Teaching spinal waves

& getting inspiration from anywhere

Dear Humans,

The queen of spinal waves is Meghan Currie and most of what I’ve learned about them, I’ve learned from her.

If you’ve never done them, taught them, or even thought about them – spinal waves, in the way I’m describing them today, can be thought about like Cat / Cows with an added forward and back motion. In our flow this week, I’ve added in a lot of spinal waves. Take a look!

What I Taught in Yoga This Week | July 31, 2024

In the video I’m showing you warm-ups for a “spinal wave” class and the first flow I taught. (For my paid subscribers, I’ve shared my “main flow” at the end of this letter as well.)

So how would you cue spinal waves?

Here are a few cues for the basic movements:

Starting in a child’s pose, on an inhale think “cat” in your spine and push forward, stacking your shoulders over your wrists. Then, on an exhale, think “cow,” soften your belly and your elbows, pulling your hips back towards your heels.

This can be done from downward facing dog, too:

On an inhale think “cat” and move forward towards a plank, and on an exhale think “cow” and soften your knees and elbows as you push back to downdog.

Spinal waves aren’t just beautiful to watch and feel, but they are also an amazing way to improve spinal mobility. You can also add them into a lot of postures and transitions, like uncoiling into one leg mountain from chair, or uncoiling into cobra.

When I was planning class last night, I was sitting in my backyard and watching the plume of smoke from the Alexander Mountain Fire, currently burning southwest of my town. I knew that my students would have the fire on their mind. (It’s hard not to when ash is falling from the sky.) So I decided to theme my class around the element of water – a counterpoint to the fire. Thus, the “waves.”

This theme also reminded my of a quote that my dear cousin shared with me:

“Between the banks of pain and pleasure the river of life flows. It is only when the mind refuses to flow with life, and gets stuck at the banks, that it becomes a problem. By flowing with life I mean acceptance – letting come what comes and go what goes.”

–Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Just like that, a whole class was born. A class about embodying water and letting go of control. A class that helped the students as they grappled with something real happening in our community.

Your inspiration for planning your classes doesn’t have to be something big like a fire – remember that inspiration can be found anywhere. Just remember to pause and reflect. What’s it like to be human, right here, right now?

It’s not a earth shaking, perhaps, to simply send your breath, energy and attention outwards. To practice acceptance over situations of which you can’t control.

But, maybe it has more impact than we might every be able to imagine.

Sending love, dear humans,

Izzy

Izzy Martens

author, yoga teacher, sequence enthusiast

www.yogahumans.com

the write-up

• child’s pose

• cat / cow spinal waves

• add in whale’s tale as you come forward

• downward facing dog

• knee to nose

• tiger

• lizard lunge

• rainbow the arm forward and back

• optional: bound lizard

• figure four downward facing dog

• cross step pyramid

• cross legged forward fold (shift weight into the foot that crossed behind)

• rise to one leg mountain

• chair plane

• crunch in then kick back towards airplane

• crunch in to one leg mountain

• kick back and extend leg

• mountain

• the end!

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If you’re new here – hello!

• Let me introduce myself! My name is Izzy Martens and I’m just a human who teaches yoga, writes, hangs out with her two cats, hikes around Colorado, and enjoys creating yoga sequences.

• I teach three yoga classes a week and I started this publication to simply share what I was teaching, in the hopes that other yoga teachers would find it helpful. My real flows designed for real yoga teachers.

• My style and study background are mostly vinyasa, power, ashtanga, rocket, and hatha. Though I have a touch of training in yin, dharma, iyengar, and yoga nidra as well.

• My husband and I started yogahumans.com because we were new-ish teachers and we found we had so many questions about the actual act of teaching yoga after our 200hr training. We started Yoga Humans to provide some of the answers we were finding and create a sense of community around teaching yoga.

• Many years later and my husband, Kyle, is now tattooing and just opened his own tattoo studio in Fort Collins, Co (foundtattoo.com) – a space for intentional and beautiful tattoos. I’m primarily posting on this newsletter now and on social media (@yoga.humans on IG).

• Ethos. I believe that yoga is a beautiful practice and the more people who have the opportunity to practice it, the better. I believe in deeply honoring the traditions and history of yoga. I also acknowledge that much of the modern yoga we teach now has evolved away from the original teachings. I, like much of the modern yoga world, am working to find the best way to continue to practice, breathe, move, play and evolve, while also honoring the deep roots of the yogic practice. It’s not always a perfect attempt. I am by no means an expert. Just a human, trying to figure it out as I go. One of my main goals for this publication is to come at it from a place of love and compassion. This is a place where we can discuss our ideas and ask questions without fear of retribution or judgement. I notice a lot of critique and anger online in the yoga world. Honestly, it’s disheartening and I know prevents people from sharing. You’re always welcome to send messages and leave comments, but please do so from a place of curiosity. First and foremost, let’s extend love and empathy towards one another. Let us remember that we’re all humans, walking this path together. A key principle of yoga in ahimsa - non-harm - let’s seek to find that online as well as in our real lives.

Who are you, dear human? Leave a comment and get into the discussion! My door is always open. I’m so glad you’re here.

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Bonus for paid subscribers | Spinal Wave Main Flow

The main standing sequence I taught in class builds on some of the elements introduced above…