"They act as a diagnostic tool."

This quote from Emmy Cleaves in the book American Yoga by Carrie Schneider caught my eye this morning. In class we have been working at linking the standing poses into a series. It is difficult and the series includes many asanas. Sometimes I wonder if challenging sequences are helpful or not. Emmy Cleaves' comment reassured me. She was referring to Bikram Choudhury's twenty-six posture series. Choudhury's series is so comprehensive that, in her opinion, it covers a normal range of motion for most people and allows practitioners the opportunity to discover their own problem areas. I do not do Bikram's series, nor do I work in a hot room. But, I do find that there is benefit in challenging sequences when they are done with wisdom and respect for one's body. The sequence I have been teaching is from Brad Priddy's Yoga Notebook. Working poses one right after the other focuses my attention and challenges me. I discover the areas where I am weak or tight or simply unsure of the dynamic of the pose. It is helpful to work on individual poses at the wall as a compliment to the vinyasana and take the insights gained back into the series. I try to cultivate a light-hearted attitude and go with the flow. The sequences are our tools of self-discovery not tests. The movement from one asana to the next keeps us from getting stuck in our difficulties. We just keep moving toward greater freedom.