7 Steps to Create Inspiring Vinyasa Yoga Classes
We know our bodies learn through repetition, and our minds crave stability and routine, yet we get bored by the same cycles. Especially in a yoga class, where we may already be lacking ambition and enthusiasm to show up after a long day, we tend to mentally check out and lose motivation to keep showing up for ourselves even though we know the long-term effort is beneficial to our mental, physical, and spiritual health.
If you’re a yoga teacher or dedicated student seeking more inspiration and intrigue from your daily yoga practice, Lila Flow Yoga is the secret to sustaining a daily ritual of yoga. This style of yoga offers the perfect blend of strength, fluidity, and surrender for students and teachers who desire practice every day.
In this post, you’ll learn the 7 steps to create inspiring vinyasa yoga classes for students of all levels with Lila Flow Yoga developed by Clara Roberts-Oss, founder of Lila Vinyasa School of Yoga and the Practice with Clara Program.
Yoga is more than asana practice; as teachers, we create a space for students to discover themselves.
Let’s examine a Lila Flow sequence.
Preview a sample yoga class designed by Clara featuring Lila Flow sequencing.
7 Steps to Inspire Your Vinyasa Practice
(and level of instruction for yoga teachers!)
Select a peak pose to anchor your sequence.
A peak pose is a yoga class's main asana (posture). The class level will determine the peak pose, and it is opportune for teachers to offer modifications and the steps leading to the peak pose to accommodate those newer to the practice. The peak pose helps to create a sequence in a simple, structured, and progressive flow.
In Lila Flow wave theory, each wave adds a new layer or pose to the previous wave to allow for repetition as students build to the sequences’ peak. The peak pose may also be a peak wave in the class—you may choose to define your peak pose with an asana or create a peak wave that builds on the previous waves.
For a backbend-themed sequence, Ustrasana (camel pose) could be the peak pose in an open levels class. Urdhva Dhanurasana (wheel pose) could be the peak for intermediate/advanced students, and Anuvittasana (standing backbend into a drop back) could be the final offering for advanced students.
As teachers, we want to offer as many options as possible to support all students in their practice.
To see how to build a sequence with a peak pose, check out the Peak Pose Playlist.
Write down the muscles and body parts that need to be strengthened for the peak pose.
Knowing the muscles that need strengthening for the peak pose will help build a sequence that brings awareness to said areas. Without awareness and integrity in the body, as we move towards an advanced or arduous yoga asana, we risk injury and potentially overdoing it. Strengthening the muscle groups brings awareness to the area that needs to be engaged to support the asana and develops strong muscles that aid in our daily activities.
In an inversion or back bending class, strengthening the core muscles supports the lower back and brings awareness to the deep core stabilizers to assist in sustaining the pose. Strengthening the arms and upper back will support an arm balancing practice, the same way targeting the leg muscles assists leg balancing poses.
As you build to your peak wave or flow, consider how your strengthening poses build heat and apply strain to the body; you don’t want to tire your students or wear down their reserves before you get to the peak. Balance is key, so be mindful of how much strengthening and strain you apply so your students have the energy to get into the peak posture.
Write down the muscles and body parts that need to be released after the peak pose.
Counterposes are the postures that come after your peak pose or peak flow. They do the opposite to the muscles to bring the body back to neutral. A mindful approach to releasing strained muscles is essential to the longevity and health of the body. Without this awareness, strain, and wear will eventually lead to injury and disease.
The function of a counterpose is to release and restore balance through an opposite action. To guide students into a space of equilibrium in body and mind, decreasing the stress on the body while also relating the stressed areas will help neutralize and bring balance.
When examining peak poses and counterposes, the best way to determine what needs to be released is to examine the spine. Examine the rotation, flexion, and extension of the spine in the pose. Do the pose, feel it in your body, and ask what your body wants to do afterwards.
For example, after a deep backbend (extension of the spine), twists (rotation of the spine) or a forward fold (flexion of the spine) will help release the muscles along the spinal column. Twists and backbends complement each other in asana practice. It is not recommended to do a deep backbend and follow it immediately with a deep forward fold, as the extremes may also cause strain in the lower back.
For more on twists and backbends, refer to this article as a resource.
To learn more about the importance of counterposes in yoga asana practice and integrate, join the Art of Sequencing with Clara Roberts-Oss.
Construct your wave using the 3-part wave theory approach: lunge—core/neutralizing—warrior.
In Lila Flow Wave Theory, several successive waves build toward a peak pose or peak flow. Each flow is called a wave. A wave starts in mountain pose and ends in mountain pose. Within each wave, there are three sequences—
lunge, core, warrior. Here are the general rules for each portion of your wave:
Lunge Sequence initiates the wav,and features asymmetrical postures such as lunges and hanuman (half splits pose).
Core Sequence in the middle of the wave, features neutralizing and symmetrical poses, starts and ends in down dog.
Warrior Sequence ends of the wave and features asymmetrical postures such as warriors and leg balancing.See the breakdown of wave theory in a sample sequence designed by Clara Roberts-Oss.
Choose a theme and elements that will contribute, such as subtle body practices, languaging, and postures.
The theme for your class is what makes it stand out from other yoga classes. Students appreciate when teachers weave in a larger narrative message into the yoga asana. The yoga class becomes an experience rather than a workout; an embodied philosophy more so than a simple stretch on the mat. Themes can be broad such as Love, Fear, Gratitude, or Death. Choosing a broad theme allows you the space to play with how it’s expressed in the asana, pranayama, and discussion throughout the class.
As you begin to introduce themes into your sequences, choose a simple theme that resonates with you. You might also choose from esoteric themes such as the elements, chakras, or Ayurveda. Or you may choose to theme around a poem, lunar cycle, or goddesses!
Clara creates themes for all classes, events, and yoga challenges for students to discover, discuss, and delve into the yoga philosophy as they practice.
Design a music playlist that adds to the Bhav; remember, music should complement, not control, the class!
Music should contribute to the energy of the class in a way that creates balance. Here are a few simple directions to create a memorable playlist for your yoga classes:
▴ If you’re teaching a complex class with a challenging peak pose, choose less intrusive music (mellow beat, less vocals and more instrumental) so students can focus on your voice and instructions.
▴ Leave space for silence at the beginning and end of class so students can connect to quiet, ground, and meditate on the stillness or your words. Fear Lila Flow is a perfect example of how much time to leave for students.
▴ As your sequence builds and progresses, so should your playlist. Your music should build a similar wave as your vinyasa sequence, with peaks and valleys; the music should move with the class, meaning that when the sequence slows down, so does the tempo of the music. Check out Clara on Spotify to get a vibe for how she makes playlists for yoga classes.
Review class timing so you have enough time to close class with Savasana or meditation.
Skimping out on savasana or the cooling portion of the class doesn’t leave students enough time to unwind and achieve equilibrium. The parasympathetic nervous system, aka rest and digest mode, is where we feel safe, relaxed, and sensitive to our surroundings. In this state, we make better choices for ourselves and are able to act with more compassion to others. Savasana, meditation, slower-paced movement, and breathwork all bring the body into a state of rest and digest. This is why we close the yoga practice with savasana; it is the most important pose of practice to assimilate and integrate all the work the body has done. Savasana is where we reset and restore.
The timing of the class is important as it shows we respect our students' time and effort in showing up. Class timing can be tricky, especially if the instruction takes longer than you thought in an open-level class.
Generally speaking, allowing 10 minutes to open and 10 minutes to close your class will provide enough time for you to introduce the theme and allow your students space to ground and connect to themselves to bookend their experience.
Tell me, who is Clara Roberts-Oss?
Movement is my way to commune with the divine.
Clara came to yoga from a dance background. Vinyasa yoga has all the components she loves about dance, including the space for developing self-expression.
Clara’s roots in yoga were established in 1999 at the Jivamukti Studio in New York City, where she practiced with Sharon Gannon and David Life. She loved the chanting in Jivamukti yoga and how it felt like bringing her voice into the room.
Clara brings a different flavor of vinyasa—Lila Flow Yoga—to the Vancouver yoga scene.
Having developed a regular practice in her early twenties, Clara was certified at Sonic Yoga NY in 2003 and began teaching full-time shortly after. In 2006, she left NYC and landed in Vancouver, BC, at the inception of its yoga scene. Clara is known as the ‘teacher’s teacher’ in her home community. She completed her 300-hour YTT with the Samudra School led by Shiva Rea in 2012.
Clara has led retreats, workshops, and yoga teacher training for thirteen years worldwide.
She’s had the honor to teach at the Whistler Yoga Conference, Wanderlust Whistler, Northwest Yoga Conference, and the Pacific Yoga Festival. Clara was on faculty at Sonic Yoga for their 200-hour vinyasa yoga teacher training in 2006 and a part of the 300-hour faculty at Semperviva Yoga since 2008. In 2013, Clara created her own yoga school, the Lila School of Vinyasa Yoga, and has been leading her own 200 and 300-hour programs internationally with the help of Carolyn Anne Budgell, Shiv Oss, Paul Ochoa, and Erin Moon.
Excerpt from the eBook
10 Essential Elements of a Lila Flow Yoga Class
Bhavana (mood) sets the tone for the experience in a Lila Flow Yoga class. The Bhav is the feeling or mood established by the teacher. The main components of the class that create the Bhav include the music, lighting, tone of the teacher’s voice, theme for the class, and peak postures and flows. The peripheral components of the class that contribute to the Bhav may include aromas, location, objects for the altar, linking of postures in the sequence, and hands-on assist. The teacher establishes and maintains the Bhav; know that students will respond to whatever you put out whenever you lead a yoga class. If you aim to teach a fiery class with arm balancing, your tone of voice may be sharp and direct to invoke more passion and entry. On the other hand, if you’re teaching a slower-paced class with heart-opening, you may want to soften your tone and the lighting and music to create a more relaxed vibe for the class.
Theming is the driving factor in a Lila Flow Yoga class. Choosing a theme to anchor the class is a way to engage students and create a narrative that guides the class from beginning to end. Your theme may be esoteric or more practical, meaning you can choose to layer your theme with something abstract such as one of the chakras or something more tactile such as a body part. Whatever you do, choose a theme that resonates with YOU as your passion and interest will flow into the class and encourage students. Keep your theme simple, don’t overcomplicate things for fear of losing your student’s attention. A few examples of themes are Grief, Love, Autumn, Surrender, Death, Renewal.
Subtle body practices assist and allow the theme to present itself in a Lila Flow Yoga class. They contribute to the Bhav of the class and create a space for students to connect to the subtle energy body. The subtle body consists of energy points known as nadis in yoga that carry and distribute prana throughout the body. We have over 72,000 nadis in the human body. The most widely known nadis are the seven nadis we call the chakras, which travel from the base of the spine to the crown of the head along the spinal column; subtle body practices include chakra work, visualization, yoga Nidra and body scan, reiki, pranayamas, meditation, mantras, and kriyas to stimulate the flow of prana.
Pranayamas (breathwork) are used to connect the practitioner to the subtle body in a Lila Flow Yoga class. Prana is the life pulse and energy flowing through the body; it’s the linking element between the mind and body. Prana is not breath; it is the subtle energy essential to vitality stimulated by pranayamas. Lila Flow allows each movement to be linked to the breath to create a fluid and dynamic sequence that stimulates the pranic body. Some examples of pranayamas offered in a Lila Flow Yoga class include Bhramari (bees breath), Kapalbhati (skull-shining breath), Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing), and Bhastrika (bellows breath). Clara includes pranayamas from martial arts practices in Lila Flow Yoga classes in addition to traditional Indian pranayamas.
Mantras (chanting) are one way we start to develop an ear to hear the body’s subtle messages. Mantra is one aspect of yoga Clara wanted to feature in Lila Flow Yoga to celebrate the inner vibration that connects all living beings. The way mantra was taught to Clara was to enjoy the sounds themselves and how they reverberate in the body.
Music is central to the theme in a Lila Flow Yoga class. How you select the songs and curate the playlist contributes to the overall Bhav and how your students will feel. Lila Flow Yoga classes tend toward hip hop and instrumental music depending on the theme of the class and what Clara hopes to achieve. Overall, Lila Flow Yoga embodies music as a complement to the instruction and not the main driver.
Kriyas (rhythmic movement) is used to clear and express energy and stimulate the flow of Prana through the body. Kriyas may have a revitalizing effect on the body and mind and are helpful when creating the Bhav and adding to the theme.
Bandhas (locks) represent how we direct and control the flow of prana through the body. In a Lila Flow Yoga class, students may experience the four bandhas, which are Mula Bandha (root lock), Uddiyana Bandha (abdominal lock), Jalandhara Bandha (throat lock), and Maha Bandha (the great seal when all three bandhas are integrated).
Asanas (postures) in a Lila Flow Yoga class are based on the foundational poses from Ashtanga Yoga. Pioneered by Sri Pattabhi Jois, Ashtanga Yoga is the root of the vinyasa yoga practice. Lila Flow Yoga includes all of the main families of poses from Ashtanga Yoga in a class, including twists, backbends, arm balancing, leg balancing, hip openers, inversions, and folds. A Lila Flow Yoga class opens with a standing series (the solar portion of the class) where strengthening is often featured and closes with a cooling series (the lunar portion of the class) where stretching and release are often featured to help students unwind. A Lila Flow Yoga class is thoughtfully sequenced to prepare the body for a peak pose or a peak flow, with poses that follow to relieve the muscles strained. All asanas in a Lila Flow Yoga class work together to create a sense of ease, balance, and nourishment in the mind and body by the class’s end.
Surya Namaskars (sun salutations) open a Lila Flow Yoga class for students to connect to their breath and bodies, build heat, create rhythm, and warm the muscles used in the peak pose. Lila Flow Yoga allows for variations to the Surya Namaskars that deviate from the traditional Namaskars provided as Surya A, B, and C. In a Lila Flow Yoga class, Clara provides how the Surya Namaskars to open the class should also impress the student with the peak pose by strengthening and lengthening the attributed muscles in small ways, so the body learns through repetition. This is especially helpful and necessary for shorter-length classes.
Wave Theory is a method of sequencing created by Shiva Rea based on Krishnamacharya’s vinyasa kramas. Wave Theory allows for repetitive movement patterns that scale to a peak pose of peak flow. The idea behind this style of sequencing is for the body to respond through muscle memory to the repetition as the mind can follow a clear and integrative pattern. In Clara’s approach of Wave Theory, there are three clear components to each wave: lunge sequence, core/neutralizing sequence, and the warrior sequence. Each flow is called a wave. A wave starts in mountain pose and ends in mountain pose. Within each wave, there are three sequences— lunge/core/warrior.
Learn Lila Flow Yoga with Clara Roberts-Oss
Offered in the Art of Sequencing Training July 2021
5 Ways to Understand Lila Flow Yoga
Its roots are in Ashtanga Yoga, founded by Sri Pattabis Jois.
Lila Flow Yoga is rooted in Ashtanga Yoga, the practice created by Sri Pattabis Jois, one of Krishnamacharya’s students. Krishnamacharya is known as the ‘Founding Father” of yoga as we know it today.
It embodies the cycles we experience in the world.
The Lila Flow Yoga class cycle has a clear beginning, middle, and end, similar to the pulsation of the cosmos as expressed by the Hindu deities: Lakshmi/Brahma = creation Saraswati/Vishnu = preservation, and Durga/Shiva = destruction.
It’s a ritual for wellness for the body and mind.
Equal parts strengthening and softening are explored in a Lila Flow Yoga class for students to experience strength, fluidity, and surrender. This method honours the yin and yang energies to create a well-rounded experience for students to complete class feeling balanced.
It’s meant to encourage and empower students.
As teachers, we want to teach our way out of a job, meaning we want to empower students to listen to their bodies. Teachers are guides to support students in the alignment and understanding of the postures; our job is to educate, so students develop a deeper awareness of body, breath, and self.
It’s a cohesive and thoughtfully prepared experience.
Lila Flow Yoga includes yogic philosophy and subtle body practices to complement the asanas for students to experience the yoga practice's physical, mental, and spiritual aspects. When creating a class sequence, you consider all the ways to weave the theme into the class to introduce students to an experimental practice that sheds light on all the ways we live our yoga, on and off the mat.
Complete training feeling confident & empowered in your practice, and receive:
20 CE Credits with Yoga Alliance*
3-month membership to Practice with Clara.
Four 2-hour Lila Flow Yoga classes exclusive to students of the training.
The Art of Sequencing Training course manual.
List of ‘recommended reading’ books to enhance your knowledge of the philosophies and mythologies that create a foundation for this practice.
* Yoga Alliance, 20 CE credits, are provided with a certificate AND a 1:1 sequencing feedback session with Clara for an additional $75.00.
