How to Create Smooth Yoga Transitions Between Poses

Whether you practice alone or instruct others, transitions are an essential component of a yoga flow routine. Vinyasa, or flow, yoga is one of the most popular styles for practitioners and classes. It involves moving seamlessly from one asana to the next. 

Creating and executing the transitions is not easy. It takes practice to do them, but it also requires knowledge and skill to design them. If you are a yoga teacher new to designing yoga sequences, start with the basics, which include thoughtful, manageable, and stable transitions. 

What Are Yoga Transitions? 

Anyone new to yoga might not be aware of the importance of transitions or how much thought goes into them. A transition is simply the way you move from one asana to another. 

A well-designed transition makes it easy and smooth to get into the next pose. A bad transition is clunky, difficult, and potentially harmful. 

A good yoga instructor and class might make it seem as if transitions are easy to plan, but a lot of thought goes into them. A successful transition prepares the body to move into the next pose without stressing the body. It feels natural. 

What Types of Yoga Practice Use Transitions?

Yoga is an ancient and varied tradition with many components. In the modern western world, yoga is mostly a physical practice involving asanas, or poses, often combined with focused breathing. 

Even among all the many modern variations on asana practice, not all require smooth, flowing transitions from one pose to the next. These are usually referred to as hatha yoga. 

For example, in Iyengar yoga the focus is on precise poses and perfecting alignment. This requires holding the poses for a period of time rather than flowing quickly to the next. 

The opposite of hatha yoga is vinyasa yoga, a practice that involves smooth and carefully considered transitions between poses. Some of the types of vinyasa are:  

• Ashtanga Yoga. Ashtanga yoga uses set sequences of poses that flow in a specific way from one to the next. It is useful for getting into the zone because you know the sequence well and don’t have to think about it. 

• Power Yoga. Power yoga is fitness-focused and thoroughly modern. It is vigorous and a tough workout. One subset is called Baptiste yoga. Practitioners of this style work out in a heated room and focus on breathing. There is also a focus on self-inquiry in Baptiste yoga that makes it more spiritual than purely fitness-based power yoga. 

• Prana Flow Yoga. Prana flow is a fast-paced style of vinyasa with a focus on rhythm. There is often music and sometimes dance, chanting, or breath control. 

• Jivamukti Yoga. This flow style incorporates spiritual teachings from Hinduism. It often uses music, chanting, meditation, and breathing exercises in addition to vinyasa practice. 

Vinyasa can be highly structured, as with the strict sequences used in ashtanga. It can also be less structured. Vinyasa instructors often develop their own sequences based on their clients’ needs, skill levels, and abilities. 

Are you new to teaching yoga? This checklist will help you tackle your new role and help clients benefit from a regular yoga practice. 

How to Build Beginner Yoga Transitions

Understanding what goes into a good transition is important for individual practice but also if you want to lead a class. Successful yoga transitions, especially in a class setting, match the skill level of the practitioner. 

Not only do well-planned transitions set your students up for, success and safety, they also make the experience more enjoyable. Careful transitions allow practitioners to immerse themselves in a kind of moving meditation. 

You can make transitions more challenging as you advance your practice or for clients, but start with those that are simple, easy, and safe. 

Start Very Small

If you are working with true beginners, take your time with transitions. Practice basic poses in isolation and then build in very simple transitions. 

For instance, one of the easiest transitions is between a cat and a cow pose. Only the spine and head change position, making this a safe and simple transition to practice. Downward dog to plank pose and chair pose to forward fold are also easy for beginners. 

Simple Yoga Transitions Link Similar Asanas

One of the most basic principles of planning transitions is using them to link poses that are similar enough to make the movement flow naturally. 

Most importantly, pair poses with the same foundation and similar hip action. For beginners, keep feet in the same position during the transition, for instance when moving from warrior 2 to side angle. The hips also follow the same type of action during the transition. 

Slightly more complex is a transition from warrior I to warrior II simply because the hips open up between the two poses. 

Provide More Contact with the Floor

The more points of contact with the floor, the more stable your students will be during the transition. If your transition will have them balancing on one foot, reconsider the strategy. 

You can transition between one- and two-foot poses by guiding the hands to the floor, such as between warrior II and warrior III. Or move from one arm balance to another by placing the feet on the floor. This provides stability during the transition. Always consider how someone could become unstable during a transition and work around it. 

Tips for Transitions at Any Level

You can advance beyond the basic guidelines, taking away points of contact and changing the foundation or hip action. Regardless of how advanced you get, successful transitions require planning and thought. 

Guidance and Cues are Essential

No matter where your clients are on their yoga journey, a good instructor teaches the transitions. Simply telling your class or client to move from one pose to another isn’t adequate unless they are particularly experienced. 

Even with experience, some transitions are bound to be new for anyone. Spend time walking them through any sequence you create and use helpful cues each time. 

Leading clients through a yoga sequence is similar to other types of workouts in that you need to give them cues. Learn the basics of cueing clients, for any type of workout. 

Don’t Link too Many Poses on One Side

This is important for both beginners and advanced students of yoga. Avoid overloading a sequence with transitions between poses on just one side of the body. Several poses in a row on the left will fatigue that side, making the transitions more difficult and less safe. 

Don’t Be Afraid of Repetition

You don’t have to make a yoga sequence exciting or flashy for it to be worthwhile or beneficial. Different transitions can be engaging, but trying to do much can take away from the experience of getting into the flow. Repeat transitions and sequences throughout a single class to help your students practice and get into the zone.

Advance Your Yoga Practice

Yoga transitions are an essential part of flow in your yoga class. They ease you from one pose to another and help you connect mind and body during your practice. As a new or future yoga instructor, spend time developing and practicing transitions to create a solid foundation for sequences and classes. 

If yoga is your passion, why not turn it into a career? The ISSA offers a Yoga Alliance Certified course to help you realize your dream of becoming a professional yoga teacher.