Words of Peace

Day 16: 450 words. Prompt was tranquility/words of peace.

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“Bow at the waist, hands to the floor. Press the weight of the world down and into the ground so Mother Earth absorbs it, giving back love and positive light.”

Lacey rolled her eyes so hard she worried they’d fall out of her head for a moment. She was definitely not a dedicated practitioner.

The instructor was a woman of indeterminate age with wispy blonde hair, and a body that appeared to be able to bend in ridiculous directions.

“To Virabhadrasana Three. Channel the great warrior Virabhadra with a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, and a thousand feet. He was fierce; a perfect reincarnation of Shiva.”

The woman moved from standing to folded forward, babbling words like Tadsana and Uttanasana. As Lacey narrowed her eyes at the woman, the rest of the class followed suit without being instructed to do so.

She seemed to be the only one in the class who had no clue what she was doing. Okay, not true. She’d done plenty of yoga classes, but had yet to master the easy flow everyone else seemed to achieve every time. This was supposed to be relaxing, instead she was sweaty and irritable.

Adjust your attitude, Lacey. She took a deep breath and aimed for tranquility as she went into warrior three pose. At least she knew what the actual pose was without the zen wording attached.

“Downward dog.” The instructor and the class all went down, swooping down with ease. Lacey was a bit slow to catch up. “Stretch your body, feel the energy and flow, breath deep.”

They executed a number of additional poses. Lacey tried to exhale the negative energy and breath in the goodness that Mother Earth was providing. It took some work, and a ton of sweat on her mat, but by the time the were near the end, she found a modicum of peace.

The mat felt like a solid thing beneath her as she relaxed into Corpse Pose, her body melting into the steady earth. She closed her eyes in careful meditation, letting her heart and breathing slow to match her inner peace.

“Savasana. Let yourself go, let your mind go, let your worries go. Let asana bring you into full self-awareness. Let Mother Earth continue to breath life and renewal into your body.”

Lacey let the silence sweep in. The touch of the teachers fingertips to her forehead in blessing didn’t make her jump as it normally did. For once, she was relaxed at the end of a yoga session. The tranquility was amazing.

“Nurture your divine spark this coming week. From one soul to another. Namaste.”

The instructor’s words floated around the room and all replied in unison.

“Namaste.”