Charlotte prided herself on proper behavior. She always conformed, never drew attention to herself. So, when her yoga teacher Jack pulled her aside after class to mention that she seemed tense, and asked if she wanted to work on some relaxation techniques, a pit formed in her stomach. Charlotte felt ashamed -- how could she have stood out so much? Hadn't she tried to act completely normally?
If she was being truthful with herself, she was stressed. Charlotte and her team had been working on closing a deal with a difficult client, and they were right near the finish line. It made sense the stress had seeped into her yoga practice.
She sighed. "Yeah, thanks," she told her yoga teacher. "I have been stressed lately. I do need to relax."
Jack smiled. Charlotte's heart soared. She had (again, if she was being honest) a bit of a crush on her yoga teacher. What wasn't to love, though? He had floppy brown hair, bright blue eyes, and an easygoing demeanor. The lean, yet muscled, physique didn't hurt either.
It seemed like nothing could ruffle him. It was more than a crush, Charlotte supposed. She wanted to emulate Jack, to be as calm and as centered as he was. That's why she was doing yoga, although she had yet to achieve even a fraction of Jack's calmness.
"Okay," he said. "Let's wait until everyone leaves, and we can go over some relaxation techniques together."
Charlotte loved hearing Jack talk. His voice was both rich and light. There was a music in it. She could listen to him for hours.
Within a few minutes, the room cleared out, and it was just Charlotte and Jack. "Here's what we're going to do," he explained. "Roll out your mat and lie down on your back."
Charlotte did as instructed. Jack sat across from her mat. He had never been so close to her before. Normally, he sat at the front of the class, and she was somewhere in the middle. However, it made sense he'd sit so close. It was just the two of them.
"Get into the corpse pose," Jack told her.
The corpse pose was pretty easy. You just kind of lay there, arms at your side, legs slightly spread apart.
"Now, close your eyes," Jack said. Charlotte did as she was told.
"We're going to something called progressive relaxation," Jack continued. "Start off by taking five deep breaths. In through your nose, feeling your chest expand, then letting that breath out through your mouth."
Charlotte breathed deeply, letting the air in through her nose, feeling her chest expand, and releasing it through her mouth. After five of those deep breaths, she felt better. The stress had begun to dissipate. It also left her slightly sleepy. She fought the urge to yawn.
"It's okay if you're a little sleepy," Jack said. She could hear the smile in his voice. "It means that the relaxation technique is working."
Charlotte smiled. She was doing what she was supposed to be doing.
"Now that we've taken five deep, relaxing breaths, we're going to work on relaxing our muscles," Jack said. "We'll start with our feet. First, we're going to clench the muscles in our feet. It's really important we focus only on clenching those muscles, and not the muscles in our legs."
Charlotte clenched the muscles in her feet. Her toes curled.
"We're going to hold those muscles for five seconds," Jack continued. "One, two, three, four, five. Now, we're going to release those muscles."
Charlotte unclenched her feet. The muscles felt loose. Tension began receding.
