When Liz Lemon, Tina Fey’s character on “30 Rock”, is asked about her religious beliefs, she replies, “I pretty much do whatever Oprah tells me to.”

And much as I hate to admit it, I’m like any other modern woman of the 00’s: I listen to Miss O. Did you know that Oprah introduced me to yoga?

Sure, I’d known about yoga for ages - mostly as some hokey hippie practice where people crossed their legs into pretzel shapes and did that weird finger-thumb thing. People apparently said “Om” when they did it.

But one evening I turned my TV on and there was Oprah. Her guest was some yoga guru or expert or something, demonstrating a yoga pose with an audience member. Oprah invited the TV audience to try it. My body was cramped and sore after hours in an office chair, so I thought, “Why not?”

So, I did what Oprah told me to.

While Oprah cracked wise, I gave this pose a try. Those 10 seconds changed everything for me. That pose changed everything.

That pose was Downward-Facing Dog.

Even those who know nothing about yoga have probably heard of “Down Dog”, as it’s sometimes called. In Sanskrit it’s known as Adho Mukha Svanasana, and it’s repeated multiple times throughout most ashtanga yoga classes and is a facet of nearly every other style of yoga.

Considering it was my first time in down dog, I was probably doing it wrong. But still, when I moved my body into that inverted V shape, I felt my shoulder blades relax down my back. The wacky twist of my slight scoliosis seemed to unravel and the space beneath my lower back (what I came to learn later is my sacrum) felt open, expansive. I breathed in and out more fully than I had in who knows how long.

Oprah went to commercial break, but I stayed in down dog, exploring the good, juicy feeling of openness in my back and the nice stretch it was giving my hamstrings. It was soon after this Oprah interlude that I started going to yoga classes regularly.

Whether you’re a longtime yogi or a newbie, downward-facing dog is a challenging, complex, and generous pose. Done right, it can be your best friend, your yoga bedrock, the pose you return to over and over to reground or rejuvenate yourself.

I am not a yoga instructor, so if you’d like to try down dog yourself, Yoga Journal has an excellent step-by-step guide here. They also have an instructional video focusing on down dog.

For my part, I can tell you that while it may look simple, down dog can be surprisingly tough! It challenges you from head-to-toe as you strive to balance your weight between the two halves of your body. I’ve had trouble in the past with a few facets of this asana and have picked up some hints and tricks that help me through:

I slip and slide forward while in down dog. I could blame it on my sweaty hands or on my sticky mat losing its stickiness, but sometimes it’s because I put too much of my weight onto my wrists and hands. It occasionally helps if I shift more of my weight back into my hips, lifting them higher while tilting my pelvis down a bit more.

Ouch! My wrists are killing me! Like the problem mentioned above, I tend to let too much of my weight fall forward in down dog. When I feel the ache in my weary wrists, it’s a signal to my lower back to bear more of the burden. I may also need to reposition my hands, spreading my fingers apart and making sure my thumb pads are flat on the ground.

I become a low-down, lazy dog. Now and then, I’m a pretty lazy dog. I just sort of let my weight fall into my hands again, my belly flops down, and my back arches too much. And being a lazy dog really hurts - my wrists, my shoulders, my lower back. One of my yoga instructors used to catch me when I did this (he called it flopasana) and he’d tell me to firm the tops of my thighs and pull them in toward my hip creases. Voila! I could feel my hips again, my abdominals woke up, I could engage my lower back, I could even reach my heels nearer to the floor.

Next time I’m in downward-facing dog, I should thank myself for this moment as I luxuriate in the invigorating energy. And I guess I should thank Oprah, too.

Yoga Journal’s step-by-step guide to Downward-Facing Dog

Yoga Journal’s instructional video focusing on down dog.