Anyone who has been studying yoga for a while knows that there's a pretty specific order to things in a yoga class. Depending on what the focus of the class is, one family of poses comes first, then another, to the point that some teachers' class sequences are predictable beginning with the first pose.

Teachers who are this predictable, of course, are generally the most experienced teachers who know the body so well sequencing is second nature to them. The best teachers make sure every pose they include in their classes has a specific purpose (to get students ready to do a difficult pose or to stress the importance of a specific action in a pose).

Unfortunately, most new teachers lack the finesse and savvy to come up with an appropriate and meaningful sequence at the drop of a hat. I know this because I practiced sequencing with 20 almost-yoga teachers this week. I can tell you first-hand it's a lot more complicated than it seems.

In this week's workshop on sequencing, we spent some time talking about basic sequencing principles. Then we had to put what we had just learned to use in a "round-robin" format where each of us taught one or two poses to the group. The idea was that it should flow seamlessly from pose to pose like a yoga class, each one of us doing the pose that was appropriate to teach next given the poses taught before.

I always thought that sequencing would be one of the easiest parts of teaching. After all, you can plan your class in advance, write down each pose, practice it a few times, and then know exactly what to tell your students when it's time for class.

However, it doesn't always happen that way (which is why we had to do this exercise sans preparation). In the real world, teachers often realize that the sequence they had planned just won't serve the group of students who come to class. When that happens, you have to throw your plans out the window and

Stephanie Snyder told us she almost never plans her sequence out before she teaches a class. Instead, she waits until she gets in front of her class so she can get a feel for her students energy. At most, she said, she has an idea of an apex pose she might teach.

Of course, it will be years before I'll be comfortable enough when my skills as a teacher to rely on my intuition to know what to teach. In the meantime, I guess I'll just have to keep trying different pose sequences on my own over and over again accessing how I feel at the end of each practice. And when all else fails, I'll look to my own teachers for sequencing ideas.