Letting a Theme Emerge
Letting a Theme Emerge Assignment
In this assignment, you’ll explore how to allow a theme to naturally arise and inform your teaching. This is your opportunity to write and teach your second full yoga class, this time using a more intuitive, inward approach.
Step 1: Read and Reflect
Read the essay: Letting a Theme Emerge.
Let the guidance in the essay inspire your planning process. This time, you’re not choosing a theme first—you’re letting it emerge through reflection and creative connection.
As part of the learning process, watch at least two other students’ videos from this same assignment— please leave a comment under their comment about your experience of their work.
Scroll down to the comment section below to find examples of how others approached this class.
This will give you even more to go off of—and help you feel connected to a broader community of learners engaging with the same material.
Step 2: Write Your Second Full Yoga Class
Download the Class Planning Worksheet using the button below.
Use it to design your next full yoga class, guided by the principles in the essay.
You may fill out the worksheet by hand or type it out.
Submit it by scanning, photographing, or writing it out and emailing it to your instructor.
Step 3: Record and Share a Teaching Sample
Choose a portion of your new class (at least 8 minutes).
Begin your video with a brief 1–2 minute intro:
Share what inspired you about this assignment.
You may also include any comments or questions you have about the theme or process.
Teach the selected class segment.
Upload your video to YouTube and post the link in the comments below on this webpage.
To Recap, You Will Submit:
A completed class planning worksheet, emailed to your instructor.
A YouTube link to your 8-minute teaching sample, posted in the comments section below.
A brief intro within your video sharing what inspired you and/or any reflections or questions.
A comment under two other students’ videos to show what you learned from them.
Let this be a creative, organic process. Let the theme emerge—and follow where it leads.
Class Planning: Letting a Theme Emerge
The Power of a Theme:
Throughout our journey of class planning and creative exploration, we have delved into the art of creating melodies with our sequences, following the principles of smoothness, balance, and completeness. We have also described how to follow the arrow of creation from the heart to class planning. Now, we reach another highlight of the creative process—the addition of a theme to our class. Infusing a theme into your class can be a powerful way to inspire your students and enhance their practice, giving them a focal point to carry through the postures and guiding them on their yoga journey. A well-crafted theme not only helps your students remember the class but also allows them to integrate its message into their lives. On a practical side, it also gives you a tool for promoting your class, showcasing the benefits it offers.
Finding a Meaningful Theme:
To connect deeply with a meaningful theme, start by asking yourself, "Why am I practicing today?" What brings you to your mat? Is it the need to ease a sore hip flexor after hours of sitting at work or a way to prepare for meditation in the morning? Perhaps your practice aids in recovering from a sport or prepares you for certain activities in life. Observe how the changing seasons influence your practice. A potent theme arises from genuine needs, evolving into a topic you can articulate through cues and postures. Themes devoid of true need may feel superficial, but with a genuine need, they exude power and significance. So, delve into your own intention and recognize how it informs your entire practice.
Embracing Challenges:
Themes can also emerge from transcending and embracing challenges in our practice. As Sri Shambhavananda teaches,“Those things that challenge us the most also hold the greatest potential for our development”, which is to say that our most challenging moments hold the greatest potential for growth. (SP, 175). Which is to say that challenges in our body, and in our practice, are not to be avoided, and can in fact become our greatest inspiration. Rather than avoiding difficulties in our practice, we can embrace them as a source of inspiration. Reflect on the postures you shy away from and explore why that is. How can you approach these postures in a supportive manner that keeps you engaged? It is through confronting and working with these challenges that the most profound themes emerge.
Curiosity Fuels Creativity:
While necessity may inspire invention, curiosity attracts it. Cultivate curiosity about what piques your interest on the mat. Perhaps you had an enlightening moment in a recent yoga or movement class, and you desire to explore it further in your personal practice—such as breathing slower, connecting limbs to the core, or mastering a challenging transition. The changing seasons may also ignite curiosity and a desire to incorporate that essence into your class. Ayurvedic principles, like water, fire, earth, or ether, can equally inspire themes. Approach these inspirations with a sense of curiosity and keep your attention on your heart while exploring them. In doing so, your themes will transform your practice into a work of art. Remember, your time on the mat isn't just for repair and maintenance; it's an opportunity for self-expression, sharing your inner experience with the world. As Bhagavan Nityananda taught, "the heart is the hub of all holy places, go there and roam in it." Spiritual practice is imbued with curiosity, inviting us to roam and explore our inner landscape
Benefits of a Theme:
We began our discussion of the creative spark of class planning with the analogy of making melodies out of notes. We then discussed the principles of smooth, balanced and complete as a method of ensuring those melodies ring true. From there we began ‘taking aim’ at class planning, using our practice to help us surrender and allow the creative flow to come through us. We also discussed the practical aspects of a class structure, and how to set the stage for success. Our final focal point of the creative process in class planning is the icing on the cake— the addition of a theme to your class. Having a theme layered over your class can be a great way to inspire your students towards a more expansive experience of their practice, giving them a focal point as they move through the postures, and a topical landmark to come back when class has finished. A theme can help them remember the class, as well as bring its message into their life. And not to mention, a theme gives you a way to promote your class, a way to describe the benefits someone will enjoy by attending.
Why are you practicing today?:
There are many ways to approach a theme for a class, and long lists of possible themes, but in order to really connect with a meaningful theme first ask yourself, ‘why am I practicing today?’ What is bringing you to the mat? Is it a sore hip flexor from sitting at work all day, or a way to wake up in the morning and prepare for meditation? Does your practice revolve around helping you recover from a sport you participate in, or does your practice help you prepare for a certain type of activity in your life? Do you feel the changing of the seasons affecting your practice? A great theme begins as a need, and grows into a theme you can talk about and describe through cues and postures. Without the need, a theme usually just feels superficial— with a need, a theme feels powerful and important. So ask yourself— why are you practicing today? And recognize that this need is informing you at all levels while you practice.