You’ve probably had this experience during class: one moment you’re struggling to find peace in a pose, but then after a single sentence from your teacher, the form suddenly makes perfect sense. These resonant words and phrases cause something to click in your mind, creating more space, access, and stillness in your body.
We asked followers, friends, and YJ editors to share the yoga prompts that changed the way they practice. Some are pose-specific shifts, while others are more general invitations that apply both on and off the mat. Take a closer look: you may see your own yoga in some of these beloved lines.
22 yoga signals that can help you with your practice
Yoga is more than an embodied practice, although the right yoga prompts can certainly help.
1. Start simple: Relax your jaw.
2. To sink into the cow pose? Imagine if you did that udders as a reminder to arch your spine and let your stomach hang low.
3. Just try it. There’s no harm in exploring what’s possible for your body (as long as you listen when it tells you to stop).
4. To this end play around and see how small shifts in the pose feel to you is a solid signal in any pose.
5. Push the ground away from you. Works in most postures where you seek stability with your flattened hands.
6. Want to nail Crow Pose? Hug your knees into your arms and press your arms into your knees.
7. Take what you need.
8. When balancing in Tree Pose, imagine roots sliding out of your supporting foot and anchoring you to the ground.
9. Find a spot slightly in front of you and concentrate your gaze. Drishtior a one-pointed gaze, is the key to balance.
10. In a downward and upward facing dog, turn your elbow creases toward the front of the room. This helps create space in your chest and length in your back.
11. Observe the quality of your breathing.
12. Set up Warrior 2 arms like holding a bow and arrow. This always hits home. Not only with the placement of the arms, but also with that laser focus that makes you feel like a badass.
13. Nowhere to go, nothing to do, no one to be. Especially relevant if you slip into Savasana.
14. Let it be easy.
15. In any standing balancing pose, such as Warrior 3 or Extended Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose, push through your heel.
16. Walk it out. A downward-facing dog is essential.
18. Let yourself feel without judgement.
19. Massage your third eye in Child’s Pose, in other words, gently roll your forehead on the mat. See if it eases your thoughts and any lingering neck tension.
20. Another favorite gaze-directed cue to help you maintain your drishti: look to infinity and beyond.
21. Push away from the mat in Plank Pose to get the feeling that you are actively lifting off the mat.
22. Letting go.
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