If each yoga posture can be meaningful in its own right, does any arrangement of those postures make an equally thoughtful practice?
Two students may attend the same class yet experience its movements very differently. Their history, mobility, confidence, breathing and responses to transitions can vary. Teaching therefore involves more than choosing a set of beautiful-looking poses.
In our earlier Payammehr teaching writings—an introduction titled How Research into Cyclic Yoga Took Shape and a broader foreword—we repeatedly considered one question: how should the order of asanas be chosen? These writings record questions that shaped our teaching and still invite careful attention to sequencing.
An educational question, not a predetermined answer
In our early introduction, we observed different yoga teachers using similar postures while giving relatively little attention to how one movement affected the next. The concern was not merely the quality of an individual asana but its place within a combination.
That question remains useful, but not every historical inference should be repeated as fact. Anecdotal observations of students' appearance, temperament or health cannot demonstrate that another sequence caused harm. A convincing clinical claim requires evidence beyond personal impressions.
Collaboration and the emergence of a “cycle”
Our early teaching records describe conversations and work with Dr Saed Ahmadi and additional teachers and researchers. The project considered how asanas could be grouped according to patterns of contraction and stretch, body regions involved, readiness for subsequent movements, and compatibility with the student's circumstances.
Our historical notes describe how roughly three early years of study led to several ordered groupings. One historical stage is described as containing 77 asanas organized into 13 cycles. These numbers describe a particular archival account; they are not proof that the same inventory is used in every current class, or evidence of clinical effectiveness.
Our teaching notes also describe placing facilitating movements between principal postures when a transition or preparation was needed. Such groups came to be called cycles: not simply lists, but deliberately related movements.
Four priorities in the historical introduction
| Archival consideration | A useful teaching question |
|---|---|
| Quality of stretch and contraction | What kinds of effort or movement are involved? |
| Effects on body regions | Which muscles, joints and regions participate? |
| Preparation for the next posture | Is this a suitable transition from the previous movement? |
| Anatomical and movement compatibility | Does the choice respect this student's capacity? |
This four-part list belongs to the historical introduction. Yoga Payammehr's dedicated Cyclic Yoga page presents six sequencing criteria derived from a separate manuscript. The two texts describe related educational ideas but should not be silently collapsed into one authoritative list.
Historical testimony is not clinical proof
Our early introduction records striking experiences in individual cases and describes an ambition to study bodily and psychological effects. However, the materials available to us do not provide a verifiable research protocol, controlled comparisons, datasets or independently published outcomes.
We preserve these accounts as part of our historical teaching testimony, but should not portray them as proof that Cyclic Yoga cures spinal disease, psychiatric conditions or digestive disorders.
Modern guidance on chronic primary low-back pain likewise emphasizes person-centred, individually appropriate exercise within wider care, rather than declaring a single movement sequence superior for everyone. WHO guidance
Questions a mindful student can ask today
- Why is this posture placed here rather than earlier in the session?
- What preparation or modification is available if it feels uncomfortable?
- How do breathing, pace and transitions relate to the movement?
- What would tell me to rest, reduce the range, or stop?
These questions do not turn a reader into their own physiotherapist. They invite a more active conversation with a qualified teacher and greater respect for the body's signals.
From a historical method to attentive practice
The lasting value of these questions in our teaching lies partly in the habit of inquiry itself. A sequence can be a reasoned learning experience rather than a performance of isolated poses. Its success should not be judged solely by flexibility or by dramatic therapeutic promises.
Explore Cyclic Yoga at Yoga Payammehr or read the related article Yoga and Lower-Back Health.
From Yoga Payammehr's own teaching archive. Our historical experience is not a substitute for independently verified clinical research.