Believe it or not I taught my first full-length class—with real, live students—and I survived! My students survived, too. I'm happy to report there were no broken bones, no strained muscles, not even a bruised ego as far as I could tell (of course, how do you really know?). I'm happy to have this milestone out of the way, and can't wait to do it again!

Of course, not everything went smoothly. I completely forgot what I was doing on one occasion, and I started to lead the class into a pose sequence on the same side two times. By the end of the class I had given up completely on keeping up with right and left. Instead I referred to the "front foot" or the "other arm," which was surprisingly effective.

My class was beginner-oriented, so it attracted some of my co-workers who haven't done much yoga. (Yes, we do have a few yoga novices at Yoga Journal.) This was such a blessing because it seemed like, for the most part, when my instructions were unclear someone spoke up to ask me what the heck I was talking about. This was a great learning experience because it helped me realize where my language was strong, and where it needed more work—everywhere. It was very different because prior to this, my teaching experience had consisted of guiding other teacher trainees, who intuitively knew what I meant even when it differed from what I actually said.

Teaching beginners was challenging, too, because I found it really hard to gauge how much help to give them. On one hand, I wanted them to have a positive experience, to feel like they were getting the poses, and to just enjoy the class without feeling like they were being picked on every second. On the other hand, I wanted to guide them to feel the pose more completely by helping with foundation and alignment in each and every pose. It was hard for me to find the right balance of instruction for the beginners, so I tried to focus on one thing per pose (spreading the fingers in Downward-Facing Dog, keeping the spine long in forward bends, etc.) I have a new appreciation for teachers who specialize in mixed-level classes; it's incredibly hard to cater to all your students when they're at different levels. I'm hoping it's an art I will master (or at least become competent in) with more experience?

I thought some of you might be interested in the sequence I tried to teach. Please share any advice on sequencing for beginning students. Here's how it went down:

• Seated Meditation (theme: breath and presence)
• Shoulder Shrugs
• Head rolls
• Side stretches
• Garundasana (Eagle) Arms
• Cat/Cow
• Adho Mukha Savasana (Downward-Facing Dog)
• Uttanasana (Forward Fold), holding elbows
• Modified Sun Salutation with low lunge and Gomukhasana (Cow Face) Arms
• Modified Sun Salutation with low lunge twist (option for high lunge)
• Full Sun Salutation with modified Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I) (back heel up)
• Adho Mukha Savasana (Downward-Facing Dog)
• Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle)
• Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II)
• Utthita Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Pose)
• Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide-Legged Forward Bend)
• Prasarita Padottanasana with twists
• Janu Sirsasana (Head-to-Knee Pose)
• Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose)
• Paschimottonasana (Seated Forward Bend)
• Viparita Karani (Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose)
• Savasana (Corpse Pose)

In other news, my test and graduation are in a couple of weeks. So if you don't hear from me for a while, it's because I'm studying my anatomy.