I did not master bending after two lessons

I got on Duke super confident today after my two rides in a row with John, and then almost immediately proved I had learned nothing.  We sort of struggled through, after a particularly rough right lead canter, but then, thank the lord, John came out and helped us out.
It is a little hard to say what went wrong, but with John walking us through step by step, it all felt all right again.
With me, Duke was lunging down and forward, but John thinks he was probably just falling on his inside shoulder.
He was stiff to bend, but more so to the left, but not when John got there.
John had us work on a circle, and he had me use a bit more of a half halt (there was a eureka when I felt the down transition half halt, which I frequently forget to ask for, from the inside leg to the outside rein and we had a beautiful down transition).
John said it is the outside leg that asks for the canter aid over the fence, and that yes, it is not intuitive, but it is because they move away from the aid that you only ask with the one leg when they're in the air.
He had me flex him in and out, and first bend his neck, then go on a smaller circle (use a half halt to keep him from rushing), and then put his haunches in towards John using the outside leg.  One of these was much harder than the other.
For the canter, he also had me do a release with inside, then release with outside, repeat a few times, then take up the contact in both reins again.
Duke felt soft and pliable at the end, but I was getting frustrated for not being able to do it by myself, until I realized it really had been just two days, and I worked on it by myself for maybe 30 minutes.  I have some seriously disconnected expectations.
John also said that our challenges with our horses reflect ourselves; for example, I don't like change.  It was so insightful it left me pretty stunned.  I wish I was that good at reading people (and horses).
I think we have a long road ahead of us, but it was great that I could feel the correctness, which will make it easier going.  After John finished with me, I watched Meg's lesson, then we went on a short hack with Meg and Manny, where Duke spooked at the girls painting a fence.