Sleep Yoga Errand Finished

@Hjørdis Jensen & @Caradoc Browne

Piérre didn't know how or where he had heard about sleep yoga, all he knew was that he had wanted to do it... and he wanted to do it badly. Well, maybe it wouldn't be a thing about life and death or something like that, but like, you know, something that Piérre wanted to be doing really badly just because he was bored, and it was getting to be the end of the school year and he was hopefully going to see Romeo flying around like an absolute boss on the great big stage of London Quidditch Stadium, knocking people down left and right with those giant, black, evil bludgers, but like, not hurting them because Romeo was waaaayyyy too soft to ever purposefully hurt anyone.

But then why was he a Beater? Hmmm... maybe he just wants to help people after he knocks them off... but then why do it in the first place?

Not the time for this, buddy.

Yeah, yeah, I get it, I know. But like, think about it a bit...

Not the time.

Fine.

Anyways, Piérre was excited. There was perhaps something about the very idea of yoga that made the Britalian think that perhaps it could help him to stay a little calmer... if Piérre had any conception of what 'calm' meant. To the best of his ability, Piérre had to bet that 'calm' meant the lack of everything that was the Britalian's very essence.

But that was not important in the moment. What was important was that Piérre was in the rehearsal room now with the rest of the others that were also searching for a sort of inner peace in whatever way that was possible. It was something that Piérre was willing to try, even though he was not entirely familiar with the art. With a quick assessment of the room and those people around that appeared to be ready to stretch, and a wave to the two teachers that were overseeing the event; the heads of Hufflepuff and Slytherin, and Piérre was prepped to find a mat and begin pre-workout stretching: twists, arm extensions, and other methods of ensuring safety when working out.

The sleeping swan was first. Not being familiar with any sort of yoga, Piérre was completely lost. "Um, I don't mean to be really awkward or anything... but, if this is like, sleep yoga... aren't we going to do this yoga when we're asleep?" Totally expecting to be berated or somewhat laughed at, Piérre smiled, somewhat oblivious, but still willing to learn.

"Alright Figgy! Come on out, buddy, and help me do yoga!" Piérre chirped brightly, opening his satchel for a second. A second was all it took, and with a prrrmeow! Figaro lept out, black-tipped tail perfectly erect over its lithe body. Piérre smiled and patted his silver's Bengal's head. Figaro mewed once more before closing his greenish eyes and rubbing on his owner happily, a purr forming in the feline's throat. Piérre snuggled his little kitten close. It didn't matter that Figaro was about three months old and already quite large. In Piérre's mind, Figaro was still the itty bitty kitty that he had bought on Valentine's day, when he was lonely and feeling a bit down. Though he had not taken his cat out often, there was certainly no better time to show his kitten the world than now, before summer and before Romeo's awesome performance in London's Stadium. When there would be so much cheering and shouting, and catcalls... and a heck of a lot of stress.

Perhaps this little exercise in calm would do the lad good; to just prepare for the events that would be coming up, the disasters that were yet to come and the disasters that had already happened.

Piérre watched Miss Nora give her first instructions; to stand upright and to breathe deeply. Figaro was currently winding about the young Britalian's pant legs- Piérre had vouched for clothes that could both breathe and be... not as flamboyant as usual. Effectiveness over poshness, as it was. A pair of plain khakis and a rather unassuming lime green "tank top" served well in this situation, and Piérre tried his best to stop moving and focus on the inner peace that he knew ran somewhere within his completely chaotic form. If others likened themselves to pools of water or a gently stirring crick, Piérre compared himself to a raging whirlpool or a everchanging eddie. Always moving, burbling, changing, and sucking others towards him for better or worse.

However, whether he could maintain yin and yang... he had to try. Piérre had to try to maintain a semblance of calm and relaxation. With a concerted effort, the Britalian attempted to breathe in deeply, as if preparing to sing; expanding his diaphragm and allowing oxygen to reach down from the top of his lungs all the way to their bottom. Full inhale, full exhale. Lightheadedness, yet, calmness. A chance to actually focus on himself as opposed to worrying about other people. People that Piérre felt that he had to protect all the time. People that Piérre didn't want to suffer. People that the Britalian would be unable to help if he himself could not figure out to help himself.

After opening his eyes, Piérre watched Miss Nora enter the first position. Following suit, Piérre got on his stomach, doing his best to adjust his feet so that one of his feet pressed as far up his inner thigh as he could. The boy was flexible, certainly an acrobat, if performances of flips and cartwheels were any indication, but like most gentlemen coming into their prime, Piérre was strong in his midriff and upper body, and was not used to stretching out his legs too much. Doing his best to stretch and lift his legs, feeling the burn in the back of his long, gangly lower body and then in his middle as he extended his arms outward, slowly and gently lowering his face into his white pillow.

Figaro gently leapt on his owner's back, kneading Piérre's back before spinning about once or twice and laying down with a contented purr. It seemed that the cat was happy enough to fall asleep, and Figaro was doing yoga with him... The pillow was nice and cool, and Piérre was calm enough to just lay down and let his worries slip away. Perhaps he could just relax for a bit... give himself a little time for his own personal wellbeing. That was the purpose of this activity after all, wasn't it?

Just a little bit of calm and peace and...

A gentle, soft snore came from Piérre as he dreamt of flying high above fluffy clouds alongside his silver Bengal, in the position of the sleeping swan. His position would suffer a bit, but he would still be in the position, even in a surprisingly deep sleep.

1,158 words

Serena pulled on the sleeves of her t-shirt. She was wearing a long sleeve yellow t-shirt with a pair of grey joggers, a very comfortable pair of pyjamas. She honestly had no idea what she was meant to wear for a sleep yoga session - and whether it ought to focus on the exercise part or the sleep part. However, she opted for something comfortable that she could do either in. This was her first time. The Hufflepuff carried a magical candle with her as she walked to the rehearsal room, which was where the session was to be held.

Slipping off her shoes next to the mat, since she was not sure if she was meant to do this in them, Serena sat down on one of the comfortable mats and glanced around the room. Her eyes fell onto her own head of house. She had not spoken to him much, perhaps not enough but she owed him a lot. Perhaps even her life, after the dreaded incident a few months back. It appeared that him and Solomon Lear had that in common - they were both Hufflepuffs Heads that had saved her from certain death.

Admittedly, she had been struggling to sleep a little since the incident reoccurred. It was hard to sleep - even with the light on - when you were afraid that the candle was going to start a fire whilst you slept or that the flame would go out and the darkness will get you. Serena sighed softly, placing the candle away from the mat. It was a safe enough distance to avoid accidentally hitting it but to also prevent others from doing the same. After two years of carrying it around, she knew where to put it and was careful of flammables around.

She sat down on her knees, gazing over to Jensen, who sat at the far front. As instructed, she took a deep breath in and started to slowly exhale on command. As she did, she closed her eyes and repeated the process in time with her words. Serena then moved the pillow in front of her, following each of the instructions. It was a little confusing at first but she managed to understand once she witnessed the demonstration. Within moments, she was in the sleeping swan position. Closing her eyes as her head sunk into the pillow, she allowed herself to inhale and exhale - slowly counting each breath. Then she repeated on the other side, as instructed.

Word Count: 418

Mentioning @Hjørdis Jensen @Caradoc Browne @Alan Noble
Open for Interactions

Sleep Yoga...what an interesting choice of errand, Griseldis hadn't joined any new errand until recently due to being super busy with studies and prefect's duties. She did Yoga before during her times in the Muggle World when she was younger but she never thought that she would get a chance to do Yoga at Hogwarts. Not only that, but it was also an errand that would give any participate 5 house points as a reward for just doing Yoga. Griseldis thought about it and believed that maybe Yoga could be something good for her Ravenclaw best friend, Alan Noble. It might help him relax more so she let Crystal, her owl to sent a message to him and asked him if he would be interested to join the Sleep Yoga errand. The host of this errand was the Head of Slytherin, Hjørdis Jensen. A witch who also seemed to be very strong and elegant just like their own head of House, Elaine Pendrast. She only saw her a few times and today, she got to see her in person which was quite exciting.

Griseldis's pajama was actually a white Zen Meditation suit with a lotus flower print on the right side of her cloth, it always felt very comfortable when she wore it. And once she entered the Rehearsal Room, the Head of Slytherin was about to begin the Sleep Yoga session, she slightly gasped in surprise when seeing the Head of Hufflepuff, Caradoc Browne was there as well. Griseldis also only saw him a few times but she did hear from other students something about him dancing, perhaps the Head of Hufflepuff was a great dancer? If Alan was there, she would greet him cheerfully and pull him to do Sleep Yoga next to her.

Professor Jensen first instructed them to first take a few deep breathes in their upright position. Griseldis listened carefully and inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly through her nose. This was kind of similar to how she used to do before she started to practice Tai Chi. It really helped them relax a lot. After that, Professor Jensen finally began to do a Yoga pose called the Sleeping Sawn, everyone seemed to try their best to follow her pose. Luckily for Griseldis, it wasn't difficult for her to do the Sleeping Swan pose since she did Yoga before. Griseldis was somehow glad that this experience would be something positive to write in her letters for her family in Bridgwater. Although, she still had a hard time deciding if she should tell her parents about that other chaotic ball that happened two months ago.

The position made her whole mind and body feel lighter as if all the worries and tiredness were gone in an instant. Her whole muscles felt so relaxed when she placed her head gently on the pillow that was placed in front of her, then extended her arms forward. Griseldis was so relaxed to the point that she slowly became a bit drowsy.

Reducio

Griseldis's Yoga Outfit

Word Count: 501/1000

OOC: Where it says "[YOU PICK]", feel free to be that student. There's a few cases of this.

Hjørdis inhaled and exhaled, repeating the sleeping swan pose on both sides. It was oddly quiet whilst she did this. It was meant to be quiet but, in all honesty, she did not actually expect a specific person to follow that rule. It was odd, to say the least. Nice but... strange. It felt weird. She was not entirely sure if she could relax like this. It felt like something was wrong. Internally grumbling to herself, Hjørdis exhaled slowly trying to push the thought out of her head.

She gave everyone a few moments to complete their pose and repeat it on both sides. The professor had already done some stretches before, so she could actually wonder around a little if needed and oversee everything. Perhaps guide someone if needed. Standing up onto her feet, she looked around, "Once you've done both sides, you can roll back up. And I mean roll. Try and stand up slowly, as though you are literally rolling your spine back up into position. Take your time with this," Hjørdis waited for everyone to be standing up on their mat and ready to continue.

Looking around, she noticed everything that people were bringing with them. Two people had brought along their pet cats - both Bengals, as though they knew of her love of Bengals - and another had a candle. Levitating the candle over everyone's head to prevent any accidental injuries - or worse, a fire, Hjørdis carried on. She caught the eye of young @Ivy Bellamy, and could not help but return the greeting with a nod of her head and a small smile tugging on the edge of her own lips. Ivy Bellamy was one of the students that this whole thing was inspired by. That night, not too long ago, where Bellamy spoke about being unable to sleep played in her mind.

She glanced over to @Piérre Marchonné who asked a question that... baffled her, to be honest. But nonetheless, she tried to answer it, "We start with some gentle stretches to help relax our bodies and mind," She explained. The conscious effort of breathing helped too. There were other benefits of stretching, such as keeping muscles flexible, but she did not go into all of that. The quiet, the breathing, the stretching would all help put them in a better frame of mind for sleeping later. Each pose targeted different areas. The sleeping swan was neck, shoulders, back, hips and legs. The next one - the standing forward fold - would help stretch their back and neck in a different way, before they went into the lizard pose, which was hip flexors, hamstrings and quads. And so on.

"Now, part your feet a few inches, keeping them straight to the wall behind me. Line them with your hips..." Hjørdis scanned the room, "Not so far apart, Mister [YOU PICK], about half that," She instructed before pointing to her hip bones on either side, "From your hips, fold your torso over and reach towards the ground. If you can, you can put your finger tips onto it. You might also be able to put your palms on it. But don't force yourself to touch the ground, if you can't. Instead, bend your arms and grab the opposite elbow in each hand above your head if that is easier," She continued, demonstrating both methods. When she demonstrated the first, she easily touched the ground with the palms of both hands, without straining herself. But it was something that usually required a little bit of practice or flexibility.

"Exhale..." She would say softly as she was in the standing forward fold, "Hang and hold this position. You can gently sway from side to side if you would like to. Be gentle, though. Continue this until I say," Hjørdis stood up and watched the students. Moving around, she observed each of the students, "Sway a little less, Miss [YOU PICK]," She instructed as she passed by the young girl swaying a tad too energetically. The exercise was meant to be relaxing. Gentle stretches before they settled down into the sleep part, which was her favourite. Though... she had a feeling that her fellow Head of House might hate it with a passion. It would require him to actually go a while without talking. A long time. She was curious to see how long he could actually stay silent. It was so unlike him... There was something wrong.

Moving up to @Caradoc Browne, she stood next to him trying not to question why he was so quiet and placed a hand on his back, "Exhale slowly and lengthen your spine," She said softly as she gently pushed from his lower back towards his head if he exhaled, helping him to lengthen and relax a little. Maybe. She smirked a little to herself as she stepped away and moved up a nearby student [YOU PICK], "And exhale, let go off the tension... relax, inhale for me... and exhale again... Good, much better," She guided them.

Hjørdis moved to the front and took the Standing Forward Fold position too. She demonstrated how to go into the next pose, which was the Lizard Pose, verbally and physically explaining it as she went along. If they copied her, the students would find that their right foot was parallel to their right hand, on the outside with their knee bent as though they were coming into a lunge position. Their thigh was parallel to the floor too, "Turn your toes slightly out," She instructed to a nearby student [YOU PICK] who had them tucked in a bit too much. Then they were instructed to rest their elbows on the ground, "If you find it's a bit too much of a stretch, you can use the blocks to help you. Put it under your forearms and rest on it. Keep your neck and spine in line, press your left heel away and keep your hips square... and hold," She continued to explain, watching everyone to make sure they were doing it in the right position.

There were blocks near each mat that people could place under their elbows and forearms to reduce the stress and keep it gentle. She stood up and walked around and watched, "Hold it... And inhale... and exhale..." She said. About twenty seconds later, she asked them to repeat the same process but on the other side. They were not held for long as they were intended to be gentle stretches, "Keep your hips square, Miss [YOU PICK]," She instructed as she moved passed someone who was started to turn them.

Yoga Post in this post: Standing Forward Fold and Lizard Pose [With bricks]

Interacting with @Cassandra Ironwoods
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Open for Interactions

When Cassandra entered the room, Mars couldn't help but grin. They pointed to their own head, referencing her newly-dyed hair.

"It looks good, Cash. Suits you."

As their friend went to sit on a mat, Mars decided that, maybe, it wouldn't hurt too much to join in. Everyone still looked a little dumb, but that was the fun of it perhaps. They made their way over to a mat next to Cassandra and sat down. Everyone had already finished their swan pose or were at least halfway through, so Mars took the time to stretch languidly, getting their hamstrings, hips, and quads.

They watched as Professor Jensen rose from her place and began walking around the room, guiding those who needed help.

At her next direction, Mars stood, stretching their back upwards. They yawned. That was kind of funny. They never slept this early, even if curfew was only an hour or two away. Insomnia gripped them too tight and they found themselves staring at the ceiling until two or three in the morning. Sometimes they did productive things, like read a book or organize their notes. Mostly, they just avoid thinking about questions they weren't sure they wanted to be answered. But they felt drowsy, sleepy even. Huh, maybe this yoga thing had some merit to it.

They directed their stance about hip wide and bent at the waist. They could feel their spine bend as they brushed the floor with their fingertips. Professor Jensen said something about breathing. A lot about breathing actually. They pulled a breath in through their nose, puffing it out through their mouth. Upside-down like this, they could feel the blood rush to their head, the dizziness a comfortable light feeling.

Standing back up at the woman's direction, they smiled a bit at Professor Jensen and Professor Browne's exchange. The two never seemed to be that far apart. The rest of the room stretched back up as well, owlish eyes trained on the Professor's next move. She dived right into something called a Lizard Pose. Mars stood for a moment, watching everyone else fall into it as well. They could see where the name came from—with the knee right next to your ear, you looked mildly like a darting lizard.

They sighed and plopped back down on the mat, pulling themselves into a plank position. Stretching their right foot to their ear, they could hear a faint pop in their hip. Well, that couldn't be good. They fell out of the stretch quickly, small ache of pain flashing through their leg. It faded easy enough but they weren't particularly eager to pull a muscle. Professor Jensen mentioned something about bricks though, so they clambered up, looking around for them. Before they went, they looked to Cash.

"I'm gonna grab some bricks, need any?"

If the wix said yes, they'd grabbed two for each of them and lay them out at the head of their mat. They pushed themselves back into Lizard Pose again, this time on top of the bricks, and felt the easy stretch sink into their muscles. There, that felt better. They hummed a small tune as they alternated sizes. The drowsiness was really catching up to them. They wondered if they would actually be sleeping tonight.

Finally. An errand that somehow could be the young SLytherin's topic. Sure, the teabag making and make up errand had both been fun but simply nothing she would have joined if it hadn't been for the rewards if she was honest. Opeila didn't really have a clue about yoga, she wasn't exactly the sort of person who did a lot of sport, but she could deal with physical challenges. At least better than with make up.
Also the brunette remembered hearing somewhere that yoga was relaxing, and that seemed like something that all of them needed, right? At least she did.

Entering the Rehearsal room she was awaited by a somehow strange scenario. And embarassing. First, there were yoga mats- or were they yoga mats?- well, some sort of mats everywhere in the room, some with students on them, twisted up into weird positions.
Second... Well, given that they had already started, Opeila was late.

That was mainly because she had quickly tried to finish some homework and got distracted by her cat, who had developed a weird fascination for quills and repeatedly tried to snatch it out of her hand. Long story short, it had ended with pillows flying through the common room, human and animal shouting and an ink pot thrown over, once more requiring Opeila to ask her grandmother to send her a new one. By now the first year had gotten used to keeping a spare ink pot somewhere. Especially since at least three of those were destroyed in the past half year.

She would just blame it all on Loras. He was the bad guy. Always. Except to Icarus.
Anyways, Opeila quietly went to one of the mats next to a girl that she only recognized as Gris, the friendly food sharing prefect, she had met a few months ago, when she was right next to her. "Hey... I hope you don't mind me take this mat...", she wispered in her direction, before she looked at her head of house and tried to get into the same position as her. She just didn't want to draw any more uncomfortable attention to herself.

Opeila was quite glad that she had not put her sweater on but only taken it with her. The green T-shirt she wore was enough. With the shirt, she wore black jogging trousers with green stripes on the sides. Those had been a birthday present from her grandmother and Opeila had now finally found an opportunity to wear them.

Listening to Professor Jensen, she straightened her legs and bent forwards, trying to reach the floor. She could barely touch it with her fingertips... Was that normal? Opeila looked at the others and saw relieved that some of them could not get to the ground at all even.

When they moved on to the next position, Opeila's eyes widened a little. "Wow, I am... bad at this.", she said and chuckled, putting the blocks on her mat for help. This position was a little better for conversations. "So...", she started and turned her head to Gris. "I haven't seen you in a while. How are you?"

WC: 522 Words
Interacting with @Griseldis Edelhardt
Mentioning @Hjørdis Jensen , Icarus, Loras the

Mentions: @Hjørdis Jensen @Alan Vanes @Caradoc Browne @Opeila Seilun

Ileen was late. Sprinting through the corridors she couldn’t help but roll her eyes on her own situation. Typical. She learned about an activity once in which she actually wanted to participate and then she was late. Why did she bury her gym clothes so far down in her suitcase? Although she had hesitated until dinner, she had not expected that her short decision would cost her so much time. With her black leggings, the tight-fitting, midnight blue sports top and the brown hair tied tightly to the back, she probably gave the impression that she was trying to set a new speed record, as she stormed through the corridors.
“Oops, sorry!” She shouted as she crossed the path of a student who had just stepped out of a room, almost bumping into him. While he stared after her in a bewildered way, she did not take the time to stop.
She slipped around a corner and ran the last steps before she came to a stop in front of the rehearsal room. Panting, she took a look at her wristwatch. Oof, only a few minutes late. Before she entered the room, Ileen hesitated and tried to calm her breath. At least, she was warmed up.
Yoga was one of the outside activities her father had used to do with her. Usually they had left before dawn and set off for the mountains. There they had found a place in the forest or on a cliff and had done their exercises in the rising sun. He had always told her that it was important to reflect on oneself and thereby drive all disturbing factors out of the mind - at least briefly. That had been his method to keep going.
A mixture of sadness, disappointment and nostalgia clenched in her chest and she swallowed hard. I won't think of that now, she swore to herself. She was here to block out exactly these kinds of disruptive factors.
Determined, she shook off the memory of her father and slipped into the room. The session was already ongoing. Some of her classmates had gathered here and were about to perform the Lizard Pose, which Professor Jensen just demonstrated. When Professor Jensen would look at her, Ileen would give her a smile and a voiceless ‘Sorry’ for being late.
In order not to disturb the others and not to break the silence, which was only interrupted by the quiet voice of her Head of House, Ileen tiptoed along the wall. Her eyes glided over the students present and she had to smile when she spotted a familiar face. Alan was also here, again accompanied by Tiger of course. Besides Professor Browne, she knew no one - a few others from seeing, but she had never spoken to anyone before. Wait - there was Opeila! At least another familiar face.
Quickly she took a mat from the pile near the entrance, looked for an empty spot and spread it out on the floor. Then she hurried to imitate the pose.

Word Count: 496/1000

Errands were quickly becoming the one thing that would get Elspeth out of her dorm room and out into an activity. The lure of chocolate frogs and house points made it impossible for her to ignore, as much as her introverted self would rather stay in her dorm room reading. That being said, today's errand was actually something she'd always been meaning to try anyways. She'd heard some folks talk about yoga, and once even seen a group doing some out on the grounds one morning, but never done it herself. Being a bit physically unimpressive, running and jumping and such weren't her forte, which meant that most sports were out of her ability range. But yoga? This might just be the thing to get her interested in exercise.

Most of her clothes were a bit stiff to wear to a yoga class, so she'd changed into her pajamas ahead of time (hoping that others would be dressed similarly and that she hadn't misunderstood the dress code). They were a soft great color with tiny pandas all over. On the front of her long sleeved top was a giant panda rolling around on its belly with some bamboo in its mouth. While Elspeth was boring and practical with most of her clothing choices, she had a special weakness for adorable pjs with cute animals.

The door to the rehearsal room was ajar, but she couldn't hear any sound from out in the hallway. As excited as she was for doing some sleepy time stretching, the last time she'd been in the rehearsal room she'd been picked on and had a freakout from seeing a doppleganger of the burning girl at Blossom Ball. She shuddered a bit, standing there as other students began to make their way in, walking past and talking to each other. Sometimes it seemed like everyone around her "got it" more than she did. Elspeth wasn't even sure what "it" was or how to get it. But everyone just flowed with life, knowing where to go and how to talk to each other and how not to be afraid of very silly small things. She wished it could be so easy for her.

Ultimately, she was resigned to the fact that she would have to come into the rehearsal room again eventually, so why not now when she knew there'd be some professors in it to keep the space safe. As she walked up and pushed the door open, the view of the room completely emptied save for a few dozen mats laid out greeted her. Although it'd been quiet out in the hallway, there were a fair number of students already getting situated and doing some light stretches before the class officially began.

And - oh. Both Cassandra and Ivy were here, so that was great. She felt her pulse begin to get a bit quicker and the urge to run away got stronger. But then she caught Professor Jensen's eyes. As little as she interacted with the Slytherin head of house, Professor Jensen had always been very sweet and put on some lovely and relaxing events. Something about her felt maternal and safe to Elspeth. Her eyes continued to scan the room, happy to see Mars and Nell were here - neither of whom were Ravenclaw's she'd spent much time with but she at least recognized them from around the dorm. And then she saw the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain. It was the first time Elspeth had seen her since the Ball and her heart started to pick up again. Serena (who was still Unnamed Flying Savior to Elspeth) was wearing pajamas now, and looked much softer than she had been when she'd been trying to protect people from the ensuing chaos at the ball. All Elspeth could really remember about her was that she had a good taste in soft sweaters, as she'd hidden her face in it while being flown to safety.

Now didn't feel like the best time to try and strike up a seemingly regular conversation with her hero, nor did it seem the best time to try and reconcile the confrontation that had been had with Ivy and Cassie. So, Elspeth found a spot near Nell, the most neutral and welcoming of the people she recognized. The mat felt different than she'd expected. Grippier. Which made sense, now that she thought about it, but for some reason she'd been expecting something more akin to a sleeping bag. Based on the questions and reactions of students around her, it seemed they might have been expecting this yoga to be happening during their sleep as well.

The lesson started with a breathing exercise, which Elspeth found kind of funny. Why did they have to breathe in order to get ready to stretch? Wasn't everyone already breathing anyways? But she closed her eyes and took a deep breath in then pushed a deep breath out, and repeated a few times. Her body, tense with the nerves of the whole situation, suddenly started to feel a little softer, a little more relaxed. She could feel her heartbeat begin to slow a little. Elspeth couldn't tell if it was the breathing, or if it was having her eyes closed so she couldn't see anyone around her, but she felt really comfortable and at peace for a moment in a way that she just didn't in her regular life.

As Professor Jensen instructed them into the next pose, Elspeth felt that calm evaporate just a little bit, as she worked to try and figure out exactly what her body was supposed to look like. Thankfully, this pose seemed to be simple enough, and she thought that it might even be the kind of pose she naturally got into before she fell asleep in her bed when her back was feeling sore from bending over books all day or lugging her things up the stairs to the Ravenclaw Tower. Breathe in. Breathe out. The theme of this yoga class started to make more sense as she felt herself begin to drift a little away as she settled into the position. Have there always been cheat codes to getting sleepy?? No one had ever bothered to tell her. She rolled back up and swapped her legs, feeling the stretch in her opposite hip and, again, feeling her head begin to sink into the small folded blanket it was resting on. Oh... there is no way I'm not falling asleep...

She continued to follow along with the other poses as well. Being a springy eleven year old, having to roll her spine up slowly was challenging. Her head kept popping up and then she'd bend over again to try before, inevitably, raising her whole torso up at once. The breathing was nice, but over time she felt herself getting a little antsy from all of these slow movements. As she walked over to grab a pair of blocks for herself to get into lizard pose, she saw Mars had as well. She gave them a small smile, "Hey." It felt rude not to acknowledge them, but also they were in the middle of a class so probably not the best time to be having a chat. Maybe that was the reason she didn't feel so nervous. It was hard to feel pressured when you knew that no one was looking to try and talk to you because you were all focused on getting a position right.

Word Count:1244/1000 (but will continue posting and open to interaction)
Interacting with: Mars T'ien
Mentioning: @Cassandra Ironwoods, @Ivy Bellamy, @Mars T'ien, @Nell Zoldak, @Serena Towers, @Hjørdis Jensen

Once they were done with the pose sleeping swan, Alan would push his upper body up and draw his outstretched leg closer so that he would end up in a kneeling position. Sadly this also meant that he could no longer use Tiger as a cushion which had been surprisingly comfy if he dared to say or think. He would lightly arch his spine and raise his arms as if to reach for the sky as he had to stifle a yawn.

He would stand up and blink tiredly before he shook his head in an attempt to get a grip on himself as he forced himself to focus back on the professor who was also the instructor for this yoga session. Alan had not expected this to be anything but boring but it seemed actually relaxing and they had just started. Perhaps by the end of this he would have fallen asleep on his yoga mat since he had the best cushion in the room after all.

For the next pose they would have to lean forwards and touch the grounds with their hand, which was as easy as it sounded at least for Alan. He was young and had an athlete build which made him quite flexible. He loved to climb trees and ran rounds around the Quidditch pitch each morning so with ease he would flex his body forward which would give him a nice stretch for his spine and legs as he placed his palms onto the mat. He would see Tiger lift his head from the pillow curiously as he got up to examine the weird way Alan was standing. The feline in an instant would see this as his opportunity to go and beg for some attention as he began to brush past his arms. "Shhh, go back t-to the cushion Tiger," he hushed as he tried to nudge the cat away fruitlessly.

This would go on until they were finally told to raise up again and quickly the third year pushed himself off the ground with his hands and shook his head at the feline who was now starting to roam around as if he had not just tried to disturb Alan while he was doing yoga or at least attempting to until he had been so rudely interrupted. Now that Tiger was roaming around in the classroom at least he was not exactly Alan's issue anymore, or so he hoped. Hopefully he would not trouble anyone.

The next task seemed to be more difficult already but still doable, so Alan did his best to replicate what the professor was showing them and could not help but glance over to the badger head of house in curiosity. He had expected this to be for students, but he assumed that the professor might also need something relaxing to do before going to sleep. Whatever it was, his gaze would drift back to the professor so that he would not miss any instructions or do something wrong. His lower arms were placed on the mat and one of his legs stood angled to his side as instructed while the other was stretched out to his back with his knee resting on the yoga mat. Was he doing this correctly? Lizard pose it what it was called but he had no idea how this could be compared to a lizard since he never had seen a lizard rest like this.

WC: 1147/1000

@ Everyone: Feel free to have Tiger pass by you and beg for attention and pets!

Caradoc smiled towards those students that came to greet him and pointed them towards some free spots around him if they were looking for somewhere to get in action. Following along with Nora's instruction he had basically forced himself into a trap. The moment he reached the desired pose for the exercise he got a feeling getting back up again might be the actual adventure in all this.

Was that a pop he heard? He for sure thought he heard something pop in his back. That could have by no means mean anything good. Realising he might have got himself into a nasty bit of exercises, he quickly got back out of the yoga position and sat up straight. Stretching his spine a bit backwards, he tried to make it crack again. There was no sound that followed however. His back seemed to be stuck in a way. All he had left to do was hope it'd pop back in alright during the next exercise.

With something of a groan escaping his mouth as he got up. His now dull eyes scanned the room. He might have been strong, but agility was clearly not his strongest suit. It was almost as if his muscles were actually in his way this time and for sure not helping him along. He tried stretching a bit in between in order to maybe get his legs and arms to loosen up a little. What his back had planned for the day was a mystery he did not need an immediate answer to.

Nora moved along with showing them the next pose. "You have to be kiddin-" He started grumbling before he realised peace and quiet was the message here today. He shot a quick glance at the badger next to him to make sure there would be no laughing or obvious grinning. "Shhhhh" He said with a finger locking his lips.

Slowly he rolled his chest forward and allowed his upper body to hang downwards. Feeling the blood run down to his head, he was starting to wonder what exactly was the point of this one. To give your feet a break of pumping blood through your legs? And he had no way of kno-

A hand touched his back. Was that? Yes. Yes, it was her. In all his internal fussing he had completely forgotten about both his mission and his target. And now she was clearly taking adva- the hand moved! He felt her hand pushing downwards over his spine towards the direction of his neck and shoulders. If the blood hadn't reached his head by now, he surely would've looked red enough already anyway.

The Head of Hufflepuff was quite literally locked into place as his head started racing towards a solution to this scene. He heard her words, but they left almost no meaning in his head. He did enjoy the warmth of her voice whenever they spoke. But having her literally breathing down his neck while in a pose like this was something different entirely. "I- Y-yes" He stammered with a wish to bury his head in the ground.