Can you untagle?

My Guru Sri K Pattabhi Jois says two very important things in very few words "99%practice, 1% theory" and "relationships is real practice". I thought about this for a long time, until one day while I was practicing I realized what he meant. 99%practice means you really have to put all your will power to making the practice a priority.
Coming to my mat every morning, with consistency, has made it very clear to me that when you commit to the practice the practice starts to unforold and serve as a tracher, or a guidance. I think what Guruji was trying to say is that we must trust the practice, and this applies to any spiritual practice you have. We must put in the work and then have faith that the practice will begin to unfold...only then we are ready to hear the theory.
This weekend I took my practice off the mat. Ashtanga yoga is made up of series which you work through slowly, one pose at a time. Each time you master a pose you are given a new one, and your journey starts again. You must first understand the pose, then you must put your body in the pose. Once the body is in, you have to find your breath. And you work on the pose until your body gives into it, and your breath is comfortable, steady and deep. You must find a calm settled place to sit within each pose. No matter how wrapped up, enntangled, challanging the pose is, your duty as a student is to 1)understand it 2) put yourself in it 3) breath comfortably in it 4) settle into it
Once you master this, another pose is given to you and there you are at the behining of your journey once again. This is a tremendous tool to take into your life.
Here is my story...Sunday i was struggling with my husband. As the argument grew tension and emotion increased inside my body, i found myself soffocated by it. I couldn't move, nor breath. I was entangled, wrapped up in the emotion. The emotion was in charge. Today as i was practicing i realized that emotions are like challenging asanas. They challenge you, they take you out of your comfort zone and so its important to 1) understand them 2)feel them in your body 3) breath comfortably trough them 4)settle into them, be aware through them

Next time a struggle comes up see if you can recognize how you are tangling yourself up, putting yourself in a knot, and help yourself untangle out of the emotion.
I encourage you two hold these four steps close, and practice them next time you are trying a challenging pose or you are in the midst of an emotional storm.

1)understand it
2) put yourself in it
3) breath comfortably in it
4) settle into it