Author Archives: The Branches

Jen Helmuth (she/her) is a grad of our 2024 250-hour YTT program. She is a psychotherapist and yoga teacher currently teaching a yoga course for teen mental health with The Branches. 

I’m sitting on the couch staring down my most recent piece of art.  I’m not sure how I feel about it.  This piece gradually came together over the course of my recent Yoga Teacher Training.  The “canvas” is an old weathered piece of wood that had been used as a tailgate on a truck.  I found it propped up on the side of the road.  It has a long metal bar across the middle that divides it in half.   I’ve worked in my signature embellishments using cut up beer cans and adding natural objects I find on my walks.

When I saw the tailgate, I loved the character of the wood and the metal bar through the middle.  I knew I wanted to explore the theme of dualism: top and bottom, before and after, organic and inorganic, yin and yang.  I wanted to play with the complementary forces we see and experience in life all around us. This theme shows up in yoga as the play between effort and ease, leading and following, doing and being.  

I also wanted to play with the idea of art imitating nature, like many yoga poses do.  I love how we get into shapes called downward dog, cat and cow, pigeon, fish and eagle, to name a few.  I like to imagine early yoga practitioners mimicking the shapes and movements of what they observed in the world around them. I think about taking on the energy of these creatures as we embody their forms, like the confident roar in lion’s pose, complete with the funny face and forceful breath.

As I started creating my artwork on this tailgate, I followed the elements of the wood: the grain, the knotholes and other characteristics.   Using the metal bar that divides the piece in half horizontally, I made the top half to represent the “source” such as nature, ideals, and teachers – the things that inspire us, the things we want to emulate.  Below the metal bar would be the “imitation” and exploration of approximating what’s on top while still working with the character of the wood.  

And now, as I sit here staring at it from across the room, I think: “It’s still not quite done”.  This is the third time I’ve brought the piece out of my studio and placed it across from my couch so I can study it upright from a distance.  Each time I bring it out of the studio I’m sure it’s done; and each time I look at it from the couch, it doesn’t look finished.  This confounds me.  With most of my art, I know when it’s done.   And now I’m sitting here wanting to fix it again.  I’m focussing my attention on the places where the bottom half is not fully representing the ideal of the top half.  It really needs some more swooshes here, and a few over there – and also more honeycombs.

Do I really need to take it back to the studio again?  I’ve done enough art to know that the process is as much of a teacher as the end result.  As I stare at it, willing the art to reveal it’s message to me, I realize that I’m exclusively focussed on the “imitation” half.  This is what I keep tweaking on every return to the studio.  It’s not up to snuff.  It doesn’t properly reflect the grandiosity of the “original” on top that it’s trying to mirror.  And I’m not satisfied. I want to keep adjusting, improving, approximating.  The imitation can do better. If it doesn’t look close enough to the original, then the theme of “imitation” will be lost.

That’s when it dawns on me, and a few lessons come hurtling at me across the room from this piece of art.  The imitation will never look like the original – and that’s OK, in fact, that’s the point!  You have to work with the character of the wood and the different materials and structure, so of course it won’t look the same.  The point in imitation is the exploration of what it might feel like to embody a different shape, being, or energy for a brief time.  

I also realize another lesson is that it is not helpful to focus on what’s wrong with the imitation.  Where your focus goes your energy flows.  This is a constant theme in my life: wanting to tinker until perfection is achieved. It’s why I’ve taken this piece back to my studio several times for a few more tweaks.  This piece is trying to teach me with it’s refusal to look pleasingly finished to my eye.  Can I let go of the effort of adjusting and find ease in allowing this lesson to seep into my being?

And furthermore, the space on the bottom half that I think is incomplete might actually represent potential.  Opportunity.  It might suggest value in the yearning to keep imitating; to appreciate the sense that something is not yet finished.  Maybe another lesson for me from this piece of art is to find the complementary force of “finished”.   This art is “ongoing”. It leaves room for change, for evolution, for more to come.  And by not feeling “complete” it lights a desire to keep imagining what could be. 

Imitation is about the process of embodying the essence of something – whether it is an animal, an element, an idea or a shape the teacher is demonstrating. The point is not to shed your own self to become something else.  In fact, the point might even be to notice things around you worth imitating  and imagining inhabiting their shape or energy for a breath or two.  The practice of imitating is how we learn to work with the materials we’ve got and to find new ways of expressing our unique qualities in ways we might not have imagined had it not been for watching our dog stretch in the morning.  The imitation will be beautiful when we are respectfully working with the materials we have, rather than trying to hide those characteristics to become something else. 

This is a big shift and learning for me during this yoga teacher training.  The goal is not to practice until you can touch your toes or balance in crow pose or to precisely match the yoga textbook pictures.  The value of practicing yoga is the yearning to feel on the inside what you are trying to approximate on the outside – over and over again.  The gap between the original and the imitation is a space of potential, imagination and learning. And regardless of whether your pose is a perfectly finished imitation on the outside, the process has the opportunity to be rewarding and feel satisfactory on the inside.   Just like this “ongoing” piece of art sitting across from me in my living room.

Anne Michelle (she/her) is a grad of our 2024 250-Hour Yoga Teacher Training. And you can find her teaching at TBY on Wednesday evenings!

I tend to be a literal person, and have trouble interpreting instructions in any way that isn’t verbatim. For me, learning to find flexibility and improvisation within a structure involves understanding why that structure was created in the first place. When we learned about Krama, or the order for sequencing in a yoga asana class, I struggled to divert from it at all, even though we were encouraged to be flexible with this structure when it suited our sequence. The only way for me to move away from this rigidity is to learn more. 

Let’s start with the basics. Krama can mean many things! To be more specific, we’re looking at Vinyasa Krama. Vinyasa means “separating (vi) putting down (nyasa)” and Krama means “steps” or “order”, and so all together Vinyasa Krama is a thoughtful sequence of actions; a way to structure a class progressively to allow students to find freedom and joy in their poses. Sounds solid. But how did this order become The Order? Why is there a handstand near the beginning, why abdominals before hip mobilizers? Where did it originate? 

History:

Traditional Vinyasa has been around since ~300BC or earlier. The beginnings of the modern Vinyasa approach is credited to Krishnamacharya (1888-1989) who broadened from traditional asanas (Surya Namaskar), and focused on teaching “what was appropriate for the individual.” There is an emphasis on synchronizing movement with an inhalation or an exhalation, creating a seamless transition between poses, while embodying Parinamavada–the understanding that constant change is an inherent part of life. For this reason, Vinyasa Krama begins with initiation: centring, assessing where we are today, and setting intention. This is followed by sustained effort built from the breath and beginning with gentler poses building to the peak (to be prepared and avoid strain that could create an angry prana). Finally, winding down and ending with integration (savasana), as “it is not enough to climb a tree, you must also be able to get down.” Vinyasa mimics the flow of life, the flow of a day, even the flow of the seasons, as energy starts quiet and builds to a climax and winds down to the inevitable end.

Krishnamacharya’s sequencing was quick in pace and highly demanding. Despite the proclaimed goal of building gradually to a goal, he did not have patience for slowness or challenges, and was brutal in his treatment of students, hitting them with rods when they didn’t perform as he wanted. BKS Iyengar was one of those students, and ran away from his teacher and his abuse to later become a leading guru in the yoga world some time in the 1940s.

Iyengar brought about a less strict interpretation of vinyasa krama. Sequencing in Iyengar yoga is not set in stone, and varies according to many different factors, including: group of postures, aim of sequence, level of experience of the student, and state of mind when approaching a session. He learned from his own ageing, observing students in practice, and his own life experiences, including the injuries and strain from being forced into poses prematurely during his years with Krishnamacharya. This led him to sequence classes slower, with attention to anatomy and alignment, as well as the inclusion of props like blocks and blankets to create a more accessible yoga experience. 

The Components of Krama:

Let’s take that historical context, how it was built over time, and think about what this order provides for the body, how it creates an effective and accessible practice.

The opening (Centring > Warm-ups/preps = activations > Downward Dog > Sun Salutations) is fairly obvious in its intention: connect with yourself and your breath, and provide some warming, well-rounded movement to prepare you for the rest of the practice. The one that threw me off was Handstand/Forearm Balance being next, it seemed surprising! It’s important to understand that this placement is for an experienced yogi with an existing handstand practice, not for learning how to do it. There’s a few reasons for this placement. One is the energizing quality; it sharpens your awareness and wakes you up for the rest of the practice. It also gives you a new perspective, both literally and metaphorically. Finally, you aren’t too exhausted to execute one safely.

Handstands are followed by Standing Poses > Standing Balancing Poses. This feels logical. We are most comfortable on our feet and adding balance is increasing the difficulty, it’s just progressive. But what about hand balancing poses, the next in line? This one I couldn’t find reasoning for, except maybe that it is a further progression of balancing. 

The next part of the sequencing–Core > Hip Mobilizers > Backbends–is interesting, and requires thinking more anatomically. An activated core provides support for both hip mobilizing and backbends. Getting your core online allows you to isolate and support hip movement more effectively (rather than compensating with your spine). This continues along the chain coming to backbends. When doing a backbend, there is one point in your back (T12 vertebra) that wants to do all the back bending work. This can have some pretty negative wear and tear on your T12 and neighbouring vertebrae, as well as missing the full benefits for the rest of your back. The primary goal is to find an even and supported bend through your back, not just fold in half in one spot, and to find extension in the hips. To achieve that, you need an active and supportive core, and you need to access the mobility in your hips. This can take extra work if you have a hyper-mobile low back especially, but will provide better alignment for joint health and spaciousness in the pose.

After the energizing nature of backbends, the sequence begins to wind down. Shoulder Stands or legs up the wall provide some cooling, calming, and quieting of the nervous system, as well as a counter pose to the previous backbend. Forward bend & twists and supine poses continue that quieting momentum, bringing you closer to the ground and folding inward and setting you up for some stillness in restorative poses, meditation & pranayama, and finally savasana. “It is not enough to climb a tree, you must also be able to get down.”

I found it fascinating to learn about all the smaller moving parts hidden inside how the Krama for sequencing is laid out. I don’t know if anyone else needs to know the ‘why’ as much as I do, but I find it freeing so I can understand how to effectively use this tool to suit my own sequence designs, so if I deviate I can do so intelligently.