A Well Balanced Yoga Ritual - Australian School of Meditation & Yoga

Early April and the Commonwealth Games are upon us. Sounds like it could be hard to get anywhere! What about our yoga practice? It’s the perfect time to be disciplined and create our own home practice. For more support and inspiration for building a home yoga ritual, check out our 30 Day Yoga Challenge!

Planning a Well Balanced Yoga Sequence

When I am planning a yoga class I try and incorporate poses which stretch and strengthen around each of the major joints – shoulders, hips and spine. I include poses which move the spine in each of its 4 directions – forward, backwards, side to side and rotating.

But first it is necessary to relax and centre our attention inward with our Complete Yoga Breathing, moving into warming the body with a Salute series and then we are ready for action!

Pick your poses from the chart below making sure you choose at least one from each criteria. Most poses will fill more than one and as far as order goes, usually we start with standing poses to build strength and warmth, moving unto the back arches and inversions, then finish with passive twists, forward bends and a little relaxation. I have provided a suggested sequence in the chart and the order in which to perform the sequence is below.

Criteria		Poses	Suggested sequence
Stretch around the pelvis	Outside of the hips	Pigeon, Sleeping Pigeon, Cow Face, Firelog	Sleeping Pigeon
	Inside of the hips	Cobbler, Warrior 2, Triangle, Extended Side Angle, Wide Leg forward bend, Squat	Triangle, Extended Side Angle
	Back of hips	Forward bends, Seated forward bend,	Forward bends
	Front of hips	Crescent Moon, Supine Hero, Lord of the Dance, Warrior 1, Warrior 3, Pigeon	Supine Hero,
Strengthen round the pelvis	All strong standing poses	Tree, Eagle, Half Moon, Extended Side Angle, Bridge, Chair	Chair
Stretch the shoulders	Back of the shoulders	Eagle Pose	Eagle
	Front of the shoulders	Reverse Prayer, Cow Face	Cow Face
	Under the shoulders	Down Dog, Pigeon, Warrior 1	Down Dog
Strengthen the shoulders		Plank, Crane, Side Plank, Bent Arm Plank	Plank,
Strengthen the back		Locust, Side Plank, Staff, Triangle, Extended Side Angle, Revolved Triangle, Chair, Revolved Side Angle, Revolved Lunge	Locust
Strengthen the abdominals		Boat, Plank, Side Plank, Staff	Side Plank
Back bends		Locust, Cobra, Bow, Camel, Bridge, Wheel, Pigeon, Fish	Cobra
Forward bends		Standing Forward Bend, Wide leg Forward Bend, Plough	Standing forward bend
Side bends		Triangle, Extended Side Angle, Gatelatch, Exultant Warrior	Triangle Extended Side Angle
Twists		Revolved Triangle, Seated Twists, Supine Twist, Revolved Side Angle, Revolved Lunge	Seated Twists,
Inversions		Down Dog, Standing Wide Leg Forward Bend, Dolphin, Bowing Pose, Shoulder stand, Headstand	Shoulder stand,

Following is an example of a well-balanced class with all aspects taken care of. Even though with the minimum of 5 breaths in each of the poses and the whole sequence only taking about 20 minutes you will feel that every part of your body has been stretched and strengthened. Finish with a little relaxation and then meditation. If you have more time spend longer in each pose and if there are particular areas you feel need more stretching or strengthening add more poses from the chart.

Savasana

Complete Yoga Breathing

Mountain Pose

Salutes x 3

Extended Side Angle

Triangle

Extended Side Angle

Standing Wide Leg Forward Bend