Yoga Retreat

While adjusting to the foreign sensation, he found himself unable to look at Sasha beside him. He kept his eyes on his mat and quickly took a seat, ostensibly to stretch out but mostly to take stock of his emotions. He felt a little flush with embarrassment, but it wasn't nearly as bad as he had anticipated. And, to his immense relief, he found nothing about the experience so far to be arousing. Rather, he found it to be a little anti-sexual, if such a thing was possible. Maybe, just maybe, he thought he might make it through this experience.

"Do you remember what the schedule said was for lunch today?" Sasha said in a whisper.

Trent turned at the sound of her voice and found that she had also taken a seat beside him on her mat. And there she was, the young woman who had more than a few times entered into his fantasies, stretching her legs casually in all her nakedness. She was indeed beautiful, as he had always known, but not in the classical model sense. Rather, she was almost curvy due to her short stature and developed muscles. Her breasts were lovely, perky handfuls, and her crotch, bless her, was clean shaven aside from a small, close-trimmed strip. To his relief, Trent found under these circumstances he could appreciate her body in the context of her as a whole rather than as an extension of her sexual being. He was able to control himself.

"Don't recall, sorry," he said, taking the opportunity to begin stretching himself out. "Probably something with tofu."

She laughed softly at him. "One of these day's I'll be able to convince you that tofu can taste good."

"You can try, and you will fail," he said, finding release in being able to find humor with her like they would at work.

As the rest of the class assembled, and it appeared to Trent that everyone was attending, Anne got the session started. While she ran the class much as she had in the morning, leading them through various poses and sequences, this time she spent a little bit more time on the discussion side of things. She related her experiences and those of others in leading and establishing new nude yoga classes around the country, some painfully funny while others were more matter of fact. As Trent had suspected, most classes that met regularly and lasted tended to be subgroups within much larger yoga establishments. And, to avoid unnecessary hassle and unwanted scrutiny, many went under the radar, bringing in new members mostly by referral rather than advertising. Other aspects that she focused on included some of the blunt realities -- dealing with nuisances from local authorities or the very rare case of a member behaving inappropriately, and these she discussed with the same reasoned approach that she had brought to the early morning session.

When Anne wrapped up the session, Trent was amazed at how quickly the time had passed. He still didn't think his studio was ready to incorporate a nude practice, but he no longer found the concept to be one worthy of outright dismissal. He was also surprised with himself at how little attention he had paid to the other people around him. Certainly, he saw them, and there were plenty of reasonably fit and not unattractive bodies to go around, but he didn't feel his attention drawn to or distracted by them.

"Well?" Sasha said as she rolled up her blanket.

"Well what?" Trent said, teasingly. He had no qualms about looking at her now, even though she was still quite naked. It felt like he was seeing her differently than before, as if he was able to see her more from her own perspective rather than from his.

"You know what. You enjoy it?"

He smiled. "Yes, I did," he said. "And you were right. So thanks for dragging me down here."

"You're welcome," she said. "Now, hurry up and get dressed. I'm hungry."

"You know, it's almost a shame this was the only nude session," he said, whispering almost conspiratorially.

"Listen to you," she whispered back, poking him in the shoulder and giving him a wink.

* * * * *

Later in the afternoon, Trent returned to the barn for his one on one session with Anne. She rose from where she had been sitting on the floor in lotus position and warmly welcomed him. Much as he had thought before, he found himself a little jealous of the man who was lucky enough to have married this woman. Along with that thought came the pang of regret for his own failings in marriage.

"Have you been enjoying the sessions so far, Trent?" she said as they stood casually together in the middle of the room.

"Oh, definitely," he said. "Kinda makes me wonder if I've been missing out by not attending more of this sort of opportunity with other yoga experts."

"Well, it never hurts to try to learn more," she said. "Some of them are way out there, but that doesn't mean you can't find something to take home from most any instructor."

Trent nodded. "And I'll definitely keep that in mind in the future."

"Now, what about you? What I can do to help you or your practice?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure," he said. "Guess I'm not very good at these things."

"That's okay," Anne said. "It doesn't even have to be about your classes. Maybe there's something with your own technique or something new that you've always wanted to learn."

"Well, actually, there is one thing maybe you can help me with," he said. "I find that I'm prone to neck and shoulder pain when doing a lot of the neck and head stands for any length of time. I see others, a lot of my students even, who can hold those poses for minutes or longer at a time and I just can't hold out."

"Show me," she said, indicating he should set out his mat right there. He unrolled it and was about to go into a basic shoulder stand when she caught him. "Take your shirt off first," she said. "That way, I can see better what your muscles are doing."

He shrugged and removed his shirt before resuming his pose. Once his legs were pointed upright, he tried to relax into the pose. Like usual, the discomfort in his muscles soon crept in and ultimately he had to roll out of it. Anne was squatting next to him, a studious expression on her face.

"Your technique is mostly right," she said.

"Only mostly? What am I doing wrong?"

"Well, it's not so much a position thing. Rather, I think you're just too tense. You seem to be able to relax into most of your other poses, but these ones are where you really tighten up. And I don't think it has anything to do with your lack of confidence in the pose itself. I'd hazard a guess that it's something else you're bringing into the session."

That sounded familiar to Trent. "Did Sasha set you up for this?" he said, somewhat dubious that she would say almost the exact same thing that his employee had during the drive yesterday.

Anne looked confused for a moment. "Sasha? No, she didn't say anything to me about you."

"Oh, ok," Trent said, feeling a little ashamed. "It's just that she said almost the exact same thing yesterday, that she saw some sort of tension within me that interfered with my practice."

Anne smiled. "Then Sasha is a very bright and perceptive woman."

"I've come to the same conclusion," Trent said.

"And do you know what the source of this tension is, since it's probably the only roadblock to you finding comfort again?"

Trent didn't really want to get into his failed marriage with the instructor, but he was willing to at least admit to a little. He gave her the one minute version of his marriage and divorce and regrets. She listened quietly and sympathetically.

"Well, at least you understand the root of your problem," she said when he finished. "And that's good. That's a big step."

"So what do I do next to get past it? It's been a couple years and I'm still beating myself up."

"Well, I'm no therapist, but I can tell you what worked for me back when I faced a somewhat similar personal crisis back as a young adult," she said. "I found that when I set expectations for everything in my life and for the relationships around me, I was almost always disappointed when the expectations weren't met. I spent too much time lamenting how things were different from what I wanted or anticipated that I failed to appreciate things for how they actually were. So, my advice to you is to simply let go of all your preconceptions and expectations and live life in the moment, taking it as it comes to you and in whatever form that might be."

It sounded like just a little bit of mumbo jumbo to Trent, but the tone of her voice led him to conclude that she was very sincere about what she said. And maybe she was right, he thought, maybe his expectations for himself were too rigid and were constantly leading him to disappointment. It wouldn't hurt any to try to take her advice to heart.

"I'll give it a shot," he said.

"And when it works out for you, I want you to let me know," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

* * * * *

Following Trent's private session was another group exercise, dinner, and a more relaxed classroom discussion. By the end of the scheduled activities, he was simultaneously exhausted and rejuvenated, eager to try implementing a few of Anne's new concepts in both his classes and personal practice. In that respect, Sasha had been correct, and he now saw the advantage in getting out to broaden his knowledge base every now and then.

Shortly after retreating to their room, Sasha begged off to take a shower. Trent followed her lead soon after and was relieved to find the other bathroom on their floor was available. The warm water sluicing over tired but loose muscles felt wonderful and he let his mind fully decompress. By the time he was finished, his state of relaxation was so complete as to be nearly drug-like.

As he finished toweling himself dry, he realized that he had forgotten to bring anything clean to change into. Figuring that after their earlier session no one from the class would be bothered by decorum, he simply tied the towel around his waist for the walk back to his room. Aside from a couple quiet conversations behind closed doors, there was little other activity going on in the old house, and he made it back to his room without seeing anyone else.

Trent quickly and quietly slipped through the door. He was hoping that he would have made it back before Sasha, still a little bashful at the idea of changing in front of her in spite of having done so earlier. There was something distinctly different about being nude in private as opposed to being in the presence of the rest of the class. His hopes were dashed in an instant, however, when he found her calmly meditating in the lotus position in the middle of the floor, naked.

Trent had the door mostly closed behind him, but in a moment of flushed panic he wondered if he shouldn't step back out. At the least, he should have knocked. He realized there was little point in retreating now, though, as she was likely well aware of his presence in spite of her closed eyes, even breathing, and lack of motion. He quietly pulled the door closed behind and hoped he would be able to avoid further interrupting her.

"Nice shower?" she said as he tried to softly walk past her.

He glanced down at her and found that she had opened her eyes and was now looking up at him, a peaceful aura about her. Internally, he felt just the opposite, excitement and arousal competing with his sense of propriety and good judgment. He wondered, yet again, at how she could act so casually.

"Yeah, very," he finally said when he could find his voice.

"I hope I'm not making you uncomfortable," she said. "I was just trying to reinforce all the new things I learned today. And, well, this just felt comfortable after the hot shower."

"No, no, it's fine," Trent said. "Just maybe caught me off guard for a moment there."

He distracted himself from staring at her by setting his toiletries bag down and digging through his other bag for something clean to wear. He seemed to have difficulty focusing on the clothes, though, as he was highly distracted by the sense that she was watching him closely where he was crouching in his towel.

"I was wondering if you might be able to give me a quick hand with something," she said.

Alarm bells went off in the back of Trent's mind. Was it possible she was interested in him sexually? Would he be able to resist if she did? He was neither used to nor comfortable with the idea of being around a woman so confident in herself and aggressive in going after what she wanted.

"What's that?" he said, his voice cracking.

"Anne was showing me a couple new poses in my private session," Sasha said. "One of them is the half crane, which I'm having a devil of a time trying to figure out how to smoothly transition in and out of without flopping on my ass. I'm pretty sure I've seen you do it before and was hoping you might be able to watch and see if you can figure out what I'm doing wrong."

Trent felt a wave of relief, though not without a tinge of disappointment.

"Oh, yeah, sure," he said, turning back to face her where she was already unfolding from her lotus position. Much as he wanted to just pull on a pair of shorts, he obligated to give her his full attention. Instead, he simply clung to the towel he was wearing and knelt just out of her way.

"Great, thanks," Sasha said. She rolled over to her hands and knees, facing generally in his direction. It was impossible not to watch her breasts swing gently as she settled into her starting position, but he forced himself to focus on her body alignment so that he might be able to offer a little constructive insight. She leaned forward until one shoulder touched the floor and, with deliberate patience, pulled the opposite side leg up past her chest between her arms until the toes were pointing right at Trent. This leg she then bent to bring around behind her neck. As she did so, however, she began to tip forward and he couldn't help himself but to grab her to break the fall.

Sasha giggled as her limbs unwound and her weight fell fully into him. She slid off his thighs until she laid flat on her back next to him, looking up sheepishly. Whether she realized it or not, she had inadvertently dragged his towel to the floor along with her. Trent felt warm with embarrassment, but knew he couldn't pull the towel back up with half her weight on it, and it seemed that to make a big deal of it would only draw more attention to him. And with her casually and comfortably naked around him, he would only feel all the more embarrassed. So, against his natural instincts, he did his best to just blow it off.

"Sorry about that," she said, in no hurry to get back up. "So, hopefully you can see my problem there. That's about how it usually goes."

"Yeah, I think I know what you were doing," he said. "Um, probably easier if I show you first, then let you try again."

Sasha rolled up to a sitting position and scooted to the side to give him room to work. He casually brushed his fallen towel aside and began setting up the pose the same way that she had, aware of her eyes watching his every move and trying not to get self conscious about it. As he pulled his leg up and through his arms, she crawled around to his other side to get a clearer view of how he was setting up his balance.

"So, I think the trick here is that you need to slide your back leg forward just a bit," he said, doing so. "And then as you wrap your forward foot behind your neck, you need to really pull that top shoulder back to keep your center of mass on the line between the down shoulder and your planted leg."

It was among the most difficult poses that Trent was able to perform and one that he had only just a few months ago reached the level of flexibility necessary to pull off. He focused on breathing, steadying and calming his muscles as they stretched into the hold. Sasha quietly observed his technique and, he suspected, his dangling cock in its very openly exposed position. Inwardly, he simply sighed -- somehow, he would just have to accept that any relationship with Sasha, be it personal or professional, was simply going to be different from any other he had ever had before.

"Okay, I think I have it," she said. "Definitely had my balance out way too far."

By the time he extracted himself from the pose, Sasha was already getting down on her hands and knees to give it another try. He knelt down beside her so that she would be facing him as she tilted away from the down shoulder. She slowly settled her weight and then pulled her leg up and through into a forward split.

"Good," he said, his eyes sliding over her widely exposed crotch and down at her planted leg. "Now bring the leg forward just a bit."

She moved as he instructed, and he relished in the familiar role of instructor. It was one of the reasons he had made the career change - the joy he found in sharing ways for others to improve their lives. And here, one on one, the connection was even more personal and gratifying.

"Now pull your shoulder back just a bit," he said. She did so, but he realized as she tried to wrap her other leg behind her neck that she was still too far forward. He quickly slid in beside her and gently pushed her shoulder back to where it needed to be. Sensing he had her in the correct spot, she finished the move and established the pose solidly. Trent, almost reluctantly, let go of her and slid back to admire her accomplishment. She gave him a grateful smile in return.

"I think that was the biggest problem," she said as she sank into the stretch. "I felt like if I moved that shoulder much further back that I'd tip over the other way."

"It's awkward, but once you give yourself over it's not too bad," he said. "Leap of faith, as it were."

She finally unfolded out of the pose and then tried it again on the other side, without his assistance this time. Trent stayed put, watching her feel her way through the proper positioning and then taking a moment to admire her backside from neck to perfect ass, and down her shapely, taut leg.

When she was finished, Sasha turned around to face him in a comfortable cross-legged position. "Thank you, sir," she said. "You're a much easier teacher to follow than Anne."

Trent settled down on the floor as well, content to just relax and talk. "I doubt that," he said. "She's a pretty good instructor."

"Speaking of which," she said, "I never got a chance to ask how your private session with her went this afternoon."

"Okay, I guess," he said. "Oddly enough, she claimed to be able to spot the same tension in me that you said you saw."

"Really? See, I wasn't just making it up."

"No, you're pretty perceptive I guess," he said.

"So what did she recommend?"

"Nothing major," he said. "And not any magical yoga solution or anything like that. Just that I needed to temper my expectations for things in life. Guess that makes sense, though not sure how much it'll help for me. I think I just need time more than anything."

"Well, sounds like good advice to me," she said. "And if there's ever anything I can do to help, just let me know."

"I appreciate that," he said, sincerely grateful to have someone like her around.

"I don't know what you usually do before going to bed, but I like to do some meditation and think on the things that happened that day," she said, leaning forward ever so slightly. "I find that it helps me purge the bad vibes and get me focused for the next day. You're totally welcome to join me."

It sounded just a little over the new age line from his comfort zone, but after the way she had been so supportive of him during the weekend so far, he didn't think he could decline her invitation. "Sure," he said. "I can give it a try. What do I have to do?"

"Well, start by getting into the lotus position and closing your eyes," she said, patting a spot on the blanket of her sleeping mat.