What’s in a sentence?

That one little sentence can break or make my yoga practice. Has it happened to you that you have been struggling in a pose, telling yourself ‘I dont get it!!’ and suddenly your teacher utters those simple words, that one simple sentence, that one single explanation and BAM you’ve magically fallen into the pose?
I used to struggle in Warriror II. A seemingly simple yet powerful pose was causing me such grief and pain despite the hours of exercise I did. By the time the teacher was counting the 5th breath with 3 more to go, all I could focus on was the deep, sharp, excruciating burn across my quads… until one day that one sentence took me out of my misery. She said:  ‘ground your back foot into the floor and shift your weight back’. As I diligently applied her instructions, the pain quickly melted away… I unclenched my teeth, took a nice deep breath and finally enjoyed the deep stretch and gentle strengthening of my muscles.
Similarly, the day I managed crow pose for the first time was the day my teacher explained ‘You have 2 palms and 10 fingers. 10 is more than 2 so ground your fingers and use them to support your weight as you shift forward to crow’… Listened, applied and before I knew it I was flying in crow!
It is partly because of these small revelations throughout my practice that I decided to enrol to a teacher training course and get my foundations right. I thought that if these simple explanations could get me from struggling in a pose to actually enjoying a pose than what else could I achieve if only I had the right technique?
2 months later, armed with a snazzy pair of yoga pants, a professional yoga mat and a slightly lighter purse, I embarked on my Tirisula  200h TTC journey …
I can assure you that going back to the basics has done my practice a world of a difference. I gained an understanding of my body’s muscles, learned to understand my strengths and weaknesses in each pose and to adapt my own practice accordingly. Moving from executing robotically these asanas to understanding what fundamentally is going on in my body each time I contract, stretch, twist my muscles has been eye opening.
As I learn to create my own class plans and practice to become a Yoga Teacher, I hope that someday I also will utter that one sentence to help someone fall into the pose magically.
Julz