What Intermediate Actually Means Here
Let's clear this up before we go any further, because I think the word "intermediate" scares off some people and gives false confidence to others, and both of those are a problem.
Intermediate doesn't mean fancy poses. It doesn't mean you're doing arm balances or dropping into full splits or any of the stuff that shows up on the flashy end of the internet. What it means, in this class, is that you already know the basic shapes in your body — you don't need me to explain what a downward dog is, your warrior isn't a total mystery, you've got some mileage on your mat.
What we're doing here is putting those shapes together and moving through them with breath instead of pausing to think about every single transition. That's the whole shift. Slower classes teach you the alphabet. This class is where you start writing sentences.
Why we're not rushing into the fast stuff
Here's what actually works: you slow down before you speed up.
I know that sounds backwards for a class called Vinyasa Flow, but I've watched enough people flail through a fast sequence to know the flashy version isn't worth much if the foundation underneath it is shaky. If you can't hold a clean warrior two for five steady breaths, moving fast through warrior two just means you're wobbling faster. That's not progress, that's just wobbling with better cardio.
So the first few weeks of this course are going to feel almost too controlled for some of you. Good. That's on purpose. We build the clean shapes first. Speed comes later, and it comes because the shape earned it, not because we skipped ahead.
What your body should already be able to do
Before we start linking things together with breath, check yourself honestly against this list. You don't need to be great at all of it. You just need to have tried it enough times that your body isn't starting from zero.
- You know downward dog, plank, and cobra or up dog well enough that I don't have to walk you through foot placement every time.
- You've held warrior one and warrior two long enough to know which way your back foot is supposed to point (this trips up more people than you'd think).
- You can move from standing to a forward fold without your lower back doing something alarming.
- You've got some familiarity with chaturanga, even if it's not pretty yet. We'll clean it up.
- You know what "child's pose" means without me demonstrating it, because you're going to want it as a rest stop more than once.
If most of that list feels solid, you're in the right room.
A quick story, because I think it matters here
Years ago I tried to teach a friend crow pose in my living room. I demoed it for her, tipped straight forward like a felled tree, and knocked over a laundry basket sitting nearby — Kai's clean socks went everywhere. We both just about died laughing. I left the socks scattered on the floor for the rest of the lesson because picking them up felt like admitting defeat.
I bring that up because "intermediate" doesn't mean you stop falling over. It means you get more comfortable with the falling. You try the thing, you tip into the laundry basket, you laugh, you get back up. That's actually a pretty good description of what this whole course is going to feel like some days.
What we're building toward
Over the next several weeks we're going to work on:
- Linking breath to movement so the transitions stop feeling like separate steps
- Holding standing poses with actual stillness, not just passing through them
- A little more heat in the sequences, but earned, not rushed
- Some inversions and balance work, at whatever level your body's at right now (I'll be honest, I still can't get a free-standing handstand to behave, so nobody in this room needs to feel behind on that front) 🙈
One real caution, since we're up here at elevation with dry air most of the year: as the pace picks up in later lessons, drink water before class, not just after. People underestimate how fast you can get lightheaded moving through a flow at 4,600 feet. If you ever feel gray or swimmy, sit down. Nobody in my class gets a medal for pushing through dizzy.
Before next time
Come to the next lesson having actually tried a downward dog to plank to cobra transition a few times on your own, even badly. I want your body to have some memory of it before we start stacking breath on top.