Cue Cards & Functional Arm Positions

In this video, we discuss creating cue cards to support your studying process. Cue cards are essential for learning postures and developing the ability to teach them consistently. Making a cue card helps you commit to specific cues and allows you to memorize them, refining how you would personally say each cue rather than just copying them from the textbook. When you take the time to write out cues in your own words, you reframe them with your unique perspective, making them truly yours.

Cue cards also help you streamline the number of cues for each posture. They guide you in identifying what’s realistic, acknowledging that you won’t always use every possible cue in a given pose. Instead of trying to juggle all possible explorations in your mind, a cue card lets you focus on one approach at a time. This commitment to practicing a single exploration repeatedly lays a strong foundation. Over time, you can add more variations as you gain teaching experience, but initially, sticking to one path through a pose is invaluable.

The second part of this video covers functional arm positions. In yoga, arm positions are often the “icing on the cake.” Arm placements like arms in T, cactus arms, or arms alongside the ears are beneficial and can enhance a posture, though they’re not always essential. We teach that arm positions are generally flexible and can be adapted to suit different postures. For instance, in Virabhadrasana I, you might choose to place the arms at the hips, next to the ears, or in a cactus position—each option has its own value.

For this reason, we encourage people to view arm positions as independent choices within the posture, allowing freedom in teaching. This segment aims to show that arm positions can be selected based on what feels right for the practitioner or the flow of the class.