There are no rules

Well maybe just a few...


I get frequent questions from students trying to cultivate a home practice. One of the most common questions is about sequencing and putting together a sensible practice. 


Before I address this question specifically, I wanted to state that: there really are no rules about home practice. (NOTE: I posted at length about this last year http://yogaalmanac.blogspot.com/2011/06/inner-teacher.html) The whole point of it is to really work with your own body and mind. And learning to listen and intuit what shape your practice will take on a given day will take some time. When I first started, I frequently would use sequences from a recent class or from web sites that published Iyengar sequences (more information on this below). These days that hardly ever happens. I will work my 'prescription poses'  from Manouso into whatever is appropriate for that day. 

Also, before I start listing guidelines for practice, I also wanted to say that you should break every rule that I write down here. Iyengar came up with his methodology by trial and error. And my teacher, Manouso, is always telling us to try it and see what happens. So, there are definitely rules  around how inversions are practiced and what poses you would not do after certain things but maybe you should try breaking those rules to see what happens for you. You never know on a certain day doing backbends after forward bends might be just what you needed. I have done things like switch between backbends and forward bends in a practice and I have also started a practice in savasana. Otherwise, we are just blindly believing something written in a book. Then who's truth is it? Like the Buddha says: 

Don't blindly believe what I say. Don't believe me because others convince you of my words. Don't believe anything you see, read, or hear from others, whether of authority, religious teachers or texts. Don't rely on logic alone, nor speculation. Don't infer or be deceived by appearances. Do not give up your authority and follow blindly the will of others. This way will lead to only delusion.

Find out for yourself what is truth, what is real. 

Some general guidelines:


Head Balance (Sirsasana) should come before Shoulder Stand (Sarvangasana)
Sarvangasana is a cooling pose and would not generally be followed by deep backbends or arm balances. You can do twists, forward bends and any kind of supine work.
You can end a practice with Sarvangasana and its variations included Setubandha Sarvangasana
Pay attention to the energetics of poses - what feeling do they create in your nervous system? If you are planning on working on forward bends, it is probably not the best idea to do an intense arm balance practice as you will be ramping the nervous system up.
As in everything we are looking for balance. Over the course of a week, you want to touch the full array of poses: standing poses, forward bends, twists, back bends, arm balances and of course inversions.
When you are short on time, do what I call an 'inversion practice' - AMS (Downward dog) with the head supported, Uttasana with the head supported, Sirsasana, Setubandha, Sarvangasana, Savasana. The inversions will give you the most bang for the buck if you can't squeeze anything else in there.
If you get on your mat and can't think of anything at all to do, start doing standing poses: Trikoasana, Utthita Parsvakonasana, Virabhadrasana II, Parsvottasana, Virabhadrasana I, Ardha Chandrasana, and AMS and see what happens. 
Another thing I do when I am uninspired is I put myself upside down immediately. I will do a downward dog or two and then do handstand, pincha and then do a very long Sirsasana. My body will usually tell me what it needs from there. 
Practice savasana - like really practice it. Give yourself a nice long juicy 20 minute pose a few times a week. 
Work with poses you greatly dislike. On some days I come to my mat and I find myself wanting to move into all my favorite poses and that can become a bad habit. So I will force myself to pick 2 poses I hate and create a whole practice around them.
When working with challenging poses, take them apart. What actions are required to do Parivrtta Trikoasana? In what other poses, would you be able to learn and access those actions? If you want to do backbends, what areas of the body need work? For me, my shoulders and arms are tight so I will start a practice that will end in deep backbends with Geeta's armwork in Tadasana. It is tedious but it does the job of warming up the shoulder area and teaching me where I am holding in my upper body. 
12. Write down sequences complete with notes from your classes. I write down Manouso's sequences on a regular basis and those of any teacher I study with. I don't necessarily copy them verbatim on my mat though i could but they are a rich resource when I am looking to access certain actions or poses. He does it way better than me so why not use what is being given to you by your teachers. I keep my notes in Google Docs so I can both search them and share them easily.


I will plan a workshop of some kind around this later this year as I know a lot of struggle with cultivating the home practice. As I said in a post last year, start small and set a timer.


If you really have no idea what to do, here are some trustworthy resources for sequences:


A. http://iyengaryogainaustin.blogspot.com/
B. http://iynaus.org/books-and-articles/iyagny-sequences-practice
C. http://www.joanwhiteyoga.com/sequences10.htm
D. http://myfiveminuteyoga.com/

Let me know if you have any questions. I am such a fan of the home practice and am happy to support you however I can in this endeavor.