Your students don’t need another spicy, hyperchoreographed flow—they need sequences they can actually use, so they can practice at home and make yoga a regular part of their daily lives.
When I mention “bed yoga” to most teachers, I watch their faces change. Some get curious. Others look skeptical. A few start mentally checking out because they assume I’m about to suggest something so gentle it’s basically nap time.
Here’s what 20 years of teaching has taught me: your students aren’t asking for easier yoga. They’re asking for practical yoga. Sequences they can actually do when their body feels stiff in the morning. Movement they can access when getting down on a mat feels like too much. Yoga that meets them where they are, not where you think they should be.
That’s exactly what this hip-, shoulder-, and spine-focused bed sequence does.
Why teach yoga to do in bed?
Because your students are already there.
Before their alarm goes off. When evening anxiety makes lying still impossible. On days when chronic pain means the floor isn’t an option. During recovery from injury or illness when a mat practice feels impossible.
This sequence works for anyone, anywhere—including in bed before they even start their day, or at the end of it. And when you offer sequences like this, you become the teacher who actually understands real life.
What makes this sequence work
The bed provides natural support for the hips and shoulders while allowing gentle spine movement in all directions. Students can explore their range of motion without fighting gravity or worrying about balance.
I designed this flow to address the three areas that hold the most tension for most people: hips, shoulders, and spine. And it moves through the three planes of motion, even on the bed, and targets the four lines of the legs/hips: front, back, inside, and outside. Together, it’s complete sequence that takes less than 15 minutes but leaves students feeling genuinely different in their bodies. It works wonderfully as a warmup or finishing sequence in your yoga class, too!
In the video, I guide you through the entire sequence so you can experience it yourself first. (Because you need to feel every sequence in your own body before you consider teaching it.)
How to integrate this into your yoga classes
Here’s what makes this sequence so versatile: you can teach it in your regular studio classes while empowering your students to practice it at home in bed.
This sequence fits beautifully as either your warmup or your hip-focused movement section. The movements prepare the body for deeper work while being complete enough to stand alone.
Teaching it as a warmup
Start your class with students on their backs on their mats. Guide them through the sequence, then transition into your standing work or whatever comes next in your class plan. The hip and shoulder opening prepares them perfectly for more dynamic movement.
Teaching it as your hip sequence
If you’re using the 6–4–2 framework, this bed sequence can be your dedicated hip-opening section. It addresses internal and external rotation, flexion and extension—all the ranges your students need without complicated choreography.
The empowerment piece
Here’s where it gets good: after you teach the sequence in class, tell your students they can do this exact same sequence at home in bed. Before they get up in the morning. When their back feels tight at night. On days when getting to the floor feels like too much.
You’re not just teaching them yoga for the hour they’re with you. You’re giving them tools they can actually use in real life.
Try it yourself, then teach it
Watch the full demonstration here:
Move through the sequence once to notice how your body responds. Then try it again, this time paying attention to what you’d want to cue for your students. What sensations showed up? What surprised you? Where did you find more space than expected?
Those observations become your teaching points.
After you’ve practiced it yourself, bring it to your students. Let me know in the comments how they respond—I read every one.
Get the complete lesson plan
Want the full breakdown with detailed cues, modifications, and teaching tips? Sign up for my newsletter and I’ll send you the complete lesson plan with additional follow-along videos.
If you want fresh sequences like this every week
This bed yoga flow is exactly the kind of practical, creative sequence that helps keep your students coming back. They’re not looking for complicated choreography—they want movement that actually fits into their lives.
That’s what you’ll find inside the Yoga Class Prep Station: a growing library of follow-along sequences, monthly live calls where we work through real teaching challenges, and a community of teachers who are all working to plan classes with confidence instead of Sunday night panic.
For $39 a month, you get immediate support without overwhelm. Think of it as your lunch counter for yoga class planning—grab what you need, when you need it, without the full restaurant commitment.
Your students need sequences they can actually use in real life. This bed yoga flow is a perfect place to start.
