Sequencing the asanas

Geeta Iyengar

[Original tape transcribed by Julia Peterson and edited by Susan Robertson, adaptation by Francie Ricks and Geeta Iyengar]

In the courses in Light on Yoga the asanas come one after the other from Tadasana up to the last Savasana. You find Sarvangasana in the middle instead of at the end. You find Savasana followed by pranayama. whereas now we prefer to separate the pranayama and the asana practice.

Sirsasana and Sarvangasana

As far as practice is concerned, you can do Sirsasana at the beginning and Sarvangasana at the end because Sarvangasana brings rest to the body. Or Sirsasana and Sarvangasana can be done one after the other immediately. Sirsasana must always come first. After Sirsasana, doing Sarvangasana (Sarvangasana, Halasana or Setu Bandha) at some point in the practice is essential. One cannot just practice Sirsasana and avoid Sarvangasana. lnversions always give sensibility and energy. You might put them both at the beginning if you feel dull or low. You finish your Sirsasana and Sarvangasana and then find some life is coming. some sensitivity is coming and that weakness has gone — weakness not because of disease or anything, but you just feel low. At that time, when you feel low, after Sarvangasana, you can do forward bends and that will be helpful

You should not do backbendings after Sarvangasana. In Sarvangasana you put your brain and everything to rest. Sarvangasana brings the blood pressure down, that is why it is helpful for high blood pressure. Sarvangasana , Halasana and Setu Bandha are all very helpful. After Sarvangasana the blood pressure comes to normal. Then if you do backbendings the adrenal glands are activated so much that the blood rushes to the head and this kind of imbalance is very bad. On one side you increase your superiority complex by doing backbendings and then when you over-exert yourself the inferiority complex begins. Excitement and depression are two sides of the same coin.

In backbendings the adrenals are stimulated. In Sirsasana also the adrenals are activated. After activating the adrenals you have to do something that pacifies them or you will lose your mental balance, lose your temper or remain shaky. In order to avoid mental and hormonal imbalance, you have to pacify the adrenals. In Sarvangasana the adrenals get calmed down so you have to do Sarvangasana and Halasana after backbendings. So instead of doing Sarvangasana twice, avoid the first attempt and do it at the end. That is how balance has to be brought.

After Sarvangasana you can do forward bends or lateral twists. Forward bends and twists also quiet the adrenals, so you find a continuity of pacification after Sarvangasana. Backbendings energise the body but at the same time, they may generate too much energy or excitement. Whereas in forward bending and twists the energy is subdued. That is the nature of these poses. So you should see that before Sarvangasana you finish with poses that are activating.

For that reason if you are doing strong standing poses it is better to do them before Sarvangasana, so that after your standing poses and backbends you can use Sarvangasana and Halasana to pacify yourself. That should be the nature of your practice. When you activate yourself to that optimum level, the balance should be brought later to pacify yourself. This pacification is possible with Sarvangasana, Halasana, Setu Bandha and Viparita Karani. The pacification has to beat the end.

Savasana

In every program it is written that at the end you lie down and you calm all your nerves, you bring that balance etc. If that can be done with Viparita Karani, or if that same quieting effect can be brought by some other postures, such as Sarvangasana Halasana and Setu Bandha, then Savasana is not necessary. If you are in a hurry to complete your practice, then these pacifying asanas at the end will serve the purpose. Normally we do Savasana at the end of the practice but then our lazy nature is such that if we do Savasana we go to a sleepy state. We all long to lie down in Savasana but we should not just indulge in our tamasic nature. That tamasic nature has to be broken in some way. If your Savasana is of a sattvic nature, it is appropriate, but when it is making you tamasic it is not good. Since you are not a yogi of a standard that you have conquered everything, you may be tired after your practice and you will find a period of rest in the beginning which is sattyic, which is pure. Your body essentially needs the rest and you feel very nice. But then you find that feeling of “essential” rest is gone and you stay there because you enjoy it. It becomes a sensual practice. In the beginning there is a keen observation and you allow that part where you are tense to rest. You find that if your breath is dancing inside, you need to pacify it. But then when the breath gets pacified, when the cells get pacified and everything becomes quiet, gradually you start going towards sensuality. That should not happen.

As a teacher, you may give Savasana to the students. For a beginner it is all right to do Savasana, then at least he will be free from tension and you know that he will not suffer with high blood pressure, headache or other problems. But in your own practice this question always arises as to whether Savasana is sattyic or not. It gradually gets transformed into a tamasic state. Your mind is first of all rajasic, so after you rest fully you find that your mind starts playing tricks from inside, you start calculating what you have to do, you start having thoughts that are irrelevant at that moment although they may be relevant to your daily life. Thoughts soon come to the surface of the mind. You may not show any mobility from outside but inside the mind is dancing. That is rajasic nature. Tamasic nature is such that you are completely relaxed, but while you are not thinking or disturbed physically or mentally, you may go to a sleepy state. From outside it seems perfectly all right, but it is such a dull state that the moment you get up from that Savasana you are just blank at that time. Savasana should not be a blank state. The resting process should be such that you face your inner fully wakeful state. Your consciousness should spread all over the body; you should feel its existence as though it’s all pervasive. The moment that fades you go to tamasic nature. Savasana is not just relaxation; you must witness that relaxation. That is sattvic. After Sarvangasana your Savasana should be sattyic. If your practice has ended with a pose of a sattvic nature such as Pascimottanasana or Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, you don’t need much of Savasana. If you are going to continue with pranayama, then you are ready to switch over to pranayama. When you have developed that sattvic nature, when the mind is pure and not disturbed and it hasn’t gone to the state of tamas, when you have witnessed yourself and your existence, then you are ready for pranayama.

Asanas before Pranayama

There should be a gap of at least fifteen minutes after inversions before you do pranayama. This time can be allotted to Savasana. The sequence should be inversions, Savasana, and then pranayama. Never do Sirsasana after Sarvangasana. This includes rope Sirsasana. And Viparita Dandasana on the backbending bench with the head down is also an inversion, in a sense. It’s not fully an inversion because the legs are downwards and it can be done during menstruation. But the curvature in Viparita Dandasana is such that since the anterior spine curves for the back arch the nerves are absolutely in a wakeful state.

That is why when you do backbending there is excitement, even irritation if you do too much. For your pranayama practice, the excitement and restful state of the nerves should be balanced. The nerves should be in a fully wakeful state but not in a state of excitement. You also can’t start in a sleepy state. If you suffer from high blood pressure, keeping the head down in Viparita Dandasana you are also likely to increase your blood pressure a bit, which before pranayama can be harmful. So you must do a pacifying pose. There is always a pair of asanas to be done. If you do Viparita Dandasana, Setu Bandha is the pair of that. Sarvangasana is the pair of Sirsasana. When the wife and husband are together, there is a mutual understanding and a harmony in the house. Similarly, harmony in adjust the body is also required. If you do Viparita Dandasana and then you do Setu Bandha after it, you find your neck having that curvature where you balance on the shoulder or neck and that pacifies your glands. The excitement will lessen, and the nerve fibres that you have awakened in Viparita Dandasana will be pacified. Similarly in Sirsasana you find that you are completely in a wakeful state but Sarvangasana is pacifying, Halasana is pacifying. Sirsasana and Viparita Dandasana stimulate the pituitary whereas Sarvangasana pacifies the pituitary. You find that in Halasana the throat and the head are relaxed more, and in Semi Bandha Sarvangasana the release of the chest is more. If you feel compression in the chest in Halasana, Setu Bandha Sarvangasana will release that compression.

So before pranayama you can do these six asanas in the following sequence, Sirsasana, supported Viparita Dandasana, Sarvangasana, Halasana, Setu Bandha Sarvangasana and Viparita Karani. Or if you have less time, you have to see that you do only pacifying ones like Sarvangasana or Halasana or Setu Bandha Sarvangasana. If you have only ten minutes you can do Setu Bandha Sarvangasana. You have to suit your practice to your requirements at that moment. For instance, if I have a class at nine o’clock I can’t remain in Viparita Karani until the last minute and then suddenly begin at the class.

Because if I go to too much of a restful state that makes me too quiet and serene. A peaceful, sattvic nature of mind is not too good for teaching; you need a more rajasic state of mind. Alertness is required for teaching, and also for pranayama. If I really need rest, say if I exerted myself and I need rest, then a short time in Viparita Karani so that I am fresh will help. But if I just lie down and sleep for fifteen minutes that will bring on a tamasic state and to teach in that state is impossible. In this manner you have to see with which poses to end the practice. Before pranayama, the excitement should not be there, and the blood pressure should not vary as it does in Sirsasana where the blood pressure is raised and then later it drops. When the blood pressure varies you can’t relax yourself as required for pranayama. That is why you have to end with Sarvangasana, Halasana or Semi Bandha Sarvangasana, or keep your pranayama practice as a separate practice at a different time from your asana practice. In the early morning or in the evening at the time of twilight one can do pranayama. This is how one has to Following this sequence will create balance of mind and make the body and mind conducive to the practice of pranayama. The sequential order of the inversions is like a threshold between asana and pranayama. They energise the body and enliven the mind without creating excitement. And in addition to creating balance by the way in which you sequence the asanas you do, you also have to train your mind in that manner, so that it is ready and capable to go to that state of passivity necessary for pranayama.

Sequencing for classes

Geeta Iyengar

From a question and answer session at RIMYI, July 17, 1994. Transcribed from video-tape by Rose Richardson, edited by Geeta Iyengar and Francie Ricks

Q: Should we structure our classes as you do in Pune, taking standing poses, forward bends, backbending & twists, pranayama, etc. week by week? Can this be done without giving up creativity?

A: When teaching classes normally the first week of the month we take standing poses, second week forward bends, third week backbendings, and then last one pranayama. Now you ask if the creativity comes to you should you allow yourselves to do accordingly? To answer this question, I have to say that I won’t trust your creativity. If I say go by your creativity I would be responsible and I don’t know your creativity

A person can be creative even if he has been given a fixed program. You heard just now in the intensive Guruji restricted me to certain things; didn’t you see that? Did he not say ‘make them do Sirsasana and Sarvangasana and nothing else?’ But as far as creativity is concerned, I will not lose anything by taking only Sirsasana and Sarvangasana. If Guruji told me ‘that’s enough standing poses, now take something else, I would stop there. But that doesn’t mean I’ve lost creativity in teaching. If he had said ‘repeat the same pose,’ I would repeat the same pose and teach again with the same creative mind, teaching what you are lacking in that pose and what you are supposed to do. So that is one thing.

Secondly; as a teacher, it is better that you don’t confuse your students who are coming regularly The best way is to start the first week with the standing poses, because almost all of the problems come from structural defects. Problems come because of the student’s wrong adjustments, where they don’t adjust properly or they don’t adjust at all. Structural deformities create the problems. And most of the structural deformities can be taken off with the standing poses. Also, standing poses are the best from the point of view of “exercise.” When you know that certain organs within have to be worked or toned, the standing poses are best because you can manipulate the inner body with your arms and legs. Also with the standing poses it is easier to make the student understand. It is clearer to the person who is learning how to work within, even if we are working with the liver, kidney or intestines. If I say in Trikonasana on the right side, ‘turn your abdomen from the right to the left and extend your spine,’ you know what is happening to your intestines, what is happening to your ribs, and how your thoracic chest is opened. So the practitioner begins to come closer and closer to his own body.

After standing poses, I suggest taking for-ward bends. Forward bends work more with the outer muscles of the body You start with the outer back muscles rather than directly with the inner spinal muscles. One who has not practised before will not be very familiar with their back. What are the back muscles doing? Beginners don’t know what is happening there. It is only when they come to yoga that they know where their problems are. With forward bend extensions you don’t touch their spinal muscles directly This extending is like planting a seed. The other day I said you must loosen the soil. If I want to sow a seed I loosen the soil. You can’t put the seed into the hard soil; it won’t go in and it won’t sprout. So first you make the soil soft from the outside. Then if you want to put the seed even deeper in, you have to dig still more so that a further layer of the soil is loosened. If you are planting a tree like mango or coconut, you have to go deep. But if it is just a small flower or the seed of some small plant, it’s all right to plant it near the surface. Right? With seasonal flowers you don’t put the seed too deep, just on the top soil somewhere. But still you have to loosen the soil. So now the seed of yoga has to be sown in a person. You can’t start digging straight away in. The person will not be able to take it. So you say all right, just a little bit of digging of the soil and you sow the seed of the asanas there. So forward bends are better where you extend the external muscles of the back. You extend the outer muscles, at the same time working on your abdominal region.

After forward bends come seated postures or twistings, like simple lateral twists where a person again begins to work with the outer spinal muscles. It’s a turning but it still doesn’t go deep inside.

Lastly you come to backbending where you reach directly into the inner spinal muscles. When you are sowing the seed of the yoga plant put it deep inside like the coconut or mango tree; go for the deep end. In this manner after the one month’s course, you finish with that kind of program and then take pranayama. Some asana practice has been done. A person coming once a week has been given some understanding, so the last week you do some pranayama. A beginner can just do Savasana. For beginners pranayama is not introduced in the first six to eight months, perhaps even for a year.

The one month’s program we have divided in such a manner so that first you learn standing poses, forward bends, twistings, and backbendings, then pranayama. If you want to do some balancings etc., they go along with the twisting. To introduce more advanced poses, you put those things in as you would with a computer, sending a message to that particular file. You open the file of forward bends and you add certain advanced forward bends. You open the file of twistings and you add the more difficult twisting as the person begins to progress. When you are teaching backbending you open that file. The sequence does not change.

But suppose the class has come to some more intermediate state where all things are required. You know that a person comes once a week and you have to see that a touch of all the postures are given in that one class. Then in one class you may give a few standing poses first. Then you give Janu Sirsasana or something of for-ward bends. Then you come to a little bit of twisting. You may ask a person to do an inverted pose like Sirsasana. Then you come back to backbendings after Sirsasana. You make them do full arm balance or you may take a little bit of backbendings and then you take inversions like Sarvangasana and Halasana. Then you take Setu Bandha and Viparita Karani for recuperation, then Savasana. That means that in one class you adjust the sequence in the same way.

If you haven’t practised for a long time and you begin again, then you must see that you do two or three postures from each category, and have a touch with each so that you are doing some forward bends, some backbends, some twistings. Then when the intelligence of the body increases, when you begin to ham the essence through your practice, then you can’t open too many files at once. You have to give time to one type of pose and go into the details so that you understand what is coming. Then you reflect on it. So one day you may do only standing poses. One day you may do only inversions and see how to work with the shoulders in Sirsasana, how to work with the chest in Sarvangasana, to find out where you go wrong, where you tilt, and how to lift the spine. You work in detail with the inversions. One day you choose backbends and work with those so that you realise the difference between each backbending asana. You work with those asanas to find out the differences, how each pose affects you, etc. That is how the practice has to be adjusted and your teaching has to be adjusted.

In classes where the students have reached some level of understanding and maturity, sometimes you may take just one type of poses, for example only backbendings or only standing poses.

Sometimes in a two hour class you take standing poses for one and a half hours, then in the last half hour a little bit of inversions so they recover and then that class is over. They have to work like that to learn. When you give a variety of poses, you cannot give all the details. So you can teach in different ways.

You also have to find out if the class is dull. Sometimes students are yawning. For them it might be boring, who knows? If you go into the details of one matter too much, they may get bored because they are not that keen yet. They have not matured. Keenness is required when you stretch your legs. If you are to stretch your shin you need keen observation because it is not just a stretch, it is a coming in contact with your own inner body New students also may not be able to observe keenly They fail to penetrate. If they don’t achieve anything they become bored and they don’t want to do asanas. When someone doesn’t want to do, it is better to give a variety of poses. You make the person enter in from different files or different windows to find out how to remove that boredom, so they get some light. If one is keen, you can give two hours for standing poses because the keenness leads one to find out how each part of the body works, stretches and functions from inside. So the sequence and practice depends upon keenness, intensity and intention. That is how one has to practice. It depends upon your interest, your keenness, and your requirements.

In teaching, it is better to be on the safer side, because you don’t know the students. You don’t know in which category they fall. When you come to Pune for an intensive we take it for granted that you are keen and it’s safe to start in that way We may concentrate on one thing and give a lot of details. But if you come for public classes, it’s a general class. In general classes, you cannot assume that students are that keen. They just want to do some practice. To stick to practice some discipline is required. So you need to follow the sequence.