mastering the art of yoga sequencing: an online yoga teacher mentorship
a six-month mentorship for yoga teachers who want to plan classes they trust, in less time, with a core curriculum to follow and me right there while you learn it
sound familiar?
If you spend hours building a single class, then question it the next morning, you’re in good company.
Most of the yoga teachers I talk with describe some version of the same week: a late-night scramble to plan something new, a sequence that looked fine on paper and felt rushed in practice, and a nagging sense that the students deserved more. (I know this week well. In my early years I spent hours planning a single class, because I thought I owed my students a brand-new sequence every week. I didn’t.)
Usually the missing piece is a framework: a reliable way to connect structure, cueing, progression, and theming so you can stop reinventing the wheel every week and start teaching the students in front of you.
what changes in six months
In MMM, you learn to sequence the way a good kitchen cooks: from tested recipes, with a few core techniques you repeat until they’re second nature.
You’ll start with done-for-you lesson plans, practice them in your own body, teach each one for a month with small variations, and bring what happened back to me and the group. Over six months, the recipes become yours, and a balanced class you trust takes under an hour to plan.
Here’s how the six months tend to unfold:
Week 1: You teach your first class from the recipe box, using a plan that’s already balanced.
Month 1: You’ve taught one plan all month with small variations, and you’ve brought what happened back to a live call.
Month 3: You’re adapting recipes for your own students and building chunks you can move around.
Month 6: You’re planning from your own recipes, in your own signature style, in under an hour.
Peggy teaches chair yoga to seniors in Fairbanks, Alaska. She arrived spending two and a half hours planning every class and still not feeling confident about the result. Here’s how she put it on her first day, and again six months later, when she was planning in 45 minutes:
“Right now I hope that I will be able to figure out how to use the program.”—Peggy, Day 1
“I did not feel I could plan a yoga class and now I am confident and focused when writing up my class. My approach to planning has evolved to be my own version of chunks that I can move around.”—Peggy, six months later
MMM is also the first half of the Comfort Zone Yoga® 300-Hour Online Yoga Teacher Training: 150 of your hours. For the second half, you choose Teaching Yoga to Athletes or six Fundamentals courses.
this is for you if . . .
MMM is for yoga teachers who have completed a 200-hour training and want to move beyond borrowed sequences into teaching that’s genuinely their own. See if you recognize yourself in one of these cooks. (Newer yoga teachers do well, too, since it’s much easier to learn good sequencing habits than to unlearn chaotic ones.)
🧑🍳 the culinary school grad
Fresh out of YTT with your head full of Sanskrit and alignment principles, but when it comes to planning an actual class, you freeze. You know what a warrior pose is, but how do you build a sequence that gets students there comfortably and leaves them feeling amazing?
🧑🍳 the mad genius
You have brilliant ideas and your students love your creativity, but you’re constantly reinventing the wheel, like Carmy from The Bear. Every class is an experiment, which is exhausting for you and sometimes confusing for your students.
🧑🍳 the fry cook
You’ve been teaching for a while but feel stuck in the same three sequences. You want to expand your repertoire without overwhelming yourself or losing what already works.
🧑🍳 the home cook
You can pull together a decent class when you have time to prepare, but substituting last-minute or adapting for different populations feels impossible. You need systems that work under pressure.
🧑🍳 the aspiring restaurateur
You’re building your teaching career and want to create the kind of consistent, memorable experience that turns first-time students into regulars who bring their friends. You want to refine your approach, gain affirmation and skill development, and potentially open your own studio or lead advanced trainings.
the core curriculum
MMM follows a six-module curriculum covering structure, themes, chunks, adaptations, and the business of teaching, and it starts with a clear first step: in Week 1 you pick a plan from the recipe box and teach it. Module 1 shows you how, and the modules build from there, in order. (If you arrive with one urgent problem, say a chair yoga gig that starts Thursday, you can jump to the module that solves it and come back to the path afterward.)
The curriculum is built on the two frameworks from my book The Art of Yoga Sequencing, below. Both frameworks are free, and I teach them in full in Fundamentals of Confident Teaching, my free mini-course in the Zone. MMM is where you put them to work for six months: a recipe box of lesson plans already built on them, a new featured plan each month, two live calls where we adapt that plan for your students, feedback on your actual teaching, and me answering your questions along the way. The frameworks give you the method, and MMM gives you the recipes, the practice, and the help.
Each month you’ll get a featured lesson plan built like a meal kit. You’ll start with the precooked version, a follow-along video where you take the class as a student and feel how it lands (a good cook always tastes before serving!), then adapt it for your own students and teach it.
the recipe for success
MMM is built on these two frameworks, and you’ll put them to work every month.
the S.E.R.V.E. method
S tructure classes based on sound physiological principles.
E xperience sequences by practicing them yourself first.
R epeat with confidence—repetition is how students learn.
V ary with intention to include different bodies and needs.
E volve your authentic teaching voice.
the 6–4–2 framework
A simple checklist for balance: six movements of the spine, four lines of the legs, and two core actions. When a class hits all of them, your students get a complete practice every time.
From my book The Art of Yoga Sequencing.
and me, right there with you
The curriculum gives you the structure, and I give you the help. Whatever you’re working on—a class that keeps running long, a new chair yoga gig, a workshop you want to build, a student working around an injury—you can bring it to me, and we’ll figure it out together.
- In the community, any day. Post a question or a plan, and I’ll answer it. When you stump me, we find the answer together.
- Two live calls a month. Recipe Implementation, on the first Tuesday at 2 p.m. Eastern, is where we adapt that month’s sequence for your exact students. The Virtual Teachers’ Lounge, on the third Tuesday at 2 p.m. Eastern, is open Q&A. Can’t make the time? Every call comes as a replay on video, as a private podcast, and as a transcript, and plenty of members do most of their learning from the replays.
- Feedback on your actual teaching. Post a short clip of yourself teaching to Tasters, Please!, and get thoughtful notes on your cueing and language from me and your peers, so you can become (almost) everyone’s favorite yoga teacher.
I’m Sage Rountree, PhD, yoga teacher and the author of 13 books, including The Professional Yoga Teacher’s Handbook and The Art of Yoga Sequencing, where these frameworks were first written down.
“This course has completely changed my teaching style in the best possible way. When the 6-4-2 method clicked in my head, it was the cherry on top for my students! I’ve gotten amazing feedback since beginning this journey, and I’ve seen an uptick in students who are returning.” —Kandice
success stories
“The core idea of not having to invent a new sequence each week. This was just sooo key to my not driving myself nuts.” —Peter V.
“This has been so helpful for me. It’s given me confidence to sub classes that I normally wouldn’t (Chair, Simply Yoga, Restorative) because I have a formula or a plan that I can adapt to every format!” —Jan
what you get
- A six-month, six-module curriculum built on the S.E.R.V.E. Method and the 6–4–2 Framework, which takes you step by step from borrowed sequences to classes in your own signature style
- A recipe box of ready-to-teach lesson plans, keyed to The Art of Yoga Sequencing and Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses, so you can teach a balanced class this week while you learn to build your own
- A new featured lesson plan each month, with a follow-along video: you take the class as a student and feel how it lands before you teach it
- A beverage cart of more than 108 fully fleshed-out class themes, which spares you the search for something to say in the first five minutes of class
- Two live calls a month, where we adapt that month’s sequence for your own students, with replays as video, private podcast, and transcript for the weeks 2 p.m. Eastern doesn’t work
- Direct access to me, plus feedback on your teaching from me and your peers, so a question gets answered the day it comes up and you get to see your teaching through kind, expert eyes
- A Notion database for class planning that keeps every plan you’ve taught in one place, ready to pull back out the next time you need it
- Full access to the Prep Station while you’re in MMM: more than 200 follow-along sequences, the Lesson Planner, and a new sequence, theme seed, or teaching tip every Monday, so you can say yes to a last-minute sub request with a plan already in hand
- My Minimalist Instagram for Yoga Teachers course (a $69 value), to help you fill your classes without feeling weird about marketing them
- 150 CEUs, and 150 hours toward the Comfort Zone Yoga® 300-Hour Online Yoga Teacher Training, which covers your continuing education and, if you’d like, the first half of your 300-hour training
from overwhelmed to confident: Peggy’s story
Peggy teaches chair yoga to seniors in Fairbanks, Alaska. She came to MMM spending two and a half hours planning every single class—and still not feeling confident about the result. On Day 1, her definition of success was just hoping she could figure out how to use the program.
Six months later:
Planning time
150 min → 45 min
Theming confidence
3/5 → 5/5
Sequencing confidence
3/5 → 4/5
“I started writing my class out in words, not stick figures. I make my ‘chunks’ practical for my chair yoga class. . . . I am so glad that I found your book! I did not feel I could plan a yoga class and now I am confident and focused when writing up my class.”
—Peggy
your investment
1 x $1,800 payment or 3 x $600 payments
six months of access, with renewal at the price you enrolled at
discount available for BINW and BIPOC yoga teachers and those of South Asian heritage: read more
when you enroll, you’ll get:
- Recipe box of ready-to-teach lesson plans, so you can walk into class with a balanced plan from Week 1
- Beverage cart of over 108 fully fleshed-out yoga class themes, to give every class a thread your students will remember on the drive home
- Two live calls a month, with replays, where you bring questions about the students actually in front of you and leave with a plan
- Notion database for class planning, which lets you build on last month’s work instead of starting from a blank page
- Asynchronous support in a vibrant community, for the Thursday you get stuck and the next call is days away
My promise to you: Work through the Module 1 exercises and attend at least one live call, or watch its replay (the replay counts). If you’re still spending hours planning or second-guessing your sequences, email me within 30 days with proof of participation and I’ll refund you in full.
start today, or start with a group
You can begin MMM on your own today. Admission is rolling, and you’ll have the same curriculum, calls, and community as everyone else. Your six months cover everything that happens in that window, so if you start now, you’re also part of the January cohort’s start-together activities when the group begins on January 4. Start today and you get the group, too.
If you’d rather wait and begin alongside the group, the January cohort opens for enrollment December 14–20 and starts together on January 4. Join the wait list and I’ll let you know the day it opens.
Either way, the January cohort is the last at $1,800.
“I was a person who had these little notebooks—three or four of them full—and I would print sequences and copy and paste because I have terrible handwriting. It was so time consuming. Now I can put a class together in 30 minutes to an hour.” —Nyisha
success stories
“Lightbulb went off. My lesson plans have different parts. Each of those parts is a recipe. . . . This program has helped me refine my class planning and be more confident in adapting my teaching.” —Brigitte
“I am feeling very confident that the sequences that I teach are well rounded and I am comfortable and confident enough in my style that I no longer spend hours trying to memorize all the poses in the right order.” —Lili L.
“As I wrap up my Mastering the Art of Yoga Sequencing mentorship, I have been offered my very own regularly scheduled class (first one ever!) at a wonderful yoga studio I regard very highly, and I feel exponentially more confident in my teaching skills than I did six months ago.” —Bri
after six months
Your access runs for six months. If you’d like more time, you can renew at the same price you enrolled at. Most yoga teachers have taken the frameworks on board by then, and if you’d like to keep the sequence ideas and community coming, many MMM graduates move on to the Prep Station, which is $39 a month.
Questions? I’m right here: [email protected].
faq
Who is Mastering the Art of Yoga Sequencing for?
MMM is for yoga teachers who have completed a 200-hour training and want to move beyond borrowed sequences into teaching that’s genuinely their own.
When does the program start?
Today, if you’d like. Admission is rolling, and your six months cover everything that happens in that window, including the January cohort’s start-together activities. If you’d rather begin alongside the group, the January cohort opens for enrollment December 14–20 and starts together on January 4; join the wait list and I’ll let you know the day it opens. Either way, the January cohort is the last at $1,800.
What if I miss a live call?
No problem. Live calls are the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 2 p.m. Eastern, and every call comes as a replay on video, as a private podcast, and as a transcript. You can post your questions in the community anytime.
I’m new to teaching; is this too advanced?
Newer yoga teachers do well, too, since it’s much easier to learn good sequencing habits than to unlearn chaotic ones.
Will I get certified?
You’ll earn 150 CEUs, and MMM is the required first half (150 hours) of the Comfort Zone Yoga® 300-Hour Online Yoga Teacher Training. For the second half, you choose Teaching Yoga to Athletes or six Fundamentals courses.
How is this different from my 200-hour yoga teacher training?
A 200-hour training certifies you to teach. MMM teaches you how to teach: the craft of sequencing, cueing, reading the students in front of you, and developing your own voice over time.
I’ve taken sequencing courses before and still feel stuck. How is this different?
MMM is built around repetition and feedback rather than a bigger pile of sequences: you teach the same plan for a month, adjust it for the students in front of you, and talk it through with me and the group. Over a few months, that loop turns a recipe into your own cooking.
How much time does it require weekly?
About two to four hours: practice the month’s sequence, attend a call or watch the replay, and apply what you learned in your own classes. That’s likely less time than you spend planning now.
How long do I have access?
Six months. If you’d like more time, you can renew at the same price you enrolled at. Most yoga teachers have taken the frameworks on board by then, and many move on to the Prep Station, which is $39 a month, to keep the sequence ideas and community coming.
Is there a payment plan?
Yes: $1,800 in one payment, or three monthly payments of $600.
What is the S.E.R.V.E. Method?
The S.E.R.V.E. Method is a five-step framework for yoga class planning developed by Sage Rountree, PhD: Structure your foundation, Experience your sequence in your own body, Repeat with purpose, Vary with intention, and Evolve your voice. It gives yoga teachers a reliable, student-centered process that replaces planning anxiety with craft.
What is the 6–4–2 Framework?
The 6–4–2 Framework is a yoga sequencing system that ensures every class covers 6 movements of the spine, 4 lines of the legs, and 2 core actions. It functions as a structural checklist—when your class hits all of these elements, your students get a balanced, complete practice every time.
How does this differ from the Prep Station membership?
The Prep Station hands you ready-to-teach sequences and a monthly call, and it’s included while you’re in MMM. MMM adds the core curriculum that teaches you to build your own classes, plus me, available to help with whatever you’re working on.
Can I get a taste?
You sure can. Join the Zone, my free community for yoga teachers, and take the free mini-course Fundamentals of Confident Teaching, where you’ll learn the S.E.R.V.E. Method and the 6–4–2 Framework and put them to work in your next class. Or try the Workshop Workbook, a slice of a larger MMM module, which comes with a $77 coupon toward MMM.
Not ready to enroll? Learn the S.E.R.V.E. Method first.
Fundamentals of Confident Teaching is a free mini-course in the Zone. You’ll learn the S.E.R.V.E. Method and the 6–4–2 Framework—the bones the mentorship is built on—and put them to work in your next class. A good way to see how I teach before you spend six months with me.
