Difference between hearing and listening

The yoga practice has continued at home for the most part over the last two weeks, even though the studio is open again with limited capacity. 

The first few days I was simply not fast enough to get on the waitlist and then given my zen place, decided to do yoga alone at home to recorded classes. 

The last few zoom classes my teacher has been trying to give me very precise instructions on one pose. 

The balancing stick pose (Tuladandasana) which is a short and sweet pose. . . no I am kidding. We are talking Bikram hot yoga. There is nothing sweet about it. It is a time lapse trip to hell and back in 10 seconds, and that is my PG version. 

The idea is to stand on one leg and stretch the hands and legs like you are the rope in a tug of war competition. The number one thing that puts anyone on guard in a hot yoga class is "lock the knee" which sometimes is also refered to as "lock the damn knee" etc. So whenever the teacher mentions locking the knee, or using your inner thighs etc. the brain automatically thinks "standing leg" or the "balancing leg" that is usually unlocked. 

Turns out my teacher was talking about the stretching leg. She even told me in two classes back to back "use the inner thighs on the left leg and lift it". I heard it and processed it as "Sarah has got the legs mixed up again. I am standing on my right leg and lifting up my thighs all I can but nothing is moving!" 

Then in an act of coincidence, when I was in zombie autopilot mode for a fraction of a second, I let the brain process what had just been heard and accidentally realized that she was indeed talking about my left leg! 

She had practically given me a "paint by numbers" type instruction and I had still managed to $#% it up two days in a row!

Funny thing is that the correction made me balance easier and I was not killing my ankles and feet trying to lift from the bottom part of the leg. 

The fact that she literally has to beat it into me, on zoom, three days in a row is a testament to the perseverence of the teachers! 

Today I was part of a livestream class where you watch the people in the hot room and join the class. The teacher cannot see me on video as they are in the room. Sarah knew I was in the zoom version of the class and she gave me the exact same correction, even though she couldn't see me! This time I was ready and doing it right. Had even practiced it a few times yesterday. 

Here is a video showing a before and after.

Normally you take the step everytime you go down but I planted my front foot down in the video for a reason. That way I can superimpose the two versions in photoshop easily..

The other interesting thing is that this concept works well in two of the four poses in the spine strengthening series where you have to lift your leg and push it towards the back!

Some of you might be thinking "hasn't this guy been doing this 2000+ times over 10 years? he must be the worlds dumbest student". Well, I think that sometimes too but then realize that it has nothing to do with the effort or dedication or what type of intelligence you have.

It all has to do with registering certain things. Watching someone end up in a pose just tells you the end result. Which muscles they used to get there is not obvious. They might explain the body mechanics and practially give you very specific instructions but we are inherently biased. We put filters between what we hear and what we actually process in our heads!

I am happy to have realized this. This is not the first time there has been a lightbulb moment and this surely won't be the last. 

Just cannot wait for going into the studio and embrace the heat and humidity! 

When I am teaching something to my kids, by the third time my voice or body language shows my frustration as a teacher and my kids pick up on it! 

A big thanks to my teacher for being soo persistent and patient, even when she could see that I simply was not getting it, days at a time!