We focused on Muscular Energy and in particular on "melting the heart."

The sequence was:

Child's Pose, 

AMS, 

Uttanasana,

High lunges

Slowly moving into a few Suryas

Warrior 1 with heel up (the pose formerly known as Crescent Moon)

Handstand

Sirsasana #2

Parsvakonasana

Warrior 2

Trikonasana, Half Moon, Chapasana

Bakasana

Parsvottanasana to Parivrrtta Trikonasana

Pigeon #1 Thigh stretch

Bakasana to Sirsasana #2 back to Bakasana

Parsvottanasana with anajali mudra arms

Uttita Hasta Padangusthasana

Baddha Konasana

Ubhaya Padangusthasana

Pashimottanasana

Apanasana

Savasana

This sequence rocks, it was inspired in great part by a class I took from Tanya. I will continue to play it with for a few more classes.

I love to have a challenging pose in class, a peak pose or poses, and to have previous poses build up to that zenith. To break it down if you will so that students can get there.

I noticed a lot of people are still not comfortable spotting handstands. Saw a lot of students holding legs instead of the hips. Do I have to demo handstand in every class? Maybe I do if I see students not be sure about what they are doing. And that's okay since I am really here to be of service to them. 

I also noticed a lot of fear towards sirsasanas. One of my dear students stayed after class and quite shyly confessed her discomfort with headstands and we worked on it until we figured out a way for her to not be in pain. I think she need to melt more, to have a better placement on her head and -this was key- to make sure she was not only weight bearing in her head but also in her hands, since she was not using her hands. So important that we are pressing down evenly in every part of the body that is touching the floor. That is the first of the five Universal Principles of Alignment after all: "Set your foundation and open to grace." 

Open up to the best part of you which is goodness itself and align with that intention!

Anusara Poster Project Pose: Parsvottanasana with hands in reverse anjali mudra.