In our one hour class, we’ll do twenty minutes of moving through various poses to get the heart rate up, then twenty minutes of traditional yoga poses including shoulderstand. The movement between the poses should be precise and mindful just like the poses themselves. Its good for general health to get the heart rate up for twenty minutes. We’ll then stretch deeply and massage the internal organs with some twists and back bends. We’ll end with a few minutes of breath work and full relaxation. Relaxing effectively is important for health.

1: Sit comfortably on the floor and take your attention within for a moment then stretch up and twist to both sides.

2: Warm ups. We use martial arts warm ups: hip cycle, knee cycle, neck cycle, wrist cycle and sumo squat. They are accessible and effective and move all the major joints of the body. Then move the bones of the foot by rocking the arch against the floor (all 26 bones).

3: Standing poses with flow (vinyāsa). We added flow to three of the basic standing poses we’ve looked at. Here’s the pattern:
  Stand up straight
  Bend from the middle and put your hands on the ground
Take weight into the hands
  Jump/step back and lower yourself down to plank
Come up to head-up-dog pose
  Swing back to head-down-dog pose
  Stay a few breaths then jump or step to the desired standing pose
  Repeat the cycle to the other side.

You should play with this cycle and add poses you enjoy.
The objective of the practice is for you to have a cycle of poses that you enjoy and will do often. Repetition is the secret.

Here’s a link to David Swenson showing total mastery of flow.

The three poses we cycled through were:

4: Supine hip and leg stretches. We did several variations of this using a belt. I always suggest using a belt until you are flexible. Notice these poses are very similar to the standing poses we have done.

5: Backbends

Backbends strengthen the thigh muscles and stretch and strengthen the inner abdominal muscles (Psoas).

6: Twist. I do this with the back hand firmly on the floor. Catching the hands is too difficult.

7: forward bends. Again, use a belt!

8: shoulderstand Be careful not to twist your neck. Keep your head still and your face calm. Breathe!

9: Breath work. Viloma (sanskrit for “against the fur”) is the first prāṇāyāma technique I teach. The theory behind this is that at the start, there is not much awareness or control of the breath and by consciously pausing we can refine our control and increase awareness. The first step is to pause during the inhalation. Start with 2 steps inhaling with a pause between them. The steps and pauses should be the same length. I like to count heartbeats so I’ll inhale for 3 beats, then pause for 3 beats and so on. Let the exhalation take care of itself. Step 2 is the opposite. Pause during the exhalation and let the inhalation take care of itself. Then step 3 is to both inhale and exhale with pauses. There are of course more advanced steps where we hold the breath in and also hold the breath out but we’ll look at them later. It takes a lot of time to master these techniques and they are best learned lying on bolsters to passively open the chest. I encourage you to play with this until you have a practice that works for you. Add more steps and pauses but always avoid tension. The process should be perfectly smooth. No stress. When learning this technique, stop occasionally and do a body sweep to identify areas where tension creeps in.

Yogic breathing (prāṇāyāma) is not just automatic, habitual breathing, it is intentional, mindful breathing. Practicing prāṇāyāma increases lung capacity and oxygenates the tissues. It reduces stress and anxiety.
It works because lungs can be controlled consciously in a way that most internal organs cannot. You can’t consciously control your kidneys but you can consciously control your lungs.

4: Breath work. Relaxing effectively is important just like working vigorously.
To relax with Iyengar precision: take time to ensure you are lying symmetrically with no sway back and with arms and legs and head aligned. Then stop thinking.