fandomhigh | Yoga; Thursday, Third Period [06/09].

It looked to be another day of moderate rain, but it seemed to have gone over well enough last week that Rosa figured they'd keep on it and meet at the beach again today.

"So far," Rosa started, "we've been focusing a lot on different poses and asanas, but today's going to be less about movements and more about the mind. Pratyahara is one of the eight limbs of yoga, which we touched on when we talked about Pranayama, or breath control, but with Pratyahara, we make the conscious effort to draw our awareness away from the external world and outside stimuli. Aware of our senses but detached from them, we turn our attention inward.

"This is probably the one most people have the most trouble with." Not Rosa. At all, it was honestly her favorite part of yoga, but, then again, she definitely didn't consider herself most people. "But we're going to go over a few asanas that should help encourage better Pranayama. They're going to seem simple, maybe even pointless, but the point today isn't what you're doing out here," her hands swept around her shoulders a little to indicate the physical self, "but what's going on in here." Finger pointed to her head.

Which she was sure that, for some of them, was a pretty disturbing place. Or a completely empty one.

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Looking inward.

Liz Sherman

Kurt Wagner

Billy Coen

Steve McGarrett

Nell Ingram

Duke Crocker

Lana Beniko

But, of course, you couldn't work on your internal self unless your external self was stretched and ready, so there will be a few rounds of the Sun Salutation to get them warmed up for class, as usual, and hopefully, by now, for those new to it, it will start feeling more familiar and easy.

"For most of this class now," Rosa then said, turning her head a little to loosen her neck a little more once their sun salutation sets were complete, "we're going to focus on Savasana, or the Corpse Pose. It's the kind of pose that seems almost too simple to even be a pose, but the point is that not all yoga asanas are physically challenging; some are meant to be mentally challenging. If you feel like you do want something more physically challenging, we can throw in Vrikshasana, or the Tree Pose, or if you really want to show off, the Supta Kurmasana, Bound Tortoise. Please don't try that one unless you're more advanced. I'm not taking any human pretzels to the clinic today.

"Balasana, or the Child's Pose,, is also a good beginner-to-intermediate one for this, too. Let's take a moment to go over some of them, and then you can figure out what works best for you."

And then they could get to her favorite part, where everyone just shuts up and does their thing.

This reminded Liz of some of the work that she did with at the Agarthan Temple during her training, even though it had been a while and her mind had definitely been unfocused as of late so even trying some of the more simpler poses was proving to be a bit of a challenge for her.

Steve was all about mental conditioning, so he was prepared to tackle the Corpse Pose with single-minded focus.

He was gonna be relaxed as shit, dammit.

Duke was steadily building his strength and flexibility back up, thanks to this class, so he was all over tackling Bound Tortoise.

Slowly. With care and purpose. He was not about to injure himself doing yoga in the former cop's class.

This, Lana could definitely do. She'd go for the Corpse Pose if only because the name amused her, and settle in and meditate.

She'd end up surrounded by a sort of red fog, bits drifting off of her. What, you'd never seen a Sith meditate before?

"And to finish up," said Rosa, once it was time to pull everyone back from inside themselves, "we'll cool down with a repeat of the water sequence from last week. Just follow along if you don't remember it."

Though be warned, she may pretend to still be removed from external senses and stimuli.

Once again, Duke paused on his way out.

"Another good one," he said simply. "Thanks."

And if there was anything to really drive home the fact that the session of removing oneself from external stimuli was over, it was the stark reminder that other people still existed.

And sometimes they talked to you.

"...this isn't going to be a thing, is it?"

One time, she could ignore as a fluke. Twice felt like it could be trying to set a precedent.

Duke shrugged. "Thanking your teacher is just basic respect."

And he was desperately trying to convince himself he was okay and recovering from his various traumas.

Hey, now, Rosa didn't sign up to be a part of any of that.

"I don't think I've ever thanked a teacher before in my life."

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me at all," Duke said shaking his head.

Remember, y'all, this is, canonically speaking, probably where Rosa goes when she attempts Pratyahara:

Yoga; Thursday, Third Period [06/09].

Sign In - Yoga, 06/09.

Re: Sign In - Yoga, 06/09.

Re: Sign In - Yoga, 06/09.

Re: Sign In - Yoga, 06/09.

Re: Sign In - Yoga, 06/09.

Re: Sign In - Yoga, 06/09.

Re: Sign In - Yoga, 06/09.

Re: Sign In - Yoga, 06/09.

Warm up: Sun Salutation - Yoga, 06/09.

Class Activity: Pratyahara - 06/09.

Re: Class Activity: Pratyahara - 06/09.

Re: Class Activity: Pratyahara - 06/09.

Re: Class Activity: Pratyahara - 06/09.

Re: Class Activity: Pratyahara - 06/09.

Cool Down: Water Sequence - Yoga, 06/09.

Talk to the Teacher - Yoga, 06/09.

Re: Talk to the Teacher - Yoga, 06/09.

Re: Talk to the Teacher - Yoga, 06/09.

Re: Talk to the Teacher - Yoga, 06/09.

Re: Talk to the Teacher - Yoga, 06/09.

Re: Talk to the Teacher - Yoga, 06/09.

OOC - Yoga, 06/09.