I might be shooting myself in the foot here- just as I announce to the world my exceptional Creative, Inclusive Sequencing course, I write a blog called “The Power of the Pause”!

Don’t get me wrong, I love a creative flow as much as the next person, but this is yoga sequencing, so at some point, all of that movement, all of the creativity needs to help us come to rest! I often think (and say to those who will listen!) that the sign of a fantastic sequence is where the Shavasana actually happens!

You know those classes where the corpse pose is palpable? A warm velvety softness settles over the room. That’s the yoga I am interested in. That’s the sequencing I teach. It involves some creativity, but more than that, enough familiarity to feel safe, and a skilful guidance towards stillness.

The yogis might say the prana settles, or today we can describe the shift of the nervous system, the parasympathetic or rest and digest mode, the stimulus of the vagus nerve if you like so that our warning signs and symptoms have a moment to switch off.

The brain pattern shifts away from fast Beta waves associated with active thinking and towards the slower Alpha waves, linked to a state of calm alertness and mental clarity. During Shavasana, theta waves, often associated with deep meditation and light sleep, may also appear.

Reclaiming Yoga from the Striving Culture

Yoga—a practice to guide us to stillness, presence, and connection—has been pulled into the churn of capitalism. The practice appears to have become a performance. But yoga is not about the postures you can do, handstands on beaches - although that's fun too! Yoga is also an invitation to meet yourself exactly as you do — without needing to improve to get stronger or more flexible!

Sequencing for Shavasana

Many of us drawn to yoga are naturally restless, speedy even, with fantastic minds that are quick and find it hard to go slow! Add in the cultural emphasis on achievement, plus a world that is distressing and makes us feel so disempowered, and we have the perfect recipe to feel like we need to keep going. It is easier to push on than to pause.

I know that my experience was so familiar to many - movement was preferable to stillness. After all, what’s the point in just sitting there?! My initial experience with meditation was that it was a form of mental torture! Now I understand that this is a symptom of anxiety & traumatic stress, and that anxiety & traumatic stress are a direct symptom of how we are forced to live and what we bear witness to.

Shavasana is a chance to come to terms with our own mortality. A reminder that all the striving of life, all the accumulation will not last very long! It is something we tend to not talk about much in our newly sanitised yoga of love and light; and not so much death! But the EFFORT involved in needing to be endlessly upbeat and forever creative is exhausting. In a world where yoga has been co-opted by capitalism, we need to recover the path to rest, the path to Shavasana.

So let’s get creative

Creativity has a role to play - when we move in new ways we can form new neural pathways. So if the “route” we are usually taking has us stressed or if we are in pain- then new neural pathways can help us alleviate that. (Yes pain is a function of the nervous system.) But do you know what else helps our neural strata replenish and gives space for creative expression? Deep rest! The problem is we are so hyped with our everyday life, dealing with the sorry state the world is in, that we have lost the ability to rest deeply.

Yoga is more needed than ever. You, my lovely teachers and student, are needed more than ever. Yes there is some creativity and the chance to play to bring joy through movement. But also for your ability to navigate the path from hyperarousal & distress to ease.

The plight of the Yoga teacher

Often, I think that yoga teachers nowadays have the feeling that they are choreographing a performance instead of inviting students to step off the stage of life for a moment and just BE. Be themselves, turn inwards, soften. Be truthful to their own deepest inner needs.

No wonder teaching is so stressful! No wonder teachers are exhausted and overwhelmed when the process of sharing yoga has become something with such impossible demands. To be endlessly creative through movement, in a practice ultimately designed for stillness. How much creativity do we need versus the familiar? Versus repetition? How much movement versus stillness?

We can integrate all sorts of creative movement, but the basis has to be a structure that allows for a sense of ease and expansiveness - that is going to come from stillness.

How to find stillness

Let’s explore HOW to find stillness. This is a much-needed skill, just as much as how to find movements that help us feel at ease.

Pausing is SO hard when we feel the relentless urge for productivity. So we need strategies to help students settle. This process of pausing is one of the greatest skills we can develop as teachers. Just as we progress the flow of the practice, we can expand the space to go slow! Moments of pause in the opening class might become the chance for a meditation or a shavasana towards the end of a class. Creative sequencing - yes, it has a place to help us create new neural pathways, to help us stay sane and resilient in body and mind. But stillness is the hidden art of yoga that we need to reclaim.

Actually it is the cycle of death and life that yoga is designed to help us fathom, a cycle the yogis called samsara. It is not a fashionable idea nowadays, but for the yogis, the whole practice of yoga was a chance to step away from the suffering associated with this life of pleasure and pain - this urgency we feel to always seek pleasure.

Not only are we training our minds to find stillness in this lifetime, but by somehow realising our place as fully conscious, connected beings through and beyond this lifetime.

Here are some ways I share the power of the pause or a chance to soften

Stillness in movement - The power of noticing brings an inner stillness so we do not need to insist on “FREEZE” when it does not feel accessible.

A moment to pause - A slow hold or restorative pose or an invitation to settle anytime.

A softening - “Letting the legs do the powerful work but seeing if perhaps the eyes can soften a little here”

A single breath - “Notice your inhalation from beginning to end and follow the exhale all the way as it leave the body”

Somatic movement - I will share some simple somatic practices which help rock us into a settled nervous system state in the sequencing course. These are deeply nurturing.

Guided meditation - A few moments of guidance is often easier than silence.

Shavasana - Acknowledging it can be hard but also sharing the space for silence.

The Creative, Inclusive Sequencing course is here for you to validate how challenging teaching yoga can be. To celebrate creativity, playfulness, and the space to find calm. We weave the philosophy of yoga into the fabric of the practice, create space opportunities to pause and reset, and give a chance to rest deeply.

I will be opening bookings for the course very, very soon. Join the waitlist to get early access PLUS exclusive freebies.

But wait, there's more! Join me in my free masterclass; Confident & Creative Sequencing: A Masterclass for Yoga Teachers.

There will be a recording (I hope) but I am planning to give an early booking treat (a generous one) so check your email from me right way on the 7th!