I spent the first few years of my teaching career doing it wrong.
Not wrong in a dramatic way. My students weren’t getting injured. They kept coming back. But I was burning myself out planning elaborate new sequences for every single class, convinced that’s what made me a good teacher.
Turns out, I was making it harder for my students to actually experience yoga.
Recently, I sat down with Adrianne Jerrett of the All Mats Taken podcast to talk about pedagogy, sequencing frameworks, and the art of actually teaching—not just performing at the front of the room. We covered everything from exercise physiology to the power of clear language to why that miserable-looking student might be having the most profound experience in class.
Here’s what we explored.
The Academic Trap: When Teaching Yoga Like College Backfires
Before I became a yoga teacher full-time, I was teaching college composition courses. I had a PhD in English literature. I knew how to design syllabuses, deliver lectures, and evaluate learning.
And I tried to wedge all of that into my yoga classes.
In an academic setting, you lay out clear objectives. You vary the material every week across a 16-week semester. You assess whether students achieved mastery. There’s a destination. There’s grading. There’s evaluation.
But yoga doesn’t work that way.
Your students aren’t there to master material or achieve an outcome. They’re there to have an experience. And when I finally realized that teaching yoga required a completely different paradigm, everything changed.
The shift: I stopped planning like a college professor and started teaching like a guide creating space for embodied learning.
The Case for Repetition: Why the Same Sequence Works Better
Here’s the thing most yoga teachers get wrong: we think students want novelty.
We think we need to deliver fresh, exciting sequences every single class or they’ll get bored. But that’s us projecting our teacher ego onto our students. We’re the only ones who have been in every class we’ve ever taught. We’re the only ones who have heard everything we’ve ever said.
Your students aren’t bored by repetition. They’re soothed by it.
When you teach the same base sequence—the same template with minor variations—for weeks or even a month at a time, something beautiful happens. Your students move to the next pose before you even cue it. They get out of their heads and into their bodies. They stop thinking “what comes next?” and start feeling “how does this land in me today?”
That’s when the real yoga happens.
Think of it like this: If you go to a restaurant and love your meal, you want that dish to be on the menu when you come back. You didn’t go there for surprise experimental cuisine. You went there because you know what to expect, and that expectation being met is satisfying.
Your yoga class works the same way.
The 6-4-2 Framework: A Checklist for Balanced Sequencing
One of the frameworks I teach is the 6-4-2 method. It’s a simple checklist based on exercise physiology (not yoga tradition) that ensures your classes are balanced and satisfying.
Six movements of the spine:
- Flexion and extension (forward and back, like cat-cow)
- Lateral flexion (side to side, like side bends)
- Rotation (round and round, like twists)
Most vinyasa classes overemphasize forward folding—which many of us already do all day when we’re sitting. The 6 movements remind you to move your students in all three planes of motion, not just sagittal (forward-back).
Four lines of the legs:
- Front line and back line (facing the short edge of your mat in poses like warrior or chair)
- Inner line and outer line (facing the long edge of your mat, working adductors and abductors)
Two core modes:
- Articulation (the ripply cat-cow movement through the spine)
- Stabilization (holding the spine-pelvis relationship steady while moving limbs)
When a yoga class hits all these elements, it feels complete. It’s balanced. It doesn’t perpetuate the same patterns students are stuck in all day.
This framework gives you a structure to build on—like a capsule wardrobe where you have your base pieces (jeans, white shirt, little black dress) and you accessorize differently each time. Same base. Fresh variations.
Exercise Physiology Over Anatomy Memorization
Many 200-hour yoga teacher trainings focus too much on anatomy memorization and pathology (what goes wrong). Teachers come out terrified of injuring students, drowning in contraindication lists, trying to know every modification for every condition.
But here’s what matters more: exercise physiology—how bodies adapt to stress.
The principles are simple:
- Intensity, frequency, duration: These are the variables you can adjust. In a yoga class, you mostly control frequency (how many times we do a pose) and duration (how long we hold it). Your students control intensity (how deep they go).
- Principle of diminishing returns: Doing more isn’t always better. Bodies need rest to adapt.
- Principle of specificity: To get better at something, practice that thing. To get better at cueing, practice cueing the same sequence multiple times.
When you understand that intensity is the only variable your students really control, you realize your job is to give them options and empower them to find the right level—not to fix every variable and force everyone into the same shape.
Clear Cueing: Say Less, Mean More
One of the best things you can do as a teacher: record yourself and listen back (or get it transcribed).
You’ll immediately hear all the filler words. All the “and now from here we’re going to.” All the overexplaining.
Your students don’t need all that. They need:
- Two or three cues on the first side
- One or two cues on the second side
- Silence to drop into the experience
Remember: Teaching yoga is not delivering a speech. It’s not running a podcast. There’s no such thing as dead air. Your students came for the quiet.
Before you open your mouth, ask yourself: “Wait, why am I talking?” And once you start: “Waste, why am I still talking?”
Fewer words. More space. Better experience.
The S.E.R.V.E. Method: Your Teaching Practice Over Time
I developed the S.E.R.V.E. method as a framework for sustainable, confident teaching:
S – Structure your class based on sound physiology and kinesiology (like the 6-4-2 framework)
E – Experience it as a student yourself. Practice your sequence before you teach it. Taste the food before you send it out of your kitchen.
R – Repeat it over time. Master your cues. Let your students benefit from the repetition. This is where confidence builds.
V – Vary with intention. Yes, change things up—but thoughtfully, not randomly. Offer two or three variations in class if students need them.
E – Evolve your voice over time. Give yourself permission to grow, change your style, and let go of what no longer works for you as a teacher.
What Your Students Actually Need From You
After 20 years of teaching, here’s what I know:
Your students don’t care about your certifications. They don’t need you to deliver a brand new sequence every class. They don’t need you to be the most flexible or the most advanced.
They need you to be dependable.
They need to feel safe in your class. They need to know you see them as individuals. They need to leave feeling better than when they arrived.
Your credentials got you in the room. Your presence, care, and ability to hold space—built through repetition and confidence—are what keep them coming back.
And that confidence doesn’t come from more trainings or more planning. It comes from teaching the same great sequence over and over until your cues are clear, your timing is smooth, and your students can finally drop out of their heads and into their bodies.
Watch the Full Conversation
Adrianne and I went deep into all of these topics and more in our conversation on the All Mats Taken podcast. We talked about:
- Why that miserable-looking student might be working harder than anyone else
- How to get real feedback (not just polite “that was great”)
- The difference between teaching spinning, college courses, and yoga
- Why “let go of what no longer serves you” gets on my nerves
- Using metaphor and $20 words strategically
If you want to hear the full discussion, including stories from my early teaching days and practical tips you can use in your next class, watch the complete video.
Want More Support With Your Teaching?
If these frameworks resonate with you and you want to dive deeper, I’d love to support you:
Join The Zone (free community): Monthly live calls, lesson plan templates, and a supportive space for yoga teachers at every level.
Mastering the Art of Yoga Sequencing (6-month mentorship): This is where we go deep into the 6-4-2 framework, the S.E.R.V.E. method, and building the confidence that makes students keep coming back. I give you the recipes, we practice together, and we workshop how to adapt everything for your unique students.
Teaching yoga shouldn’t take longer than actually teaching it. Let’s change that together.
