Chromatic teacher Amanda Lee offers an incredibly clear physical through line in this class for triangle pose. Pay close attention. What is/are the target stretch(es) and what is the peak engagement? Is her peak engagement a fundamental or a balancing action?
Instagram: @amandalee.108
Fundamental action is used to increase range of motion in the posture while balancing action is used to stabilize or decrease range of motion. In the case of full wheel, an activation of the buttocks or back muscles will increase range of motion, so these are fundamental actions. Activating the abdominals would be a balancing action because it limits range of motion.
Fundamental Action: use when flexibility of the pose is inhibited by gravity- when gravity is making it challenging to access full range of motion. For example, back to full wheel; you would want to use an activation of the muscles that create the shape or increase its range of motion- back and glutes- because gravity is working to pull the center of the back body down to earth.
Balancing Action: use when gravity is increasing the flexibility of the posture, such as activating hamstrings in hanumanasana (splits) or activating the obliques and transverse abdominus in triangle.
If the weight of gravity makes it easier to access range of motion, than resist gravity (balancing action) in order to avoid over-stretching. If the weight of gravity is making it harder to get into full range of motion- typically when rising away from the ground- then use a fundamental action to access the appropriate muscles to get into the posture..
Remember: rules can be broken; this is just a simplified guideline.
Let’s take a look back at Amanda Lee’s class. She chose triangle pose as the peak posture, with a peak engagement and target stretch of the adductors. This was smart because gravity already pulls the torso downward, so she chose a BALANCING Action to decrease risk of injury. AT THE SAME TIME this is smart because in order to increase the health and range of motion of a muscle, you need to strengthen it while moving it through range of motion. So creating a facilitated stretch of the adductors – balancing action- both minimizes risk and increases range of motion in the long run.
Physical Through-Line – Simplified Technique: internal rotation at the glenohumeral joint, then retraction of the scapula
Layering Poses:
-cactus arms downward
-platter arms in (internal rotation) and out (retraction)
-hands clasped behind back in forward fold
-hands clasped behind back in low lunge (wrap to side of the hip)
-humble warrior
-fist bump in chair pose (rounded spine), then arch to retract
-bound side angle
-half-bound half moon
-bound reverse bird of paradise
Target Stretch: Adductor group
-low lunge
-humble warrior with open hips
-utthita hasta padangusthasana B with bent knee and pelvic tilts
-malasana squat
-goddess pose (with twist)
-side angle pose
-lizard pose
Class presented by Beau Campbell, Chromatic Leader, Mentor, and founder of Yogarina Flow
In this class Beau shares with us a simplified technique – two peak actions that she links together as a technique that is then applied to the peak pose. As you practice, write down what you think the two actions are AND what you believe are her layering postures.
Rather than list a number of peak poses, I wanted to give you space for your own expression, so I provided you with posture categories for peak pose suggestion. The major ones are anything that requires anterior core (abdominals) activation.
Think…what postures have one or more of the following: rounded back, twist, protraction of scapula? These are the primary actions of the Fire Line.
Protraction of Shoulder Blades
Horizontal Flexion
Flexion of Shoulder
Flexion of Spine
Spinal Rotation
Posterior Tilt and Flexion of Hip
Adduction of Hips
Protraction of Shoulder Blades
Horizontal Flexion
Flexion of Shoulder
Flexion of Spine
Spinal Rotation
Posterior Tilt & Flexion of the Hip
Adduction of Hips
The element of air is an excellent element for opening a class. Air cuts the intensity of fire, celebrates success, and brings a light-hearted, joyful feeling into the class. Personally, this element challenges me; I tend toward earth and fire, so my work is to remind myself that life itself is a gift. In the challenges, highs and lows, and everything in between, I try to remind myself that life is a privilege, and I want to enjoy the time I have in this body. For some of you, this element might come more easily. Maybe you tend to laugh easily, have a more light-hearted mentality, and you love to have fun. That said, air is a more unstable element than earth. An earth-type person is more predictable emotionally, where as an air type might experience extreme highs and lows in a short period of time. So while people who tend toward air might be quick to laugh, they also might be quick to cry and move through emotions rapidly. Earth and water types, on the other hand, might dwell on something for days, months or years. Fire types might be unpredictable as well; charismatic and passionate in one moment and angry and yelling in another moment.
Air is a celebratory element when it is in balance. Out of balance, it can be worrisome or anxious energy. In the voice you will hear a high pitch, more rapid speech, quicker cadences, less space, more upward-rising melodies. Air brings a smile to our face, think of how light and free air is compared to the heaviness of the earth element.
When is it appropriate?
I like to start classes and welcome students in the element of air most days. Depending on the vibe of the room or the experience I offer, I will sometimes bring air back in when I a say goodbye. I bring air in mid-class while walking students into the fire of challenge so as not to lose the ultimate purpose of the challenge itself. Fire requires air to survive. It’s also great to use as a celebration after a challenging experience. The natural response when excited is “YES, YOU DID IT!”, but sometimes students are still caught up in the past, and thinking, “What can I do better?” So it’s important to remind them that small steps are important to celebrate; there is never a definitive finish line in life.
In my years of teaching the elements of voice, air tends to be the hardest to practice for those that it doesn’t come naturally to. The tendency is to put on the “fake nice” or “fake excited” voice. For air to be genuine, like all other elements, it must be FELT from the inside out.
These two engagements refer to the activation of a muscle through movement. The major difference is in whether or not the muscles are lengthening or shortening. In either case, the muscle is activated.
Concentric: the activation of a muscle while shortening (contracting). For example, pick up a dumbbell and bend your elbow to pull the dumbbell toward your shoulder; this movement occurs because of activation AND shortening (contraction) of the biceps.
Eccentric: the activation of a muscle while it is lengthening (extending). For example, lower the dumbbell while you straighten your arm slowly. To slow this movement, the bicep is activating while it is lengthening (extending).
Both of these actions refer to isometric engagements. In these cases, NO movement is occurring. You have a static posture with activation of muscles.
Fundamental Action: an engagement of the muscular system that creates the joint relationships in a given posture. Picture the pose without gravity or the ground. To create and sustain the pose would require an activation of the muscles that create the joint alignments. For example, in Warrior 2 the front knee is bent. The muscles that bend the knee joint are the hamstrings. An isometric engagement of the hamstrings would be called a fundamental action.
Balancing Action: the opposite of fundamental action, balancing action is an engagement of the muscles in the opposing direction of the joint relationships.
Note: There is one more isometric engagement that I did not mention in the video.
Supporting Action: an isometric muscular engagement that supports the stability of the body in a neutral position. Activating muscles while the joints are in anatomical resting neutral “supports” and stabilizes the structure. It will be rare that you will use this term.
This posture includes three major Fire Line actions – flexion of the spine, adduction of the arms (squeezing in), and protraction of the scapula. The major muscles for those actions are, respectively , the abdominals (rectus abdominis, external and internal obliques), the pectoralis major, and the serratus anterior.
Chromatic Leader Chris Sinnclaire teaches multiple styles of yoga but was first 500-hour trained in Power Yoga. His experience as a fitness trainer allowed him to apply his anatomy knowledge to teaching yoga. For some time, Chris struggled to figure out how to bring the physical throughlines of peak action or engagement into his yoga classes as his trainings never included these elements. Target stretch is already embedded into power yoga sequencing so that wasn’t an issue. I asked Chris to consider how he trains his clients in the gym: does he have them do a little of everything each session or does he focus on strengthening a specific muscle group? Of course there is a focus each time. Even where there are exercises with full body participation, there is still an area of the body that he is targeting on certain days. Once he could see the similarities between Chromatic structure and weight trainings, Chris was able to bring it into his power yoga classes.
Chris is a big fan of contrast teaching, so often he includes equal and opposite peak actions or engagements. Can you spot what his peak action(s) are? What are the layering poses?
What sets master level teachers apart from most yoga teachers is their willingness to find ways to accurately deliver information to students that is both comprehensible and easily integrated into the bodies and minds of the students. If you can take a complex system like the body, mind, or universe and break it down into small, digestible pieces to effectively transmit it to your students with clarity, you will have the greatest ability to ignite the fire of transformation for your students. Of course, they still have to make the choice to step into the fire, but this is not your concern. Your concern is providing the most effective means of communicating the subject you are sharing. This module is mainly focused on the physical aspects of the asana practice. However, when you follow the template, you will be take your students beyond the body.
B.A.S.E is a template for delivering techniques and actions into the body. You will use this primarily in your layering poses for the Physical through-line, or anytime you cue students toward a held posture. Practice applying these to your peak pose, and to all of your layering poses.
Using a sequence you have already created, work through each of the layering poses to map out the four-part verbal cue structure (BASE).
Don’t over think this. Get creative for the sake of expanding your verbal cue vocabulary, but no need to get too fancy or complex.
Once your verbal cues are mapped out, practice teaching them for each layering pose in the sequence. Submit a teaching video of each layering pose. Verbalize your mapping cues in each posture.
Example: if your layering poses were High Lunge, Warrior 2, and Side Angle…
Why do this aloud?
There is a big difference between writing it down and actually saying it. This will bring the theory to life and help you solidify your understanding of how to apply B.A.S.E
Remember: HOW YOU SAY THE PHRASE MATTERS. I SUGGEST THE ELEMENT OF FIRE TO CAPTIVATE THE ATTENTION OF YOUR STUDENTS.
The concept is quite simple. Early in your Chromatic module, I offered you a memorized sequence teaching you a
The Chromatic layering structure draws on key elements in a yoga class that make the peak pose more accessible to the student and allows for a better understanding of their body. All you need to do now is decide where to insert the layering poses. This may require that you omit certain poses from the sequence in order to keep the class to one hour. Also, some postures will be unnecessary if your chosen peak pose differs significantly from the peak pose in the memorized sequence.
Create a sequence, then follow the video guidelines to assess where you will put your layering poses for both the target stretch and peak action/engagements. Please note any poses that you will need to omit. If you have any trouble remembering the memorized sequence, feel free to review the Chromatic course and rewatch those videos, or refer to your stick figures.
As a teacher, the element of Earth can be challenging to tap into because the very nature of teaching and talking requires momentum. Earth is the period at the end of a sentence, whereas water is the comma. Earth is about making definitive statements that convey finality. It’s about predictability and consistency that allows students to feel safe in your presence – no surprises; they know what to expect.
In the business world, brands often focus heavily on this element in order to gain success. Let’s take my least favorite coffee company for example, Starbucks. When they started out, Starbucks gained some success, but in order to make it a global brand they had to streamline everything. They couldn’t rely on training excellent baristas, and they couldn’t depend on lighter roasted beans because the flavor of lighter roasts are unpredictable. They darkened the roast because burnt ALWAYS tastes burnt no matter what region the bean comes from or what the growing season was like. They replaced trained baristas with machines, but they kept the fancy look of the machine to make it appear to you, the customer, that you were getting high quality service. They sacrificed quality in order to maintain the highest level of consistency. While I despise their low quality coffee, there is no question that, from a consumer trust perspective, these changes worked in their favor. On the other hand, quality will ALWAYS prevail if it can maintain enough consistency and predictability,
SO, I do not suggest diminishing the quality of your teaching by any means. I would simply encourage you to find ways to be consistent and predictable in your teaching, and one way you can do this is through the quality of your voice – put periods at the end of sentences instead of commas and question marks. Allow space between thoughts so students can digest what you just said. Relax the tone of your voice so that it is lower and in your vocal range. Relax your energy so your students feel like they have just arrived at home or at a retreat center and they too can kick back and relax.
To start exploring earth, practice by teaching a brief meditation. As mentioned in the video above, cue the body into an upright position and then again as students start to observe their breath and observe the body breathing.
As you are working through this, it’s totally ok if you don’t have the right words to say. This is not about learning to teach meditation, but learning to teach inside the quality of earth. Meditation is typically the easiest way to tap into earth because it tends to be grounding for the teacher and that internal shift reflects outwardly in the voice. That said, if this is too far out of your comfort zone, please just lead a savasana and work on embodying your sense of earth.
As you move through this practice, have a notepad nearby. Write down what you think the peak action or engagement is. Is there a target stretch? What are the layering poses? Practice while observing the structure. Notice the verbal cues for the peak action or engagement; write down the ones that awaken your body the most.
ANTERIOR Tilt & Flexion of the Hip
Internal Rotation of the Hip
Adduction of Hips
Abductors of the Hips
Note: gluteus maximus (considered to be more of an earth line muscle because it extends and laterally rotates hip, but it also abducts so for that reason you can include it in the water line. I do not think of it this way, however.)
Extension of the Knee
DorsiFlexion of the Ankle
Extension of the Toes
To get your mind wrapping around the Earth Line and what peak poses you can offer, here is a quick brainstorm session. Ultimately I would love you to use this as a starting point, not the Holy Grail of what you can and cannot offer. As you watch, jot down any ideas that come up for you and please share them in the Facebook group so we can start a discussion!
Chromatic leader and mentor Beau Campbell offers us a Vinyasa style class. Can you identify the Chromatic layering poses within the sequence as you practice? Have a notepad nearby and write down what you think is her peak action or engagement, target stretch, layering poses and peak pose.
As you begin to weave the Chromatic structure into your way of thinking and designing your classes, you may be left thinking that In order to teach Chromatic Yoga, you have to teach in the same stylistic approach as I do. The reality is, I developed the Chromatic sequence structure from observing multiple styles and distilling down what the commonalities were. Then I put names to the structure: peak pose, peak action/engagement, target stretch, layering poses, preparatory peak pose, etc. and began refining my own teaching using this Chromatic structure.
I observed power yoga teachers from Iyengar, Anusara, Jiva Mukti, Inside Flow, Budokon, and on and on. I also observed other movement and even non-movement systems and tried to figure out what the structure was underneath it all. Ultimately this is what makes Chromatic Yoga unique. Chromatic encourages you to find your expression and share from a place of authenticity rather than try to fit yourself into a mold. So I suggest finding ways of using the structure within what you are already teaching. Of course, you may be drawn to a style that someone else created, you don’t have to be completely original or reinvent the wheel by any means. My style is similar to the way my Anusara teachers taught; I just adapted it to my needs rather than the other way around. Take the structure of what Chromatic has to off and adapt it to your needs.
At the moment, we have hundreds of Chromatic teachers around the world utilizing the Chromatic structure in their own way. I plan to share a few teachers with you so you can get a break from my way of teaching and see how others share from their unique perspective.
It is one thing to intellectualize sequencing from an anatomical viewpoint, but it’s an entirely different practice to develop the skillset of teaching your layering poses. To develop this, we will start by choosing a sequence that you have already created for this training, one that you love. Then teach the layering poses and the peak posture to us. Do your best and remember this is just the beginning; there is no need to be perfect or to try and impress. Just share what you have.
To be clear, you will not be sharing a full class, just the layering postures and peak pose.
Fire is typically one of the more challenging elements to access for many teachers because it requires a level of confidence in what and how you are sharing. Most of us teachers are sharing from our personal experience and we have a bit or a lot of insecurity around whether or not we have a right to share this, if we are good enough, advanced enough, knowledgable enough, intelligent enough, old/young enough, experienced enough…the list goes on, doesn’t it?? And while not knowing is a magnificent mindset of humility that gives rise to a greater ability to learn, we often get confused between our humility and insecurity.
Humility is an energy of the heart – a not knowing, a bow to the universe and recognition of the much bigger picture. Insecurity is an energy based in the past, the work of the Ego that is concerned with being enough, relative to others in our lives.
The element of fire requires that we step into our full EMPOWERMENT as yoga teachers, recognizing that we have much we do not know and may never know, AND at the same time we have so much to offer those seeking what we have learned. When we recognize that what we have to share will never be what everyone needs, then we can focus on the people looking for what we have and what we have to offer. If we focus on the fact that someone else does it better than we do, we can’t focus on doing our best with what we have to share. Stepping into the fire means putting the internal critic aside and serving at the highest level.
Fire is courage, empowerment, passion, intense, destructive, fierce, captivating, transformative, awakening, presence, motivating, inspiring, igniting…the list goes on. The yoga practice is many things but ultimately it is about developing awareness and then taking action from that place of awareness, from the heart rather than the Ego. We have practices (asana, meditation, pranayama) to go inward and practices to come back outward (yamas, niyamas, viveka – compassionate, mindful living). Awareness and action go hand-in-hand but without each other can be dangerous. To build awareness, one must take a journey inward, which requires internal actions, but upon experiencing the bliss (ananda) of the inner world, the yogi often seeks isolation from the discomfort of the outer world. This becomes a problem because it’s a false representation of the beauty of being human. This mistake is equal to never going inward and believing happiness exists only outside ourselves, which would be action without awareness. We must use action as a two-way force if we are to experience the full gifts of yoga and life itself.
So what are we doing with fire? In the class setting, we use fire to provoke students to get out of their heads and into the chaos (vritti) of the mind (action). We ask them to engage a muscle(s) or move their bones in a particular way, and ultimately awaken to the sensational experience of being in their physical form. We also provoke them to reflect upon their experience. I use the word provoke because fire is not subtle the way water is. Water will slowly change you over a long period of time. Think of a rock in a river; that rock will hold strong for a long time compared to a log in a fire.
What are we burning? When we step into the fire or ask students to step into the fire, what are we burning? We burn away old muscular and breath patterns so we can form new ones that ultimately serve the well-being of our body. We burn away limiting beliefs and egoic identities. We burn away samskaras, which are thought and emotion patterns based on past experience that form our lens of perception. IF YOU REMEMBER WHY YOU ARE BURNING, YOU WILL FIND THE COURAGE TO STEP INTO THE FIRE AND ASK OTHERS TO DO SO AS WELL.
Posterior Tilt & Extension of the Hip
External Rotation of the Hip
Flexion of the Knee
Plantar Flexion of the Ankle
Flexion of the Toes
Next step. Develop three sequences that lead to three difference peak poses, using just one action. Your five-seven layering poses for each sequence can differ from each other, but you want to be sure the peak action/engagement is the same. This will train your brain to look at and have the ability to prioritize action first, and peak pose second. It will give you the skillset to rapidly change the peak pose on the spot if you are teaching a class and realize that your students are not going to be able to execute what you planned. It will give you massive opportunities in creating long format curriculums such as retreats, class series, intensives, etc.
Water tends to be the easier of the elements to embody for most yoga teachers. The element is popular for beginner teachers because it’s non-offensive and non-provocative. In the tone of water, you’re not likely to stir any fire emotions. Many people use water to unify a room and bring everyone into a rhythm of breath. If we jump into the river together, we all flow downstream at the same pace. Water in this sense is a pulling element; using the tone of water can “pull” the room into a rhythm that unites everyone into the experience. For this reason it is an excellent element to practice during sun salutations since that is more or less the purpose of sun salutations anyway.
Some helpful technical tips:
Authenticity and Versatility
Versatility: access to the spectrum of elements allows you to meet your students where they are in their practice and support them in accessing their highest potential.
Authenticity: ultimate clarity of our internal landscape and unrestrained ability to express ourselves. When someone is completely authentic, it feels like they’ve removed their emotional armor and shared their truth with you. This establishes trust and sincere connection, the perfect foundation on which to build student/teacher or any type of relationship.
The problem: without our own practice of going inward and exploring how past experiences impact us now, we have limited access to all five elements internally (emotionally) and outwardly (expressively). Therefore, we can’t be fully versatile or impactful with what we share with our students. For example, if you had a boss who was always stressed out and always directed their frustrations and anger toward you, you might develop a negative association with authority figures and with the fire element. So you start to value the opposite in yourself and others, seeing beauty in people who are calm, non-confronting, and even-tempered. You’d also be likely to express yourself in a calm, quiet, or even submissive manner. You would likely avoid raising your voice in a class that might need exactly that. So access to this element would be limited, even if for the greater good.
Solution: Each of us has a story like this for one or more elements. This is why this EOV system of self-inquiry is so powerful. It asks you to see each element in relationship to nature, and that all the elements have positive and negative qualities within them. We have access to all of these qualities within ourselves, but not without the courage to be vulnerable and the self-inquiry work to cultivate awareness.
EOV sets us on journey through our internal landscape and allows us to see our blindspots. Our past and current choices are what makes each of us unique and powerful. To authentically express yourself with versatility, you will need to go outside your comfort zone and willingly explore what feels inauthentic to you for the sake of your practice. With practice and time ,you will begin to feel comfortable in the elemental qualities that were once uncomfortable. Over time, you will form new beliefs, have new internal stories and be able to authentically interact with each element. As each element becomes more authentic, versatility will emerge and your capacity to ignite others’ highest potential will infinitely expand.
How do we unveil the highest potential in our students within the physical practice of yoga? If we think about the teachers that have been most powerful in our lives, they likely did one of the actions below. (I.S.A)
Inspiration: teachers that inspire us into conscious action are often our favorite simply because we have reaped the massive benefits of our own actions. Action out of inspiration feels light, joyful, easy, and sometimes even fun. Inspiring our students requires courage to go deeper and often the willingness to share your own challenges or lessons learned.
Self-Inquiry: self-inquiry is, in essence, the practice of yoga. asana, pranayama, seated meditation, yamas, niyamas…are all practices of yoga that create the building blocks of going inward and asking ourselves the questions. Self-inquiry is the bridge from student to teacher, and from the physical to the non-physical. Provoking students to contemplate and inquire within awakens empowerment within our students.
Awareness: at the highest level of the Chromatic practice is awareness, first on the physical level and then beyond the physical and into the force of nature itself. It is from this place that our highest potential can be ignited with routine practices that cultivate our awareness. Awareness is not something we can do for our students, but we can hold the space for them to reflect, observe, and be with themselves.
How do we inspire people into conscious action in their physical practice?
How do we provoke Self-Inquiry in the Physical Practice?
How do we hold space for Awareness?
Here it is, an example of the crow pose class where the peak action is protraction of the scapula. In this class I pretty much used the exact layering poses from the previous breakdown. I wanted to show you this because I ALSO bring in a few layering poses for ADDUCTION of the hips but it’s not as emphasized as protraction. This is key because if I highlight both adduction AND protraction equally the whole time, the student may not get either because there will be too much to think about. The brain and body take time to integrate information on a physical and mental level, so notice in this class that I wait until I have taught protraction in a number of poses before introducing a new concept/action.
In the Fire Line, we built up to the peak pose Side Crow. We used the Fire Line and the physical through line (activating the obliques and hip flexors) in order to gain greater access to the pose. I wanted to offer you a different perspective. Chromatic Yoga is not about THE way but being open to finding A way- “many paths”. In this section, you will be asked to find multiple peak actions toward one peak pose. This gives you multiple class options toward one pose, providing your students with more potential growth in their pursuit of body awareness.
One way to develop your skillset of sequencing is to single out one peak pose and create multiple experiences with different peak actions/engagements. I give some examples of two different sequences leading to Crow pose in this video. At this point most people ask if they can have more than one peak action in the same class. The answer is yes; I do this all the time. However the MORE peak actions you introduce, the LESS likely it is for your students to retain and master what you are providing for them. THE MAJOR EXCEPTION to that statement is if you are teaching them over the course of several classes, as in an immersion, retreat, or intensive. In this case, you may introduce a peak action in the first class and then continue to repeat throughout the following classes. You won’t need to reteach that action; you can simply cue it and your students will be able to access it in their body, so they now can focus on the NEW thing that you are sharing.
IMPRINTING: This is the concept of altering the shape of a posture to give the student a closer representation of what the peak pose will feel like. It imprints the experience in their physical form while activating the same muscles (peak engagement/action) that they will be asked to do in the peak pose.
Peak Action: Protraction
Layering Poses
Peak Action: Adduction of Hips
Layering Poses
