's where your real skill as a teacher begins to unfold. Now let's talk a little bit about what this actually means When we craft a yoga sequence, we're not just putting together movements, we're actually designing experiences. You are shaping how your students', nervous systems will respond, how their joints will load, how their breath will flow, and ultimately how they will feel when they leave their mat. If your sequences are too rigid or too focused on a single right way to move, You can unintentionally leave some students feeling defeated, but if your sequences are adaptable, if they're layered. If they offer a variety of entry points, they become empowering. Your sequence now invites students to explore rather than perform. Write this next question down so you can come back to it and journal your thoughts on it. When you cue a pose, do your words leave room for variation, or do your cues imply that there is one correct way to move? For example, instead of saying square your hips to the front of your mat, what would happen? How do you think students would respond if you said, notice how your hips want to orient here. Can you find a position that feels stable for your body? The difference in language changes everything. It takes the pressure off of getting it right and invites exploration. Here's another question for you to reflect on. Do you feel confident modifying your sequence in real time? If you notice multiple students struggling with a pose, if the answer is no, that's okay. Most teachers weren't trained for that level of adaptability, but this is where we begin to bridge the gap between teaching yoga asana and teaching people yoga. Being able to adjust a class on the spot comes from understanding the body, not in a memorized or academic way, but in a relational way. It is about recognizing how movement, load and nervous system response all work together. When we understand anatomy, functionally sequencing becomes less about memorizing poses and more about understanding movement patterns. let's pause again for a moment and let me ask you this question. When you think about your teaching. Are your sequences based on poses or on patterns of movement? For example, rather than thinking I'm teaching warrior two, you could think I'm teaching hip external rotation and shoulder abduction. when you shift your thinking to think like this, you can start to offer multiple poses that serve the same purpose, but look different in different bodies. Another important consideration is nervous system support. We often talk about sequencing in physical terms, like stretch or strengthen open internal or external rotation. But what about regulation? How does your class help students up or down regulate when they need to The intention behind restorative style classes is to help students down regulate, but what do you do when you notice a student is becoming upregulated? For students who are recovering from pain or injury, their nervous system is a huge part of the picture. Pain is not just about. Tissues, it's about perceived safety. A well sequence class that balances challenge with reassurance can help students build that sense of safety through movement. So I want you to reflect on this next question. Do your classes give students moments to feel grounded and successful before moving into something a little bit more challenging? When you allow time for a success, you're helping them build confidence in their bodies And in their trust in you as their teacher. Now I wanna share a quick little story, about me early in my teaching career. I remember planning what I thought was gonna be the perfect flow. It had creative transitions. I had a fun playlist and poses that. I felt were balanced. Then a student came up to me after class and she said That felt great for most of my body, but my shoulder flared up halfway through and I couldn't figure out how to make it stop. It was then that I realized that. In my attempt to make a creative sequence, I hadn't considered how repetitive loading or sustained positions might affect someone with a shoulder issue. It wasn't that my sequence was wrong, it was that it wasn't inclusive enough for all bodies. So here's your next journal question. When you build your sequences, are you creating for complexity or are you creating for clarity? Who are you teaching? Complexity often impresses other teachers. Clarity helps to transform students more often than not. Students are not wowed by your creative sequencing. Instead, they appreciate that they can tune into their own bodies and create an embodied practice as opposed to worrying about what you'll sequence next, because your sequences are always so creative. If you take anything from this episode, let it be this sequencing for different bodies, injuries and limitations is not about doing more. It's about moving with intention. It's about slowing down enough to ask. Who am I teaching and how can I support their unique experience of movement? And that support doesn't always mean eliminating challenge. Sometimes the most supportive thing we can do is create an environment where students can explore something challenging safely, where their nervous system knows it's okay to be curious rather than cautious. So as I wrap up. I wanna leave you with a few questions for reflection. Feel free to pause after each one and write whatever answers come to mind. Number one, what does safety and movement mean to me? Number two, how can I create sequences that allow all students to feel included regardless of their physical condition? Number three. Where might I be teaching from habit instead of intention? And number four, what one small shift could I make in my next class to support a wider range of students? Remember, this isn't about perfection. You don't have to know every muscle or every possible injury. You just have to be willing to stay curious the moment you shift from. I have to know everything too. I'm willing to learn and adapt. Your students feel that. They feel your presence, your care, and your humanity. That's the kind of teacher who makes a difference, not because they teach the most advanced poses, but because they create an environment where every student, regardless of their body, their pain, their physical limitations. Feels seen, feels safe, and feels like they're capable of practicing in your classes. I hope that this episode sparks some reflection and gives you permission to look at your sequencing through a wider, more compassionate lens. If you wanna go deeper into understanding anatomy, injuries and nervous system support for your students, I'd love to help you inside my mentorship for yoga teachers. Until next time, keep teaching with curiosity and kindness and remember, confidence doesn't come from knowing it all. It comes from caring enough to keep learning. Okay. Understanding anatomy, biomechanics, and the effects yoga Asana have on the body helps you help your students. If you've been enjoying these episodes, I know that you're a yoga teacher who's ready to teach with more intention and less fear around injuries. Let's continue to raise the bar for how yoga supports real bodies In real life, it's so important for us to have these conversations so that you remember that students of all shapes, sizes, alignment, and abilities come to your classes and you can serve all of them. You know that my goal is for you to love the yoga teaching life. It's important to understand movement and the issues students come to your classes with. Subscribe to the podcast so you're always in the know when a new episode drops. And share it with another yoga teacher who you think would love to be in on these conversations. And finally, thank you for helping to spread the word about this podcast. Alright, thank you for listening. That's it for now. Bye.