Wrap up for Restorative Stations

Last night (Thursday, April 21st) was my regularly scheduled, one-time-monthly, Restorative Stations class. I've been experimenting with different class flow plans for a few months now. See this post for reference. This month I tried the "4 station" plan (click image to see larger):

Row 1 was Reclining Bound Angle
Row 2 was Supported Bridge Pose
Row 3 was Side Seated Reclining Twist and
Row 4 was Legs-up-the-Wall Pose

The pose times increased to about 12.5 minutes per pose, including transitions. When I have 5 stations I allot 10 minutes per pose, including transitions (for a 75 minute class).  This means that last night poses were held about 10.5 minutes compared the the usual 8 minutes.

Most folks seemed fine with staying longer and one student told me after class that she really liked the longer time spent per pose. But I also observed a few students during class who seemed a bit distressed in the pose (squirmy, coming out of the pose early, scrunched foreheads, etc.). I encourage people to never "get through" a pose. I want them to come out early and head to Savasana if they are feeling discomfort. So I was glad to see that folks were heeding that advice, but it made me wonder if the pose times were too long for some people.

Well, I think I will keep experimenting and hopefully I will get some feedback from my students on what they like and don't like, and we will keep refining the class.