The idea came to me while meditating in class about mid-October.  As I was fighting myself to focus on the white light resonating from the middle of my head, it came to me. I wanted to make sequences for my friends. Specifically for my friends with ailments. Thus unfolded my four part (sequencing, ailment understanding, my practice and translating them all to ASL) personal experiment.

First, I wanted to work on my sequencing skills. This has been nagging on me as a particularly scary responsibility for a future yoga teacher. I not only hope to gain the skills required to create a proper sequence, but to also have some stock sequences to go back to in case I get yoga writer’s block. I also want to be able to have some sort of helpful pointers for the people who come into my classes with unexpected illnesses or physical  injuries. I have heard countless teachers tell me countless horror stories of classes gone wrong. While I’m sure I wont have a perfect track record, Id like to minimize the negativity that might reside in or result from my classes. Practice makes perfect. So I contacted my friends I knew who had an interest in yoga and asked them if I could make them a personal sequence. Most of them were 100% on board, much to my excitement. Next, I asked them to share their most prominent ailments. Again, they were happy to do so. People love the idea of relief, so getting good participation was a piece of cake.

 As I started making the sequences, I realized, to no shock or awe, that I knew very little about yoga for “medicine.” I ordered the book, but, as of now, it still has not arrived, so I utilized teachers and the good old internet (yogajournal.com, mostly) to aid me in my trek. What I found was astonishing! All of the poses that you would think would help a certain problem, do! Once you have the basic understanding of what you are trying to do, generally, you can handle the smaller scale problems! I love it! I only wish I had more people to practice on. I’ll be making up imaginary people with imaginary ailments from now on to practice with! I am starting to feel more and more confident in, as Kevin says, treating the person, not the problem. **The sequences and the reviews of my new yogis are below**

**Designed for slight asthma, wrist pain, weak ankles, stiff knees**

NOTE

Hold each pose for as long as is comfortable. Do NOT continue if you have pain. You can work up to extended length of the poses.

 Virasana (Hero’s Pose). If you need a modification to make it more comfortable, sit on a block or blanket to elevate the hips from the knees and ankles. Take a few deep, yogic breaths. Exhale with a long “Om.”

Tadasana (Mountain Pose)

Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Salute)

 Uttanasana (standing forward bend)

Plank

Chaturanga (elbows at 90 degrees)

Urdhva Mukha Svasana (Up Dog)

Adho Mukha Svasasana (Down Dog)

Virvidrasana Two (Warrior Two)

Utthita Parsvokanasana (Extended Side Angle)

Utthita Trikonanasana (Triangle)

Malasana (Garland)

Balasana (Child’s Pose)

Dandasana (Staff Pose)

Shivasana (Corpse)

 BONUS POSES:

 ½ MOON POSE

 VIPARITA KARANI MUDRA

 Emily’s Comments:
“I started the sequence about a month ago. My hope was that it would help me eliminate stress from my life. The first time I did the sequence it took me about an hour, afterward I felt great! I had stretched out all the achy muscles and relaxed. The next day, I had achy muscles again, but this time from doing the sequence. I stuck with it though, and by the next day the achy muscles had disappeared.
Now I do the sequence in about a half hour, and it has been a tremendous addition to my daily routine. I usually do it at night, around 10pm, due to my late schedule. This falls about 4 hours before I fall asleep. It is a great way for me to switch from school mode to relax mode.
Though I saw no changes in the conditions I had originally claimed, I also didn’t see any pain from them, which is rare. Usually when I start a new exercise regime or yoga routine, I do see pain once or twice. So I am taking the lack of pain as a good sign. I did however, prior to starting the sequence, have plantar fasciitis, which for some strange reason, I had forgotten to claim as an ailment. After starting the sequence the pain from the plantar fasciitis improved greatly.”