yoga 101 (tanka sequence)

traffic thick
two minutes late to class—
the yogis
in their cross-legged worlds
my own breaths rapid

our teacher
asks if we enjoy
the sun salute. . .
rebellious today
in my mind, I say “no”

wishful yearning
to be a graceful tree. . .
we are told
all trees shake and sway
(some are even uprooted?)

fallen leaf
resting on the ground
~ breathe in, breathe out ~
for thirty seconds
I am a child again

I own no pets
yet a whole menagerie
here today:
happy bear, sailing swan
and briefly, a butterfly

ah, arching cat
and stretching its hind legs
the downward dog—
my muscles challenged
as my identity wanes

peace found within
at the mountain lookout. . .
steady arms
outstretched against the wind,
I am a proud warrior

and now a corpse
with visions of light, until—
the bell’s cold peal
signaling the end of class
shocking me back to life! 

Author’s notes: Words in italics indicate specific yoga poses. The child pose can also be referred to as fallen leaf.

pub'd in Lynx.

Comments

[aurora]

My Dad was a dancer and he practiced yoga regularly, so as I read this I could see all the poses. :) I remember once being quite small and copying him, and I did the move where you lift your abdomen up under your ribs. It really looks quite awful, particularly on a lean child, and my mother screamed when she saw me. :)

[Robert]

Enjoyed.

[janet]

thanks, you two, for reading and commenting.

[kai]

:)
i would like to learn yoga

[Bill Kenney]

Imaginative use of a pre-existing terminology. Works at every level.

[janet]

kai, hi. i'd like to get back to yoga sometime. i haven't been able to take class for a while.

bill, thanks. if i'm remembering correctly, each one of those poses mentioned were done in one particular class that I ended writing about. and arriving a bit late to class would happen to me fairly often.