Perspective Shift

“Now, we’ll transition into Cobra. Put the tops of your feet on the floor and gently push your chest up. It’s not about how far you can go; it’s just about feeling a little bit of a stretch in the front. Tuck your toes, and we’re going to push into a Downward Dog.”

Sabrina Burton smiled calmly at her class and quickly surveyed everyone’s positioning to see who might be having trouble and who had it right. She praised three new students for their good form while generally reminding the group about toe tucking. Her eyes soon landed on Mike Larson, who was sitting on a mat near the door. He had good enough form but kept shifting into a pose with either one or both arms out, like pantomiming a ballerina. She did her best to ignore his shenanigans with a straight face. Ten minutes later, the yoga session was over.

She closed out the class by thanking her guests and reminding her regular students of their weekend assignment. Heading over to her desk, Sabrina took a lengthy drink from her water bottle and flicked some sweat off her long hair. The group mostly cleared, but a few guys towards the back loitered. She took a deep breath and spread her arms out. Calmly, she asked if there were any other questions.

Within reach on her desk, she had a large pair of scissors and a huge bottle of custom fragrance mist. That group hadn’t been totally disruptive, but she noticed a lot of whispering between her directions. In normal classes, she would’ve just called them out. But here, it would’ve disrupted the mood she was trying to maintain.

“Can I help you with something?” She made her words loud but controlled as they turned towards her. They looked at one another as though sharing a private joke she didn’t get. She raised up on her heels to get as much height as possible. Before anything else could happen, Mike Larson roamed between them and urged, “All right guys, you have other classes. Get going before Coach Hampton has anything to say about it.”

They lingered with obnoxious chuckles but eventually dragged their feet over to the door and left. Sabrina settled down in her chair and softly responded, “Thanks.”

Mike raised an eyebrow and questioned, “For what?” She looked him in the eye and saw genuine …