Changing the order in which you teach the same poses completely changes their effect on your students. Learn the principles of sequencing to target the energy of your class.

Remarkably enough, changing the order in which you teach the same set of poses will completely change its effect on your students. Learning how to facilitate relaxation or energy during your classes begins with understanding these energetic effects.

The order in which you sequence postures can have dramatic effects on the energy of your students. Let’s look at some elementary energetic effects of yoga postures and ways sequencing can be used to help modify energy levels. This can be particularly helpful when working with students who suffer from either depression or stress and anxiety.

In practice–and in teaching–in order to achieve balance it is important to pay attention to the overall content of the sequences you design and to make sure that they contain a sensible and balanced variety of postures, ideally not grouped and entirely separated as they are in the sequence ideas presented above. The options are limitless. Twists are themselves generally balancing postures, and so even a long practice of twisting will tend to have a balancing effect.

With these basics in mind and an understanding of your students’ needs —which change day to day and month to month–you can begin to structure your classes around the experience you’d like to create.