I’ve had a lot more private yoga lessons lately, mostly with people who have never tried yoga before. It really makes you think deeply about what yoga is and the fundamentals that they need to know. Here are a few things that I find myself reinforcing over and over:

Bone stacking – head balanced over shoulders, shoulders over hips, hips over feet. It sounds obvious, but you don’t know how many times this needs to be corrected. In downward facing dog, you see deviations from a straight line from wrists to shoulders to hips. In Warrior II, people always lean forward.

External rotation of shoulders and arms – Elbows back or eyes of the elbows forward. It happens everywhere in yoga. In Tadasana, forward folds, chaturanga, and planks. Everywhere.

Internal rotation of thighs – Again, everywhere! It is the key to forward folds. It is the key to everything. I have the student place a block between their thighs and then rotate thighs so the block moves backward. It is crucial in so much of yoga.

Engage the balls of your feet – I’m trying to think of when this is not true. It is actually a part of the internal thigh rotation. You especially see this in Marichyasanas. Shoulder stands, standing poses, all forward folds …everywhere. No floppy feet!

Drishti – Every pose has a drishti, or focal point. You usually see beginners looking around during classes. Drishti is so important in finding focus and the direction of energy.

Breathe!!! – It sounds obvious, right? Not so obvious. I come from a powerlifting/Olympic weightlifting background. We hold our breath when we lock in a heavy lift. Not so with yoga. And when we are stressed, we inhale and then breathe shallowly. It is a good way to stay stressed. Instead, breathe deeply and evenly into your belly…always!! Learn to breathe better. Pranayama is a practice unto itself.

Tadasana in every pose – Yes, mountain pose. All that I’ve said so far are expressed in tadasana. Learning tadasana and thinking about it happens in every pose. It may be the simplest and most important pose in yoga. We must have talked about it for hours in teacher training and then hours after in all the other poses. It sounds so simple. I can talk people into the position but they take it for granted. After the first sun salutation, they go back to just standing there. What happened to Tadasana? Learn it; live it!