Advanced Sequencing In Yin Yoga: Beyond the Basics

Advanced Yin Sequencing: Beyond the Basics
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[00:00:00] Friends, today’s episode is gonna be about sequencing different times a day, different seasons, different days of the week. How nuanced can we take our yin yang theory in our sequences? This was based on a question in a yin yoga network Facebook group, and that’s what we’re gonna get into today. So if you are a brand new teacher, or you are still in the sequencing intimidated category, this is probably not your episode, I would, you could still download it and just save it for later, or you can listen to it and just look at it as room to grow.

I did do another episode called, sequencing for Yin. If you are new to yin, you’re a new teacher, or you’re in the sequencing intimidated category, that’s where you should go. But this one is for those of you that like myself, are working towards ninja level sequencing, and you want a little brain tickle and a little bit of a [00:01:00] challenge for your classes that you might not have thought of.

All right. That’s what we got on tap today. Stay tuned.

Welcome to a Yinny Yoga podcast. I’m your host, Nick Denu, certified yoga therapist, mentor of yoga teachers, yinny yoga teacher trainer, and total yin yoga geek. If you have a crush on yin yoga and are ready to dive deep, then you’re in the right place. Here, myself and my guests will discuss all things in yoga, including anatomy, philosophy, traditional Chinese medicine, meditation, Taoism, teaching tips, and so much more.

You can expect these conversations to be long format, informal, lo-fi, and [00:02:00] delightfully imperfect. So whether you are a yoga teacher or a yin yoga student, I welcome you to the inside. Welcome to a Yin Yoga podcast. If you’re new around here. Welcome, welcome. If you are a familiar welcome back. Thanks for coming back again and again and again, my friends. Today we are going to talk about should you sequence your morning class different than your evening class, and then. Should you sequence your classes different depending on the day of the week, the time of day.

Is any of this even relevant? This is what we’ll get into today. Once again, this, episode was sparked by a [00:03:00] question that I saw in a yin yoga Facebook group. So my friends, again, if you’ve got questions for me, do you want things covered on the podcast? Just reach out. Reach out and let me know. If you’re on YouTube, you could let me know in the comments.

If you’re on Spotify, you could also let me know in the comments. If you are not on those and you’re listening on Apple or some other place, you can just get at me in Instagram. Or if you happen to be in a Yin yoga network group, you could always post a question and tag me if you want it covered on the podcast, and I’m more than happy to do so.

Now the questions do have to be yin related, yin adjacent. Chinese medicine, Daoist, et cetera, otherwise, or, functional anatomy, that kind of stuff. It has to be within the yin spectrum. But I’m more than happy to, , take your questions. Some of you may have heard me say this before, that one of my biggest fears when starting the podcast wasn’t maybe what you might think it was, that I would run [00:04:00] out of topic ideas.

So if you want to help me keep my neurosis in, check about that. Please give me your subject ideas. Um, I don’t really take guest ideas unless the guest is attached to a specific subject. So if you, for example, please everyone out there, if you’re listening, if you know of somebody who has an expertise in osteoporosis and is a certified yin teacher, please send them my way.

This is the one that I’ve had a lot of trouble finding. Uh, somebody, I found somebody, but somebody who’s willing to come on a podcast, apparently that’s intimidating to some folks. So if you know of anyone, osteoporosis, osteopenia, specialty, so not just like, oh, I teach a few people that have it, but like they’ve studied this in depth and they have yin certification, please let me know.

Hook me up. So that’s what we’re gonna talk about [00:05:00] today. Should our sequencing change based on the time of day? We could say the season, the question was just time of day, but I’m gonna add in the season, perhaps the time of day, um, also maybe the day of the week and how that affects how we sequence.

Alright, my friends, and if you, by the way, are very new to sequencing. And just the thought of taking any of this into an account is like making you sweat bullets a little bit because you can just barely figure out getting a decent sequence together. Then don’t worry about any of this. These are all optional, but I wanna share for those that are interested or that are ready to kind of take their sequencing game up to another level.

I should also mention that I did do a whole episode on sequencing in yin. And you [00:06:00] can find my prior episodes by going into the show notes below, wherever you’re listening to this. And there’s a link that says, see all episodes at a glance. If you click that link. Then you can go ahead and it’ll take you right to my website where that episode is so you can peruse and choose to your liking.

I know some of you like to binge podcasts and you’ve listened to every single episode, and some of you like to treat your podcast listening like a buffet, a little of this, a little of that. So for those of you Buffet listeners, please know that is there, or just for those of you that have discovered the podcast and do wanna like start at the beginning and binge.

It’s got them all in order. It’s easier to navigate that than to try to get scrolling back in your app forever and ever and ever and ever. So that Google Doc is linked in every episode notes. Please take advantage of it. Alright, my friends. I wanna mention, two things. One, at the time of you getting this, [00:07:00] I will be in the fall if you’re listening live.

We’ll be in the fall round of the 2025. My 100 hour therapeutic in training. Of course we will have another in the spring. At the point of this recording, we are doing them twice a year, fall and spring. And so if you are interested in that, whether it be for spring or fall or a future round, get on the wait list.

Yo, the wait list isn’t just for people that are ready for like the very next round. The wait list is for people that are like, Hey, I wanna take your training at some point coming up. Soon, and I want all the extra goodies that you’re gonna give me along the way. Extra goodies, you say, well, yes dear listener, extra goodies indeed.

First thing you’re gonna get is a sequence, and then you’re gonna get a video practice from me of the same sequence. So for those of you that are teachers, you’ll have a little tummy sequence. You can kind of print off and try in your class, but you can also try it first in the practice with the video.

So. That’s what you’re gonna get first. [00:08:00] And then you’re also gonna get these podcast episodes in your inbox automatically. You will get extra resources,, sometimes I send out poetry that I used in class, or music that I use in class, or I have a seasonal free mini workshop. You’ll get invitations to those if you’re on that list.

As well as paid invitations to practice with me on Zoom. So for those of you that would love to practice with a senior certified, , teacher, you’re more than welcome to join my Zoom classes. I love having, teachers in my classes. And so we’ll get all of those things plus things that I’m probably forgetting to mention just by being on the wait list.

How do you get on the wait list? You ask. I’m so glad you asked. If you look down in the episode notes, there’s a link that says, join the wait list, click that, and then if you look up into my photo, there’s a button. You can click there and enter your name and email or at the bottom, or if you hang out for a minute, a little polite popup will slide in from the [00:09:00] side and you can enter your name and email there.

And that’s how you get on the wait list. So again, whether you’re looking for the next round, the next round, or the next round. Get on the wait list because every day that you’re not on the wait list, I can’t send you cool stuff about Yin. Yeah. So get on the wait list, my friends. Oh, the other thing I forgot to mention that you should get on the wait list is, first access to registration.

So before I make the buttons live on my website before I, , send them all out to, on the socials and all of that. You get first crack to register, and the first five of you that sign up have access to a 25% off discount code. That’s pretty cool. That helps with the cost of trainings. So those are all the reasons you should be on the wait list, my friends.

Okay. Without further ado, shall we get into the topic at hand? So the question was, should you sequence your morning and evening classes differently? [00:10:00] Let’s break that down even more. Okay, so should you teach differently according to the time of day? Before I get into the time of day, I actually wanna get into, , the fact that we could teach different seasonally. So when I first started teaching yin, and so again, if you’re new to yin and you’re new to sequencing and you’re not feeling super confident in your sequencing, you might wanna go back and listen to the sequencing episode and just let this be.

Something you put in the background as something to grow into so that you don’t feel overwhelmed and paralyzed and not want to teach at all anymore. So my friends, for those of you though that are comfortable sequencing in yin and haven’t really thought about whether or not your sequences adapt and change, depending on the time of year, the time of day, or even the cycle of the days of the weeks.

Then this episode will be for you. [00:11:00] So I, for years did not pick any of this into account. When I taught yin, I basically taught yin, , with what I call my recipe. Which if you listen to the sequencing episode you’re already familiar with, but I like to include a forward fold, a back bend, a twist, something lateral, something for your neck and shoulder area, and something for your hip flexors and hip butt it band zone.

That is my class recipe. I call it a recipe, not a plan, because I can add and subtract ingredients depending on the needs of my students, the time of the year, the time of day. The season, et cetera. The other episode that I would spotlight perhaps for you is the one on yin yang. What is Yin Yang? I believe that might even be in season one.

Either way, if you click that thing in the show notes, the link that says all episodes at a glance, it is there, but I believe it was [00:12:00] season one. Because when you have a deeper understanding of yin yang theory and the nuances of it, you could take this to so many different degrees when it comes to sequencing.

So for example, one thing that I do now that I did not do when I started is I now teach seasonally themed sequences. Meaning not only is whatever reading that I share likely to be. On point with the five elements and the seasons, but the sequence itself will favor or at least include because I still always wanna get a forward bend, some sort of backward, bend shape, even if it’s just a child’s pose or hugging your knees in, a twist, a lateral, neck, shoulders, hips.

You got, you got it. So I still take that recipe. Into my seasonal sequences, but I also add in particular shapes that access [00:13:00] the sinew channels, which a lot of you have not heard about. That’ll be an episode at a later date. But basically. In a nutshell, a lot of people focus on the meridians, and that’s not really super helpful for yin because we’re not really accessing the meridians in the same way you would in acupuncture.

But what we are accessing is the sinew channels. And if you’re like, holy crap, I’ve never heard of sinew channels. Yeah, I know,, I get that a lot. Because unless you have studied Chinese medicine. Like Chinese Medicine College to become an acupuncturist or A-T-C-M-D or whatever. You probably have never heard of senior channels.

So there’s a whole lot of people out there training teachers with Chinese medicine, fluff, I’ll call it. They’re including things like meridians and stuff, but they really actually don’t have any in depth experience or training. So this is why you’ve probably not heard of senior channels again, episode for another time.

So. My point though is that I take into account the [00:14:00] sinu channels that correspond to the organs that correspond to the season. You might be like, W what? What? Huh? Okay. Lemme break this down. Let’s start. Let’s just choose wood because why not Wood’s great. So the element of wood is connected to the season of spring.

So for springtime, I’m going to be encouraging more poses in my sequences that are there to access the gallbladder and the liver sinu channels. Notice that did not say meridians. The CEU channels for the gallbladder and the liver, that’s what I’m gonna focus on when I’m teaching in springtime. And my theme of the classes might also be.

Connected to springtime or to the wood element, right? So if I’m looking for a reading or something for the class, I might choose something [00:15:00] that’s kind of wood or forest related, or that has the energy of spring, et cetera. You get the idea. So when you learn, and again, most of you have not probably learned this in depth in your trainings, we go over it quite in depth in mine.

We learn about the elements, the seasons, the sinew channels that connect to the organs and where those fit on the yin y spectrum. And then my students learn how to sequence according to that. That’s the final assignment. So if you have not, bear with me. So let’s just say that I wanna focus a class on a seasonal aspect, and I’m just gonna use the wood and spring as my example.

So not only am I gonna focus on the Sinu channels that are connected to the liver and gallbladder, I’m gonna make sure that those are added in. Again, I always still make sure it’s a well-rounded practice. I don’t neglect other movements of the spine, et cetera. There is a way to get that all in, believe it or not.[00:16:00]

But I’m also gonna take into mind what is the energy of spring? Where does spring fall on the yin yang spectrum? So within the yin yang spectrum, the elements in the seasons are also either more yin or more yang. So for example, wood is new yang, meaning it’s not the Yong of the yang time of year, but it’s definitely more on the yang spectrum than winter was, which is the yin of the yin.

And I also did an, an episode on the five elements at a glance. Would be another what? Five elements? 1 0 1, I believe. That’d be another good one if this is all new to you to check out. But basically if we start with, let’s just start with the most yin, winter is the most yin, and then spring becomes what they call New yang because it’s that transition point from that sleepy, watery, very yin state.

But it’s not as [00:17:00] yang as, say, summer summer’s gonna be like the peak of yang and then fall again. Is that sort of. Not quite yang, but not quite yin. It’s new yin. Okay. So that’s kind of how those seasonal shifts go. So I can take that into account when I’m sequencing. So for example. I might decide to do more poses that are just a little bit more y, like still within the yin spectrum.

I’m not talking about flowing and moving and all that. That’s again, we have other episodes on that. I’m talking about there are some episodes that are slightly more yang that are still within the spectrum. So for example, sitting is slightly more young than laying down, kneeling. Slightly more Yong than sitting [00:18:00] simply because of the direction of your body and how much of your body is in contact with the earth.

Earth being the most yin sky, being the most Yong. So I might favor more seated poses or even for those who can, for their knees, instead of doing like a baby dragon where you’re reclined for spring, I might decide no. What We’re gonna start bringing in some dragons because, this is the time of year.

This is the spring time of year. Now, again, I wanna be really clear, these are all still within the yin spectrum or yin family of poses, but I can, if I want to, if it’s not too intimidating. I could think, Hmm, it’s springtime. What is the energy of spring? How might I adapt my sequences for the season of spring?

Hmm. Let’s think about that. And so it might affect. What poses I choose, meaning I might [00:19:00] favor pulling in for sure some stuff for the liver and the gallbladder in addition to my other poses. It doesn’t have to be like an only liver gallbladder, although it is possible to have a very well-rounded practice with those \ two CU channels, that is very possible.

So I might favor those senior channels. I might think about my reading. My quote or poem that I might share, I might think about it with the music maybe. So I do very ambient music. Okay. I don’t do a lot of like vocals or if it is, it’s just slight vocal toning, very ambient stuff. So in the winter, for example, I have a whole playlist of , I just find stuff on YouTube.

That’s where I get my music from because I like that the tracks are long. It’s not stop and start. I don’t have to make a playlist where it’s like one song and then another song and they’re energetically different and then different melodies, and now people are getting all up in their music brain. So I often use YouTube, but let’s use an [00:20:00] example.

So for winter, for me personally, I love me some cello. Oh my God, if you get me some cello and Sweeny violins in an ambient kind of soundscape way, that’s gonna be my choice. For winter because it’s got that kind of brooding, introverted, tiny touch of melancholy, inward, , very yin feeling to it For me personally, however, when I start going to spring now, I might look at my playlist and go, now I need something that’s a little, got a little bit more of a sprinkle of an upbeat in there.

Right? It’s not gonna be super energetic. It might just be a little bit more energetic in nature than the music I chose for winter. And then the same for summer, et cetera, et cetera. Okay. So in the oldest Taoist traditions, earth would’ve been actually instead of late summer, which [00:21:00] is what they call it in Chinese medicine,, which is not the same as Indian summer, by the way.

It often gets translated that way, but it’s not quite that. , But Earth actually would’ve been the center. So Earth was the center, but it’s also the 18 days between seasons. Maybe I should do a whole episode on that. I will do a whole episode on Earth at some point, but just to say. That what I might do is encourage more spring shapes, meaning I’m gonna look at the CNU channels connected to the organs that are connected to the springtime and the element wood.

So now what have I got for this whole season that I can sprinkle in? Well, I’ve got quotes and poetry that I might choose to use for the wood or the spring. I might choose music. If you use music that has just got a little bit of a more of a upbeat ish nature than you did in the kind [00:22:00] of. Really, yin time of winter, not super upbeat.

I would never use super upbeat music in yin because it’s not yin. Remember, yin and yang are a spectrum, so even within the category of yin, there is some yin that is a little more yin than the rest of the yin. So I might choose different music. I might go for just a tiny little bit of an upbeatness, but not like super energetic.

I’m gonna favor again, those sinu channels that are connected to the organs, that are connected to the season of spring that are connected to wood. I might do those things and I might also think about how much lying down in the class am I doing compared to kneeling or seated, and I might take that into account and I might even look at the yin and yang of that and decide to put those shapes in my sequences.

So again, I can already just, it’s like I have this psychic ability to hear what yoga teachers are thinking. [00:23:00] It’s not true, but I do work with a lot of teachers, so sometimes I notice these things. So right now, if you are new to sequencing everything I just said, you went, holy fuck Nick. I’m totally overwhelmed.

That’s okay. This isn’t for you. Then pin this episode for later. I mean, you can still listen, but like ignore most of it and just go to the sequencing episode. That’s gonna be your little gem. For those of you who are already kind of sequencing ninjas, maybe you consider some of this. So the question that sparked this episode was, should you practice differently in the morning versus the evening?

So I’ve just talked about how you might seasonally change the way you practice, which is what I do, but you could also use the time of day. So in the morning. People are, if someone’s doing a morning yin practice, they’re probably leaving their morning yin practice and they’re gonna go get on with their day.

[00:24:00] Whereas someone who is doing an evening yin practice is likely either going home to have a mellow dinner and then wind down for the day, or they might even be going right into the tub and or right to bed. So should we sequence these differently? Well, I don’t like to Should all over people. Maybe, maybe not, but you could.

Why not? Wouldn’t that be fun? For those of us that are like, Ooh, I like a little sequencing challenge. So again, we can think about which one is more yin and which one is more. Yong morning time is more Yong like than evening time. And so we can honor that perhaps by, maybe in the morning we do slightly more Yong like poses.

So for example, we may do more seated or more kneeling as opposed to laying down the whole time. We also might do slightly shorter holds so that [00:25:00] that still within the yin range, we’re not, I’m not talking one minute, that’s not yin, but maybe we do slightly shorter holds and a few more postures. In the morning because the morning time is a little bit less yin than the evening time.

Well, quite a bit less yin than the evening time. And then maybe in an evening class we do mostly reclined postures and we do fewer postures and longer holds so that people really get a chance to settle. So let’s think about that with our sequencing. Maybe that’s how we can differ our mourning Yin. From our evening yin.

Now again, you don’t have to, ’cause I mean the yin poses are already pretty yin, but if you wanna get really granular and nerdy like I do with your sequencing, you could do that. So that’s times of day. So for example, I’m just gonna use one pose as an example ’cause I can’t break down a whole sequence for both.[00:26:00]

If I were doing something for the hip flexors. In the morning, I would probably do Dragon provided, of course, again, that the person can kneel. If not, we have other options because Dragon is a little bit more yang in nature, right? It’s a little bit more assertive still within the yin family of poses, but it’s a little more fiery.

Then I might do Baby Dragon, which if some of you may not know what Baby Dragon is, sometimes it’s called Lazy Dragon or Recline Dragon. It’s basically putting some support under your pelvis, whether that’s a bolster or block or folded blanket, and then hugging Wendy into your chest and extending your other leg out straight along the floor.

So both of those, the intended area is hip flexors. One of them takes a little bit more energy and is a little bit more Yong. In order to get that, that would be dragon proper [00:27:00] kneeling, low lunge step one foot forward. However, if you do the recline version, put a little support under your pelvis. Hug one knee in, extend the other leg out straight, which by the way, for those of you that have never heard of this option, this is also a fantastic option for anyone who can’t kneel ’cause they have knee pain.

So what I would do is if I was teaching a morning class, I’d be far more likely to take traditional dragon on your knees, step one foot forward, provided of course somebody could do that pose. And then in the evening, I would probably favor Baby Dragon, because if you think about the energetics of the pose, the level of challenge, how much of you’s on the floor.

The baby dragon is very reclined. It’s very laying on the earth, right? Lots of support of props. Whereas the upright dragon has less than that. You could definitely use props and you should to get more comfortable, why wouldn’t you? , But it is a little bit more of a [00:28:00] strenuous pose that’s a little more y and morning is more y than evening.

So that’s how we could take the time of day into account. So what have we gone over so far? We’ve gone over the seasons. We can plan seasonally. We can think about what is the energy of spring, what is the energy of winter, what is the energy of summer? Choose our poses, our readings, our music, and our quotes Accordingly, just how I teach.

I don’t teach any morning in classes except . Oh, that’s okay. That’s not true. I do teach a Sunday morning yin, although for half the group that’s there, it’s no longer morning ’cause of time zones. Mostly I teach evenings. So if you’re gonna teach a morning yin versus an evening yin, Hmm.

Might we change that? Now again, you don’t have to. Yin is already yin, but if you wanted to, maybe you could think, okay, which poses are a little bit more seated or kneeling that’s more young like [00:29:00] in nature for a morning class. Upper body also more yang, lower body, more yin. So you could, in a morning class, maybe have a few more upper body poses maybe than you would normally.

So those are a couple ways you could treat the morning practice different. Again, music and the reading could also be d. So you could choose music that was just slightly more upbeat. Again, I’m still a big fan of the ambient, but there’s deep, dark cello ambient, and then there’s butterflies in the forest ambient, you know, so maybe you go a little bit more upbeat in the morning, whereas in the evening, maybe you do really dial that down deeper notes in the music.

Much more downregulating energy. In evening class. So that’s a way you could differ your morning and evening class. And I think it’s a great way to do it [00:30:00] because people have different things they’re doing in the morning after yoga class than in the evening. Also in the morning, people haven’t had, unless they’re a shift worker, they haven’t had a whole day before they get there, and so they’re coming in a little more fresh.

Whereas in an evening class, people have had a whole day there and it may not have been a great one. You never know. And so maybe a little more low key downregulating in the evening. So that’s how we might choose to switch up morning versus evening in again if you want to. And then now the third cycle that I talked about, days of the week, oh my gosh.

I mean, here’s another little monkey wrench to throw into the challenge of sequencing. For those of you who are ninja level sequences and want it, how would a, for example Sunday evening class be different than a Friday evening class? So in [00:31:00] my life and my world right now, currently at the moment, I teach at one studio, only one because I prefer to run my own show.

But this particular studio is a special magical unicorn, and so I make an exception for it. So I teach at one studio, shout out to Ma., And I have a Friday evening class there, and I also have a Sunday evening class, Friday evening. It’s kind of like the time slot is like right after work. And then the Sunday evening, it’s kind of not quite at the end of the night Sunday, but it’s a little bit later on the Sunday.

So let’s just think about the average person who doesn’t work, shift work. They’ve probably had a whole week. On the Friday class and they’re gearing up for the weekend. Okay, this, I’m just talking just the average nine to five or Monday to Friday person. I realize there’s a whole bunch of other nuance that could go into this, but I’m going to keep this very complicated, nuanced episode on sequencing as simple as possible.

So [00:32:00] let’s imagine our person is a Monday to Friday, nine to five, or eight 30 to four 30 or whatever. So they show up on Friday evening for their yoga. Here’s what they’ve got going on. They got a whole week of the stress that they may have in their life building up, whether that be work or life.

They’ve got probably a little bit of pent up energy on Friday night, just a bit. They’ve got, , gearing up for the weekend in mind, right? Getting their relaxation on for the weekend, and they got a little bit of A-T-G-I-F thing happening. Thank god it’s Friday. So that’s what’s gonna be happening on a Friday night.

So for a Friday evening class, I would say a Friday evening class would be slightly more yang and then moving into deeper yin than a Sunday evening class. So on a Sunday evening, again, we’re assuming that this person’s a nine to five or Monday to Friday, just for simplicity’s sake. [00:33:00] Sunday evening is when people are preparing now for the work week, and there’s a lot of people who have what they call the Sunday scaries.

Have you heard of this? Where this sort of doom and gloom and freaking out and thinking about the work week to come is happening on Sunday, that Monday is actually \ It’s stealing a little bit of the Sunday magic damn Monday, so. How might we sequence that class differently knowing that some people in that room might be experiencing more anxiety and that they’ve maybe had like, uh, maybe they’ve had a reli a really relaxing weekend, if that’s how they roll, or if they’re like the weekend warrior type.

Then they’ve had kind of active weekend doing all kinds of stuff and now they’re preparing for Monday. So my Sunday evening class. Would be more yin ish than my Friday evening class [00:34:00] because I would be meeting people where they were at or where they needed to be. So on Friday evening, people have had a work week.

They’re kind of rolling in, da da, da. They’re coming straight from work. Often they’re a little bit more yang like. And so I’m gonna start them with a little bit more of the y ish poses and then move them into the most yin ish poses. So for example. If we’re gonna use the ex dragon example, I would choose perhaps on a Friday.

I always read the room too, so I’m giving you all these guidelines, but I can read a room so I know when to change these things. But let’s just say Friday evening, I might have them come upright and do some seated work at the beginning of the class, and then maybe some dragon and then move them down to the ground so that they’re now in that yin state for their weekend.

Whereas on a Sunday, I probably wouldn’t do, I would do very little seated poses, um, as few as possible, and I would do a lot of kind of like grounding [00:35:00] downregulating, lying on the earth, nervous system, settling, restful stuff. So Sunday is day of rest. If we’re in the Judeo-Christian society, which most of us are living in right now, whether you follow those religions or not, we are still programmed that Sunday is the day of rest.

And . I would do a much deeper, more restful practice on a Sunday. Little less seated kneeling probably wouldn’t do. Like traditional dragon, I would just get people to lie on their back or take bridge poses. If I wanted to access the hip flexors as one example, I might do on a Friday evenings sphinx pose,

and then on a Sunday evening I might do a heartbeat laying over a bolster. Do you see what I’m saying here? Can you see how if you really start to deeply study yin and yang, you can start to see these nuances everywhere. So sphinx, although within the yin spectrum of poses, is a slightly, takes a [00:36:00] little more effort, right, than laying over a bolster.

So I might. On a Friday night, start people with a little bit more of the young-ish yin poses and then move them into the still quiet, really grounded stuff, right? And meeting them where they’re at. They’re coming in with that kind of phonetic energy of like, ah, TGIF Friday. God, it’s been a stressful week.

Also, think about where their bodies are at, especially if they work at a desk. You know, then their necks and shoulders and upper back and all, that’s just talking to them. So I might sneak all that stuff in at the start of class and then move them into lying down. Whereas on a Sunday class, I would stay as low to the ground as possible.

Maybe only a couple seated poses, literally just for the neck and shoulders, and then laying down, laying down, laying. That’s how my Asana might change based on the day of the week. And those are just two examples you can think about. What’s the energy of Wednesday? What’s the energy of Monday? Oh, Monday, right?

So you can think about [00:37:00] those. I’m only gonna give two examples. Feel free to get nerdy with this. Then, if we’re gonna think about the other things that I mentioned, like you’re reading or your music, if you choose to use those things in your class, what would my Friday reading be like compared to my Sunday reading?

My Friday reading might be a little bit more permission to rest, right? Because that’s where people are at. They’re like just coming off the work week and now they’re getting ready for the weekend. So it might be a little bit more kind of invitations to rest, invitations to go inward. , They might theme around permission to slow down, that kind of thing.

On Sunday, I might be addressing the Sunday scaries. I might be addressing some of the shadowy stuff that comes up, some of the anxiety or the stress or things like that. I could still definitely use any time. You can use readings with permission to rest as the theme of the reading, and you will never go wrong in a yin practice.

But I might start a little bit with [00:38:00] kind of like the Sunday scaries. There is a poem called, oh, good Grief. I’m not gonna think of the name of it right now. Something to do with Sundays. It’s by Donna Ashworth. Let me see if I can find it. One moment.

Okay. I found the Sunday reading that speaks to the Sunday scaries. This is by Donna Ashworth, by the way, from her book Wild Hope, and it’s called too many Sundays. Too many Sundays have been darkened by the dreaded presence of Monday. Looming like a storm cloud of fear, anxiety. Gut wrenching stress.

Sunday is your gift your day to recharge your freedom. Be protective of that time. Monday has space enough. Do not let it overstep. Its mark. Make your plans prepare, and then push Monday back into its box and let Sunday shine forth like the jewel that it is. You deserve [00:39:00] this day of soul rest. Life is not a chore to be dealt with.

It is to be lived my friend. You are here to live and Sunday is a day gifted to us for doing whatever your little heart desires. So I love that reading by Donna Ashworth again called too many Sundays because it really does speak to the Sunday scaries that a lot of people, , feel. And I never heard the term Sunday scaries for years.

I think people were feeling it and people would say things like, I’m anxious, or, dreading the work week. But like the terms Sunday scaries, is I think fairly new. , But I bet you a lot of your people are feeling it. So if you teach on Sundays, just keep that in mind. So on a Sunday, I might focus on being much more yin within the yin spectrum of poses.

I would take that into account with my readings, with my music. Again, my Sunday music will be a little bit more deep and [00:40:00] chill, whereas my Friday music might be just a tiny bit more upbeat, at least to start and then move into the chill. So. We’ve gone over a lot in this episode, and I don’t want, again, those of you that are new to sequencing, to feel like completely lost, freaked out and overwhelmed by all of this.

So again, if you’re new to sequencing and this just was overwhelming, , just, you know what, download this and just save it for later and go back to the sequencing in yin., One of the things we do in my teacher training program is I show and teach people how they can sequence their classes seasonally according to Chinese medicine.

So whether they wanna offer, just like, say a seasonal workshop where they go a little bit more in depth with their, um, students. As to the Chinese view of the season that they’re approaching or whether they just wanna keep it kind of in their back pocket and just adapt their sequences [00:41:00] physically and their readings and their music, for the season, which they may or may not even tell their students.

It might just be something that you do in your own teaching. . I once had a student in my teacher training who asked me if she had to do the final assignment where we do five sequences, one for each season, because she’s never going to teach that way.

And I said, well, you know, you can teach seasonally without saying to your students, I have arrived and now I will tell you all about the Chinese medicine view of spring. Right? We don’t need to do that. You could just do it without saying a word. And so I taught them in that group. A water themed practice, which is connected to winter.

The quote was watery. It spoke to the emotion of that time of year. The poses we did were for the urinary bladder and the kidney the energy of the practice was very yin. The music was very yin, [00:42:00] and I did not tell them beforehand which season or element I was doing. I just said, okay, we’re gonna try this tomorrow.

When we gather, I will teach you a seasonally themed element themed practice, and y’all can tell me afterwards what element it was for. You know what? Only half of them got it and it was because of the reading the poem, these things can be sort of put on a pedestal and discussed as part of your dharma talk if you have the information and the knowledge to do so.

Don’t be paddling on about Chinese medicine if you’ve never studied it, but you could talk about the season of winter. , All of our ancient traditions view these seasons very similarly. You know, whether it be. , Chinese medicine or if you think about in, European culture, you don’t think that the original peoples in European culture treated winter differently than summer.

Of course they did. So you don’t have to talk about Chinese medicine to talk [00:43:00] about the energy of winter, of this sort of darker, quieter, more introverted, uh, do less et cetera, time of year, right? So. Whether you want to be all loud and proud with your theme and have your whole talk and presentation, be in a seasonal workshop all about the season, or whether you just wanna kind of do a little wink or a little nod to it, and behind the scenes modify your music, your readings, and your shapes that you choose for the class.

Either way. Now that I do it, I’m a big fan of teaching seasonally. It also helps to keep things fresh for you as a teacher. I know a lot of teachers, this is a common thing that yin teachers will say, you know, how do I keep my sequencing fresh? Or How do I keep my classes fresh?

And they think that their students are bored. Their students probably aren’t, but as teachers, they get bored. Well, here you go, my friends, or those of you who get bored, I just gave you a whole bunch of nerding out you could do. What am I [00:44:00] what on my music list is wintery. What in my music list is spring?

Like what did my music list is? Summer, like, fall, like, et cetera. You get the idea, Ooh, what poems do I have that fit with the season? Ooh. Now I can take a look at the sinew channels of these poses and maybe I choose my sequence based on the season. Hmm. Possible. So whether you choose to sequence your, the original question was, are morning and night different in your sequences?

Most people in the comment thread said no. A lot of people said yes. So there can be, if you choose to, a lot of nuance with your sequences, whether it be time of day, morning night, time of year, what season you’re in, and the energy of that season. Is it. Yin of the yin like winter, is it new yang like spring?

Is it yang yang like summer or is it new yin like fall? We can take those into [00:45:00] account when we think about our readings, our sequences, our music, all of that, our themes for those of you who theme, , and again, none of this has to be done. You can run amazing, successful yin yoga classes by using my basic class recipe that is in that.

Sequencing episode. I did that for years. I never taught seasonally. I just did my recipe. I checked in with people to see if people had any tight spots or sore spots that they needed addressed. I used my recipe. I added in what I needed to baa bing baa boom. I taught that way for years. Wasn’t until I studied Chinese medicine that I started understanding yin and yang a bit deeper, that I was like, Hmm, how far can I take this theory?

It turns out very far indeed, days of the weeks, times of the day seasons, , all of that can be taken into account when you create your classes. If you want the challenge, or for those of you that get bored, or for those of you [00:46:00] that just love to nerd out, this would be sort of like sequencing 2.0 for your classes.

Not for beginners, not for those that are sequencing intimidated, but for those of you that are approaching ninja level, Hmm. Hopefully I’ve given you some food for thought and maybe I’ve given those of you who are not yet at ninja level, um. Something to look forward to if you choose to. But again, don’t get overwhelmed by this.

I taught a, that basic class recipe that I mentioned, some sort of forward fold, some sort of back bend, some sort of twist lateral pose, something for the neck and shoulders, something for the hips and button, hip flexors. That’s my recipe. I taught that recipe with slight add-ons. Depending on what my needs of the people in front of me were for years and years, and I had no complaints.

Students didn’t, they didn’t mind, they didn’t notice. , So please don’t feel pressured to change any of that. I will say that, the students that have been doing yin with [00:47:00] me for a very, very long time are appreciating the fact that I do out some of the poses a little bit more depending on the season and depending on the senior channel.

So they’re getting exposed to different poses in the winter. Or more of those poses than they might in the summer, for example. So it does keep it fresh for them. Now, those have been practicing with me for years and years. None of these shapes are new, but the fact that we kinda spend a little bit more time in the winter doing this and a little more time in the spring doing this, et cetera, et cetera, they kinda like it too.

I hope this didn’t overwhelm you and I hope that those of you that are looking for sequencing 2.0 that are trying to get to ninja level sequencing that have given you lots of food for thought.

And until I see you again next time or you hear me again next time, bye for now.

For those of you who stick [00:48:00] around until the very end, thank you. If you love this podcast, I’d be grateful if you gave it a review. It really helps other yin yoga lovers find it. If you’ve already given a review, would you consider sharing a screenshot in your Instagram stories? And don’t forget to tag me at Nick Danu Yoga or at Y Yoga podcast so I can share the love.

Before I sign off, some gratitude first for you, the listener, for spending time with me today. Big gratitude and deep reverence for my teacher, Paul Grille. Thank you to Fred Westra for the Hang Drunk Samples. You can hear more of his music by clicking the link in the show notes. A big thank you to my beloved for mixing the intro and outro tracks, and until we meet again.

May you be well, may you be content. May you be at [00:49:00] peace. May you be free.