Teaching to a peak posture

// featuring grasshopper & baby grasshopper

Dear Humans,

When I was new to teaching I remember trying to sequence to a “peak posture” and getting overwhelmed. I didn’t really know what specific muscles needed to stretch or activate for every pose I wanted to teach.

My YTT had given me a basic overview of human anatomy, but I was still a beginner and I didn’t know all I felt I needed to.

So when it came to something like teaching to a “peak” pose, I wasn’t sure if I was doing it correctly or well. It was frustrating because I wanted to be doing my best and I also wanted to teach safely.

It’s been a journey of learning for me to get to a point where I feel I can confidently call out muscle names and explain to my students what’s happening in their body and why.

But even if you don’t feel like you’re there yet, or you’re brand new and you are feeling overwhelmed (like I was), I think you can still sequence to a peak pose or tune-in to what’s happening in your body, even if you don’t have the scientific language.

So today I’m going to share a few thoughts on teaching to a “peak posture” and then share a peak pose flow leading to grasshopper, which I taught to my students last night. For my paid subscribers I’m also going to share the two other flows I used in my class to build out the full set of standing sequences, one of which features baby grasshopper!

Here are a few thoughts:

#1. I think all yoga teachers should continue to learn anatomy and understand the human body. It’s going to be harder for some people than others. Our brains all work in different ways. Keep going. You’ll pick up more and more knowledge as time passes.

#2. Most YTT are only going to give you a basic overview. A lot of this learning will have to happen on your own through books, blogs, and workshops and courses specifically related to anatomy. I would recommend this online course from YogaMedicine and this book.

#3. Most teachers are already teaching, even before they feel totally confident in their anatomy training. That’s the reality. So be gentle with yourself, remind yourself its a journey, and proceed safely and curiously. There are so many resources online to help you – just look up what peak pose you want to reach for and you’ll get lots of ideas.

Understanding what you want to stretch, and what you want to strengthen, in order to reach a peak pose is an important skill. But I want to demystify the process of creating a peak posture flow by giving you a simple hack that’s helped me:

pay attention and then mimic.

By this I mean, take a look at the peak pose you want to move into. What’s happening in this posture? You don’t need to know the names for each muscle group, but you can see that certain things lengthen, certain muscles are working, certain joints are holding weight. Then ask yourself: What other postures look like this one? What poses mimic the one I’m reaching for?

Take Grasshopper, the peak posture from my flow below. Well, I notice a few different things happening, in general terms:

• my arms are holding my weight and mimicking an arm balance like crow pose

• my legs are in a figure four-like shape

• there is a deep, deep bend in my knee and compression in that hip

• my wrists are bearing weight, so warming up the wrists would be important

• there’s a lot of extension happening in my lifted leg, so that would be good to practice

• there is a twist happening in my spine

Now, we can begin to think about the warm-ups that would be useful to integrate into our flow:

• We can add some easier arm balances like Crow Pose

• We’ll want to practice Figure Four

• With the hip compression we noted above, happy baby seems to mimic that

• We can add-in a wrist warm-up to our opening

• We’ll want to integrate a lot of twists into our flow

• We can add a pose like Malasana to mimic the deep knee bend

Just like that, you’ve started to build out your standing sequence and ensured that you have poses in your class that will nicely warm-up and prepare your students for a peak posture. Take a look at our flow from this week and then let me know in the comments what you can identify as preparatory for grasshopper!

What I Taught in Yoga This Week | July 3, 2024

I hope you saw some of the elements we identified above as being important: twists, figure four, malasana – and other elements like balancing and leg extension. As I mentioned, for my paid subscribers at the end of this issue, I’ll share the two other flows I taught before I taught grasshopper, which include more preparatory poses and baby grasshopper, which can be a nice starting point.

In class, I taught all three flows, and then I had the students come to the top of their mat to practice grasshopper. I didn’t film myself in grasshopper (whoops!), but Daniel Rama has a video on Instagram that he just posted about getting into it.

Fair warning, this is a tough pose!! Hence all the warm-up. :)

Humans, whether you love anatomy and sequencing around a peak posture, or you’re new to it and maybe a bit overwhelmed, remember that all things take time. As I’ve said, teaching is a skill and it takes practice.

Good thing we love the practice.

Warmly,

Izzy

Izzy Martens

author, yoga teacher, sequence enthusiast

www.yogahumans.com

the write-up

• chair plane

• revolved chair

• step back to revolved high crescent lunge

• open arm twisted crescent

• high crescent

• open arm twisted pyramid

• high crescent

• warrior II

• reverse triangle

• star with hands at heart center

• warrior II (face back)

• reverse warrior

• cartwheel to standing L

• shiva squats (x3)

• hold in shiva squat then sit

• half lord of the fishes

• unwind to frog squat (malasana)

• malasana swoops

• pyramid (face front)

• warrior III

• one leg mountain pose

• figure four (add the twist)

• one leg mountain

• step forward to mountain

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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 husband and 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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Two more flows for you below!