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“Take a deep breath in,” A bald headed man instructed to a class of scattered individuals. He moved his hands towards his chest slowly with his eyes closed and focused. “Then exhale slowly.” He pushed outward against an invisible barrier, while he exhaled with unnecessary vigour.
Niv was in the front row of the class, looking up at the man and doing her best to mimic everything she saw. The Tunawa's brow was stained and her mouth held a gape as she tried to understand how the mans breath magic worked. As Niv let her body fill up with air and slowly deflate as instructed, she noticed herself self feeling more relaxed. Her strained brow would shift back to its normal position and her shoulders would loosen but only as long as she didn’t think about it too much.
“Inhale and touch your toes keeping your feet shoulder with apart,” The man demonstrated easily, touching his toes with little resistance. “Go only as far as you’re comfortable with. This isn’t a competition and there will be no judgement in this room.”
Niv took the time to make sure her feet lined up with her shoulders, stopping to make a few adjustments until it was perfect. She then slowly leaned forward and immediately felt her bark strain in an uncomfortable but oddly satisfying way. Despite what the instructor said she couldn’t help frowning at her progress compared to his. The Tunawa shot a quick glance to the right and saw a slightly curvy woman with frizzy red hair who also preformed with ease. Niv frowned again before she glanced to the left to witness a Mer man practically reach through his spread legs towards the other side.
“Show off.” Niv mumbled to herself in her native tongue.
“Now inhale as you move into the downward dog.” The Man said as he seamlessly shifted from a standing position into an arch position held up only by his hands and feet.. Niv’s head jolted back to look at the instructor in panic before awkwardly stumbling into next position, forgetting to breath in the process.
“Now ease down into the Cobra and exhale.” The instructor dove forward with his chest like he was about to scoop up a fish from the water and then arched his back with his face to the ceiling. Niv tried to do the same but ended up driving her face into the carpeted ground in her haste. The Tunawa tried to play it off like it was intentional, moving her head quickly towards the ceiling. It didn’t matter as she could still feel eyes burning into her like fiery rays of judgement at her ineptitude. Niv’s eyes darted from the instructor to the open door of the studio, as she contemplated leaving out of embarrassment. The voices telling her to give up had more compelling arguments, so Niv scurried out the door as the entire class continued to bend themselves into pretzels.
Art credit to Yoshitaka Amano
