If you’ve gone looking for a yoga sequence builder, you’ve found that most of them work the same way: you open a library of pose illustrations, drag the poses you want into order, add timing and cues, and then print or share the result. That’s a great way to plan when you want to choose every pose yourself, and several of these tools do it beautifully. My own Lesson Planner works differently, because it plans by the sequence rather than by the pose. Below are the main options, each with what it does best, so you can pick the one that fits the way you teach.
Tummee: pose by pose, with pictures
Tummee has a library of more than 8,000 poses and, by its own count, more than a million sequences from yoga teachers around the world. If you like to work at the level of the individual pose, or you think visually, it’s terrific: you see each shape as you place it, and you finish with a clear picture of the whole class. It’s also easy to share. One of my mentees prints her Tummee plan and hands it to any student who asks for it because they liked class, which is such a sweet exchange! Tummee is free to start.
Sequence Wiz: built by a yoga therapist
Sequence Wiz was created by Olga Kabel, a yoga teacher and yoga therapist who built it because she needed a tool to plan practices for her own students. You drag poses into rows or columns, swap in a different version of a pose with a click, and pull from a library of predesigned practices, many of which come with practice videos. It’s especially strong for one-on-one work, since it makes professional-looking home-practice handouts, suggests poses for a particular area of the body, and pairs with a student-records system for yoga therapists. Kabel is a fabulous teacher, and her writing is worth your time whatever tool you use; a good place to start is her post on how to plan a yoga class. Sequence Wiz offers a free trial.
YogaClassPlan: simple drag-and-drop
YogaClassPlan keeps things simple, with more than 500 pose illustrations, a drag-and-drop builder, and more than 23,000 class plans shared by other yoga teachers that you can copy and make your own. It runs on a desktop computer, an iPhone or iPad, or an Android tablet, so you can start a plan on your phone and finish it at your desk. It comes with a 15-day free trial.
The app store options
Search your phone’s app store and you’ll find a newer crop of sequence builders, such as FLOW, built on the same pose-level model: a library of illustrated poses, a running total of class time, and AI that suggests poses or drafts a flow for you. Most are free to start, and if you want a pose-level planner in your pocket, they’re worth a look. Many seem to rely on AI to make suggestions . . . and since AI doesn’t have a body, please be wary about the cohesion of sequences it generates!
The Lesson Planner: planning by the chunk
My Lesson Planner, which lives inside the Prep Station at Comfort Zone Yoga®, doesn’t work at the pose level at all. It works at the level of the sequence: a warm-up, a standing flow, a core series, a set of finishing poses, each one a complete chunk you can drop into your class.
Planning by the chunk is faster for the same reason a Western omelet is easy for an experienced chef. A brand-new cook needs every step spelled out: chop the onions and peppers, sauté them, whisk the eggs with a splash of milk, pour them in, add the cheese, and fold. An experienced chef hears “Western omelet” and knows all of that at once. A sequence works the same way, so instead of planning “table for five breaths, cat-cow for ten breaths, child’s pose for five breaths, side-bending child’s pose to the right for ten breaths . . .” you plan “Six Moves, Prone, Child’s Pose,” and the whole chunk comes along with the name. (I wrote the long version of this idea in The Art of Yoga Sequencing, where I call these chunks by their yoga name, kriya.)
In the planner, you choose a class length from 30 to 90 minutes, then build your class from nearly 130 sequences sorted by category (centering, warm-up, standing, core, hips, finishing, yin, restorative, and transitions), with a running total that shows how close you are to your target. As you add each sequence, the 6–4–2 check lights up to show which of the six moves of the spine, four lines of the legs, and two core actions you’ve covered, so you can see at a glance whether your class is balanced. (If the framework is new to you, here’s how the 6–4–2 framework works.) If you’d rather not build the class yourself, tap Plan It for Me, and the planner pulls a pre-baked plan in one tap. Either way, you can save your plans, print them, and share them.
Who the Lesson Planner isn’t for
The Lesson Planner is my brain incarnate, so it’s useful to you only if you’re willing to get with my system. If you want to choose every pose yourself, a pose-level builder like Tummee or YogaClassPlan will suit you better. If you want a picture of each pose to hand to students, Tummee and Sequence Wiz make lovely handouts, and the Lesson Planner doesn’t try to. And if my approach to sequencing is new to you, you’re welcome to find out whether it fits before you spend a cent: play with the free taste of the Lesson Planner, or borrow The Art of Yoga Sequencing from your library.
Why every sequence comes with a video
The full Lesson Planner has a follow-along video for every sequence in it, and that’s the part I care about most. The first E in my S.E.R.V.E. Method stands for Experience Before Teaching: practice a sequence in your own body before you teach it, so you know how it feels and what you’ll want to say about it. Staying a consistent student is how you stay a good teacher, and the videos make that easy, because you can roll out your mat, press play, and practice the exact chunk you plan to teach. They’re also why the Lesson Planner costs more than a free app.
The options side by side
| Tool | Plans by | Best for | To start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tummee | the pose | visual planning and printed plans to share | free to start |
| Sequence Wiz | the pose | one-on-one work and home-practice handouts | free trial |
| YogaClassPlan | the pose | simple drag-and-drop on any device | 15-day free trial |
| App store apps, such as FLOW | the pose | a pose-level planner on your phone, with AI suggestions | mostly free to start |
| The Lesson Planner | the sequence | fast, balanced classes built on the 6–4–2, with a follow-along video for every sequence | free taste; full version with the Prep Station, $39 a month |
Try the Lesson Planner
You can try the Lesson Planner for free at comfortzoneyoga.com/taste: build a class from the open sequences, watch the 6–4–2 check light up, and tap Plan It for Me. When you’re ready for every sequence and every video, join the Prep Station for $39 a month. Along with the full Lesson Planner, you’ll get 200+ videos in the Movement Library, the Sous Chef for your planning questions, a new sequence, theme seed, or teaching tip every Monday, and Snack + Chat, our monthly call. The Art of Yoga Sequencing is on my books page if you’d like your own copy.
