This lesson contains a PRACTICAL assignment. Please remain in character. Any out of character comments should be put behind spoiler tags!

[img align=left]https://i.imgur.com/BV0r35i.png[/img]Chell beamed with excitement. She quickly changed out of her school uniform and into more appropriate yoga garb. Though she knew very little about yoga, she had seen Muggles take classes at the gym in her hometown and had always wanted to try it. She grabbed a mat, carefully mapped out a plan for her routine, gave it a go a couple of times, and then waited patiently for her turn to perform the routine for Professor Brookvale and any classmates that wished to join in.

“Hello, Professor Brookvale and class! I’d like to begin by starting in Bound Angle Pose,” she said in her best calming and soothing voice, which came off a bit more like Bob Ross than she intended. (Let’s do some happy little yoga poses!) “Now,” she continued, “let’s hold this pose for 10 breaths, ready?” She demonstrated the pose and breathed deeply in and out ten times.

“Okay,” she continued, “slowly ease out of the pose and straighten your legs out in front of you. We’re now going to move into a Left Twist while your left leg is bent,” she explained, “Let’s hold this pose for another 10 breaths.”

“Good! Slowly straighten your legs again and lie back in Corpse Pose. The goal of this pose is to completely relax your body. Feel all that tension fade away!” She laid down flat against her mat and exhaled deeply, completely relaxing her muscles, “And another 10 breaths.”

Feeling completely reenergized, she proceeded, “Now carefully raise both of your legs straight up in the air and move into Upward Extended Feet Pose. Be sure to keep your feet flat and feel those leg muscles stretch!” she demonstrated the pose and held it for… you guessed it! 10 breaths.

“Slowly come down from that pose, and relax a bit before moving into our next pose: Bridge” Chell laid flat on her back for a few breaths before lifting up into the new pose. After another 10 breaths, she spoke. “Okay! Great! Now ease back down and… Relax” She plopped down a little harder than expected, but smiled through it and hoped no one noticed.

“Last new pose! Let’s sit up and go into Half-Boat Pose,” she sat up straight and bent her legs so that her shins were parallel to the floor and perpendicular to her body, “10 more breaths in… and out.” She really felt her muscles getting tired at this point.

“Lastly, let’s return to our first pose…hold…aaaaand relax!” she said as she completed the routine. “Thank you!” She grinned and dramatically bowed.

Pose Sequence (Pictures)

Chell | Ravenclaw

Private Outfit Cassie heaved a sigh. Muggle studies was far from her favorite topic and this just seemed...like a waste of time to be completely honest. But in the end her desire for good marks squelched the nagging urge to excuse herself and go back to the Slytherin commons to study something more worthwhile. Sighing, she unrolled a mat, set up some foam blocks and composed a half-hearted sequence that mostly stretched her back, which was often tense from hunching over alchemy tomes. "First I'm doing a hare pose," she said, her voice muffled as she tucked her face close to her knees and extended her arms straight over her head. She slid her arms back, using them to hold her shoulders up and slid her knees under her hips, arching her back. "Next I'm doing a cat pose." After holding the cat pose a bit longer than necessary, Cassie straightened her legs, pushing her hips towards the mat and her shoulders back in to upward facing dog. At this point, she began to feel silly narrating her actions to Professor Brookvale and the poses she had chosen were becoming a little challenging, so she stopped talking and concentrated on bending her body. Her back felt better, so she rolled into an easy plow pose, struggling somewhat, to touch her knees to her forehead. She held the pose for a few breaths and the released it, lowering her knees into the more attainable knee press. She pulled her knees up against her chest, feeling a bit dizzy from the previous plow pose. Finally, when she stopped seeing spots, Cassie sat up into a bound angle pose, using it as an opportunity to catch her breath. She looked up at Professor Brookvale. "That's it Professor. I hope it was acceptable?" Cassie McCleod-Slytherin

[img align=left]https://sapi.subeta.net/shared/361380.png[/img] Rosie rolled out one of the yoga mats and patiently waited for her turn to come around after imitating the poses the other students demonstrated first. The few poses she had seen immediately reminded her of her dance practices so she figured the yoga poses she could use for her sequence were somewhat similar to her stretching routine. Though she would have to simplify some or the poses would be too difficult for a few of the other students. After looking at a comprehensive chart of yoga poses and taking a deep breath she walked to the front of the classroom to begin her sequence.

"I'll slowly demonstrate a sequence of poses which are similar to warm up and cool down stretches commonly used in dance. I will not do a full sequence as that would take quite some time and we have far too many sequences to follow already. Just repeat my motions and remember to breathe evenly." Rosie began by standing up straight with her legs together at the center of the mat and joining her hands in front of her heart in the greeting pose. She followed up by stretching her arms upwards and elongating her neck and back into the mountain pose with upwards stretch. After holding the position for 2 to 3 breaths she lowered her arms to point straight ahead and widened her legs so her feet were planted in a line with her hips and shoulders. She squat down and held the chair pose for another 2 breaths. Normally she would have several more poses before she'd sit down and use the floor, but she wanted to keep the routine short.

"Looking good so far. Remember to keep your back straight and not to over stretch. That is especially important in the next bit," she continued her instruction. Rosie sat down on the mat and spread her legs wide. She placed her palms behind her legs on the floor for the seated pose and felt the light stretch in her inner thighs. She moved her hands to her front and slowly rolled her back until she laid flat on the ground while her legs remained spread. This wide-angle seated forward bend was definitely one of the hardest poses for the students as it required quite a bit of flexibility. Rosie slowly exhaled and felt herself bend just that little bit more. Holding the pose for a further 10 seconds she slowly rolled her back until she returned to the seated pose. Again she would have had more poses to go with and decided to skip a few and closed her legs.

"Well done everyone! Just a few more poses left," she announced and sat up straight with her knees bend and feet on the floor. "First we'll do the easy boat pose before we'll start to lie down on the mat." She slowly leaned back whilst keeping her feet on her mat. The easy boat pose was one regularly used to help strengthen the core muscles in your stomach. Though for it to have a real effect the half boat would be a better option. However this far into the routine everyone would be feeling the stretches and that pose would be quite demanding at this point. After a brief moment in the easy boat pose Rosie told the students to lie down on their backs and point their legs up to the sky. With the support of her own hands she now demonstrated the upward extended feet pose. 3 breaths later she brought her legs down and hugged them to her chest in the double knee press. She exhaled slowly and counted to 10 before stretching her limbs and guiding everyone to a relaxed corpse pose. Rosie closed her eyes and calmed her heart. That would have to be her yoga routine. One which didn't really need repeating, especially if she used a few additional poses in between to better stretch the torso and legs.

"Ok! That was my sequence professor," she said and rose up to bow briefly to the group. She returned to her spot in the classroom to watch the next demonstrations.

Alize Rosalyn Chalifour - Slytherin

"Pfff, seems quite easy enough." Marcia thought smugly as she watched the professor perform her routine. When given the chance, she swiftly changed into something more comfortable than her school robes and threw her hair up into a messy bun to keep it out of the way.

"Alright, let's give this a go, then." She thought as she studied some of the poses available to try out. There was a wide variety of beginner's poses that looked simple enough, so she strategically chose the easiest out of them because she knew that she couldn't fail. When her turn came around, she stepped up to the front of the room confidently, chose a mat from the box, and flicked it out onto the floor in one smooth motion.

"To begin, we shall position ourselves in the diamond pose," Marcia said flatly as she sat down with her legs tucked underneath her. "Then, we will lift ourselves up into the easy camel pose. Make sure you get the palms correct."

"Now, move your body into the easy staff pose," Marcia instructed as she dropped forward into position. "Okay, now lie down into the easy bow pose..." Her already soft voice became slightly muffled as she laid furter into the mat.

"Next is the upward facing dog..." Marcia trailed off unenthusiastically as she lifted herself up once again. She was really starting to feel the strain in her arm muscles as she went through her routine despite the fact that she thought this would be easy. Although, Marcia had never been one for exercising much.

"Finally, bring your knees forward into the cow pose," She announced, her face flushed slightly from the unexpected effort. She welcomed the relief on her arms that this pose brought. 'What a ridiculous name for a pose,' Marcia managed to think with an inconspicuous eye roll before returning to her original position.

"And, that will bring us back to the diamond pose from the beginning of my sequence," Marcia smiled assuredly, trying her best to not convey that her arms were burning from the routine.

"That will be all." She finished hastily as she returned her mat to the box and hurried back to join the rest of the class.

Marcia Rainer, Slytherin

[img align=left]https://78.media.tumblr.com/961909d7565395bda437f93e2a8280fb/tumblr_inline_p0mfdxyOzO1r28tx7_540.png[/img] Though Luck had heard of Yoga before, she knew next to nothing about it, and certainly had never done any of it. She therefore, chose very easy and basic poses that looked to be of less strain. She rolled her mat out and lay on her stomach to begin the demonstration.

"We'll start in the half-cobra pose, because it seems as good a place to start as any." She remarked awkwardly, taking a jab at comedy to relieve the pressure of all eyes on her.

"Next we'll move into the upward facing dog pose," she said, then rose on her arms, moved her lower half forward while trying to do the deep breathing the professor had shown. "And now," she trailed off before bringing her knees forward and doubling over, stretching her arms out far in front of her. Facing downward she continued, "...into the hare pose."

At this point, she had forgotten about doing the deep breathing. She waited a moment before arching her back slowly upwards, resting on her hands and knees once again. "Next is the cat pose," she said, drooping her head. Afterwards, she raised her head and arched her back inwards. "Then it will be easy to go into the cow pose."

Luck lowered her body back to the mat and lay on her stomach once again. "Here we are back in the half cobra pose, and that completes the sequence. It seems short and simple, but probably help with back problems."

As a novice, she had replicated the poses well, but had forgotten to breathe with each movement.

(Luck Bee, Hufflepuff)

[img align=left]https://i.imgur.com/DDROkmD.png[/img] Jona was very familiar with yoga; it was something his mom used to do every morning as soon as the sun made its appearance in the sky. He hadn't seen anyone do yoga for almost two years now, but watching everyone in class each perform their sequences gave him this nostalgic feeling. Despite his mom being an avid yoga-doer, he himself had never dabbled, so he tried to stick to simpler, beginner-level poses.

"So, uh," Jona started standing straight, feet shoulder-width apart, in front of the class with his palms facing out. "Begin by breathing and at your own pace, sink down into mountain pose." He started to remember the classic "yoga words" that were always repeated in his mom's videos that she watched. At that thought, Jona decided to go full yoga mentor in his rendition. He raised his voice an octave to be softer and slightly more feminine and began purposefully moving slowly, taking extra-deep breaths to emphasize his breathing.

"Once you feel your mountain pose has truly connected you with mother earth, we are going to streeeeeetch out our arms; one will reach for the sky and the other will rest on a block parallel to your shoulder blades." He took a breath, then said in the too-sweet voice, "Welcome to half-moon pose. When you are ready, take a breath and switch sides." As he switched to his other arm he said, "Now, if you prefer a challenge then you may rid yourself of the block and trust your muscles to streeeeetch all the way down to the floor and support your weight." Jona came out of the position a little too fast because he lost his stability last minute.

"Place your feet at shoulder width apart and then beeeeeend forward, breathing out as your back mucles stretch and your abdomen tightens." Jona leaned forward with the palms of his hands resting on his shins, unable to reach the floor. "This is forward bend pose. Now, breathe in and with that breath you are going to liiiiift just enough to make your back perpendicular to your legs, a right angle. From here, you can fold your arms and just let gravity naturally stretch your limbs." Jona got lost in this pose a bit too long. Blood started rushing into his head quicker than anticipated and he stammered as he flowed into the next pose.

"N-now you can hang in forward bend pose for as long as you like. When you are ready, take a deeeeeep breath and -" Jona dropped his knees to the floor, palms spread on the ground and butt in the air "- lower your knees to the ground,keeping your hands parallel to your shoulders and your back straight. Welcome to cow pose. Here, you can simply breathe for a little while. When breathing out, tighten your, er, core muscles?" That last statement turned into a question as Jona got lost in his interpretation of the yoga teacher videos he remembered.

"Once ready, you will swiiing your left foot to meet your left hand." Jona did this and on the first try lost his balance and fell over. He got back into previous cow pose and transitioned from that to the next one a little more easily the second time around. "Here you are in high lunge pose."

After a few beats and breaths, Jona began to move again, but just his arms. "Keeping your feet rooted, raise both arms to meet above your head in what is called warrior pose one. Take a few breaths and when ready exhale, dropping your arms, fingers pointed and facing opposite directions, into warrior pose two. Transition between the two warrior poses a few times, switching the leg you lean on, before bringing your feet back to their original position, shoulder width apart, in our initial pose known as mountain pose."

Jona ended with his feet as described, standing straight, and hands facing out. He slowly raised his arms for his hands to meet in a sort of prayer motion in front of his chest. "Namaste," he whispered and nodded his head. Now that, that was done, he skipped off to join the group of spectators, awaiting the next student who wanted to let their nonexistent yoga skills shine.

Jona / Hufflepuff

Outfit Not Found

Yoga was a concept well known to Lysandra.
Her mother had used it to unblock her mind back in the elven forest, to trigger her elven abilities after relaxing her mind. For this, they had practised a more energetic Yoga form, the Kriya Yoga. However, some of the body poses were used in their sessions, too.

After changing into a light green Yoga garb, Lys grabbed a color fitting yoga mat and placed it on the floor, with care. Lys knew that Yoga always had to be accomplished with body, mind and heart to benefit fully of it and create changes up until cellular level. Opening her mind, she sent a short elven invocation to her mother to remember their positive vibes of former exercises.

Getting cautiously down on her hand and knees, Lysandra began the Cat Cow Pose . She gently rounded her back and tucked the chin to the chest like a cat. Thinking of a cat and their enormous feline power and sleekness, the black-haired girl looked up and arched her back to open her chest and let positive feelings into her heart. She felt energy flood her body and imagined the energy color to be light pink and green, the color of the heart chakra.

To increase the energy flood of this pose, Lys chose the Updog Pose as her second. She rolled onto her stomach and placed her hands to her shoulders and looked up, then straightening her arms and opening her chest again, feeling the energy.

Since it was a while when she last practiced Yoga, Lys decided for the Bridge Pose as third one instead of the Wheel which is much more complicated to accomplish. Laying flat down on her back with knees bend and arms on her side, she raised her body and tucked her chin into her chest again. This pose was meant to let the energy flood the whoole body and release endorphines which are known to relieve stress and bring happiness.

In a fluid motion, Lysandra performed the Camel Pose as her fourth. On her knees, she gently lent back and placed her hands on her ankles. She liked that pose, her mother always admired her flexibility with this one. Also, Camel was known to balance emotions and she really needed this, missing her family so much.

Next, the Bow Pose. That was her fav. Face first on her mat, Lys reached back, grabbed her toes, then her feet and held them, trying to breath calmy because it was a demanding pose. She gently rocked back and forth, feeling her heart open and body and mind relax.

For releasing her spine and muscles, Lysandra decided for a Fold Forward Pose as next. As a pose to calm mind and body, it was well choosen at the end of a session, giving the sequence a well-rounding. Standing with her feet together, she bent her knees slightly and folded her torso over her legs, placing her hands next to her feet. Bliss! Breath in, breath out. Bliss, bliss, bliss!

With a sigh, Lysandra ended her short Yoga session with the starting Cat Cow Pose. After holding the position for some time, she gently sat down, looking around for Professor Brookvale. Seeing her approach, she smiled and asked for further instructions, still a little bit shy since this was her first lesson ever with her new fellow students.

„May I show you my Yoga sequence now?“ she asked with a sweet smile. „Perhaps you can give me some help with the Updog, it´s not my strongest pose and I always wondered how to improve it!"

(Lysandra, Ravenclaw)

Mallowsweet blinked in amazement as Professor Brookvale fluidly stretched and bent her body into the various yoga poses. This "yoga" exercise had definitely not been designed with centaurs in mind. Since the professor had recommended warming up with the routine she had demonstrated, Mallowsweet decided to try and adapt those stances to her four legs.

The starting poses were easy. Standing foursquare, with her shoulders, withers and hooves carefully aligned vertically, she clasped her hands at chest level, then inhaled deeply as she raised them over her head and bent her torso backwards over her back as far as she could stretch. Straightening up, she then exhaled as she bent forward, stretching her arms to touch her hooves. The lunge was more difficult, and she felt a twinge in her stifle as she stretched her left hind leg back,. then crouched with the right foreleg forward, to approximate the stance. The pain in her pasterns was such that she wasn't going to attempt the plank pose or the snaky movement of the chin and chest lower to the upward dog. Instead, she straightened her hindlegs, keeping her forequarters lowered with one foreleg extended in the warrior stance, and stretched her torso back again until she could almost touch her croup. From there, the downward dog was fairly easy, and she was able to repeat the backward stretch and lunge with her left foreleg forward, and right hindleg back this time. The second forward fold and return to the mountain stance finished the cycle.

Outfit Not Found(Mallowsweet Gryffindor)

Outfit Not FoundFade gritted his teeth while listening to the Professor explain the lesson. He knew just how inflexible he could be and really wasn’t looking forward to making a fool out of himself in front of the entire class. When it was time for them to begin he decided to start with something easy.

Standing at the front of his mat, he began by putting his feet together and reaching his arms above his head, into a mountain pose. Seemed easy enough. After holding the pose for five consecutive breaths he relaxed his arms back to his sides.

First pose completed, Fade got down onto the mat face down, and adjusted his hands to where they were just under his shoulders with his feet flat on the floor. Pushing through his hands he raised his chest off the ground into a cobra pose. For how simple it seemed this pose made him aware of muscles he probably never used. His abdomen and legs actually felt a decent stretch. Fade held the pose as long as he could before almost collapsing onto his face. Somehow catching himself at the last minute, though he gave a big puff of air as he relaxed. This yoga stuff was harder than he thought.

Since he was already on the ground, once he caught his breath he decided to try a pigeon pose. Starting in a push-up position, his arms were already a little shaky. He positioned his left knee under his body and pulled his left heel toward his right hip. Lowering down to his forearms he pushed his right leg down and out behind himself. This was much more difficult and he was only able to hold the pose for three breaths. Once he released the pose, for the sake of feeling like he actually tried, Fade tried the pose again on the other side with his right leg underneath himself and his left leg extended. This pose brought attention to his core section and he realized that his upper abdominal strength wasn’t quite as strong as his lower.

After a short rest, Fade slowed his breathing and moved to his hands and knees. With his hands under his shoulders once again, keeping his knees under his hips, he exhaled and lifted his knees off the ground into a downward dog. It was hard to not lock his knees straight and felt a great deal of stretch occurring. Not to mention the rush of blood to his head made focusing on breathing a bit difficult. After seven breaths he couldn’t maintain the stance and released the pose sloppily sprawling on his mat.

Alright, one more try. Resuming the beginning of the downward dog pose, with his palms pressed into the mat and his feet hip-width apart. Fade walked his feet forward until his knees touched the back of his arms. Balancing like this was tricky and he almost fell over more than once. Bending his elbows he tried his best to then lift his heels off the floor in an attempt to assume the crow pose but even after a few attempts he lost his balance entirely and rolled over, out of breath and decided he had had enough.

The very last thing Fade did was tuck his legs under his torso and extend his arms over his head. This stretch felt very good on his lower back. Little did he know he was actually in a yoga pose called the hare pose. As far as he knew, he was just releasing the tension he felt in his back and got so comfortable he almost fell asleep. When the class was over he had a red mark on his forehead where it had rested on the mat for so long.

(Fade, Ravenclaw)

Outfit Not Found Hollynd perked up as soon as Professor Brookvale explained their lesson. She had very mixed emotions about Muggle Studies but nothing could dampen her enthusiasm for yoga. The Slytherin first went into her bag and changed into proper attire to exercise in. She prided herself on working out regularly, and yoga was certainly a part of her conditioning. Hollynd had even visited India one summer, and vividly remembered the feeling of lying down on the floor of the studio and just sweating after a long session.

She mapped out her yoga sequence in her mind, stretched, and practiced it twice. On her third repetition she noticed Professor Brookvale watching so she made a Namaste Greeting pose to signal the beginning of her six pose sequence. Hollynd got down and into her favorite position, Lotus pose. She inhaled and exhaled from her diaphragm. From there she did a Scale pose lotus variation, holding it briefly. Next, she shifted into Plank pose, a good one for strengthening core muscles. This she could hold from practice and let go at what felt like the two-minute mark. Hollynd breathed deeply and slowly. She changed to a High boat pose, trying for the best posture she could but wobbling nonetheless. The girl silently ended with three Rollers, and returned to a standing Greeting pose.

Hollynd Atwood, Slytherin

Outfit Not Found

Lily had heard of Yoga, but never put it into practice. She enjoyed working out, but worried about her ability to flex in the ways that the professor had, so she went for some of the easier stances.

Once her turn came around, she breathed in deeply, suppressing the anxiety of speaking in front of other people deep down inside. "Concentrate." she thought to herself. She had studied the list that the Professor had given hard, so she felt ready to begin.

"First, I'll start with the Greeting pose." She slowly brings her hands together and tries to smile. "Next, I'll slowly transition into the Mountain pose." She breathes in and stretches her arms high in the air, she struggles a little to keep her balance when she stands on her tippy toes, but manages to keep the stance.

"Then onto a Half moon pose right followed by a Half moon pose left" She puts her legs together and stretches her arms to the right, and then to the left together.

She wanted to put one little stretchy move into her routine so she took a deep breath, "Then, I will attempt a Wide-legged forward bend with hands on hips." She stretches her legs out and bends over, nearly falling over. She catches herself on the mat, red faced, stretches herself out again and tries once more, much slower. She manages to bend slightly, breathing slowly.

"Then, I'll slowly lay on the mat for a Corpse Pose." She lays out on the mat, with her arms and legs spread out. She enjoyed the feeling of the mat under her body, and the closeness to the ground. Her face still red from almost falling over, she breathes deeply, "Now I'll stand and to finish, back to the Greeting pose."

(Lilith Aldaine, Hufflepuff)

Private Outfit

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows in surprise when the class was lead into the empty classroom. For a short moment, she stopped walking forward when Professor Brookvale started to explain Yoga. She gathered herself and moved out of the way, her destination was a spot near to the windows. 'Yoga', she sighed, carefully took off her robe and used a spell to change her clothes temporarily into something comfortable. She left the small Slytherin badge on, however. Elizabeth grabbed one of the yoga mats and seated herself on it while following the instructions of the Professor. Some of the poses looked quite normal, others appeared hilarious to her and even if Yoga would help the body to relax and have a specific purpose, it was just too weird to her. 'Muggles', she thought and shook her head silently, trying to recall if her muggle friend Lotta had ever mentioned this. Though it didn't ring a bell.

Watching the others, Elizabeth took a copy of some Yoga poses and studied it for a while before deciding for the easiest and more graceful poses. She noticed some students were explaining what they were doing, but she didn't have any intention on this. The house points were decided by the Professor, not by the student.

Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth started with her sequence, sitting down in the Bound angle pose. She remained like this for a moment, before she felt a light pain in her upper legs and shifted into the Child pose. This was definitely more relaxing for her legs and even somewhat calming. Or perhaps she was just sleepy. Getting up again after a while, she tried to recall her sequence. Her own ambition had tempted her to try one of the intermediate poses and she had chosen the Warrior pose, left leg bent She strengthened her legs and started bending her left knee to a certain angle. With a swift movement of her arms, she took the stance of the warrior. This reminded her of ancient tales from East Asia and of a sweet little muggle cartoon Lotta had mentioned to her. It was a while ago since she had watched it with her, but this pose was somehow similar to the movements of the people who created and fought with fire. Smiling at this thought, Elizabeth went on with the Right waist rotation pose to bring herself in a position to make a circle-thing of her sequence. It surprised her that these movements counted as yoga poses as they seemed so easy. Slowly taking the Diamond pose, she was feeling comfortable as her sequence was coming to an end. Just two more poses and she would be done. The diamond was rather easy and she stroke over her legs. This was the perfect position to flow into Left twist with left leg bent. Her right hand grabbed her right knee and she twisted her head to the left. A bit too quickly, Elizabeth went back to the original Bound angle pose, trying to sit as gracefully as possible. With a content smile, she seated herself in a more comfortable position to watch the other students.

Elizabeth Amalia Covington ~ Slytherin

Outfit Not Found

Callista blinks for a moment. She's moderately familiar with yoga--her sister Fiammetta went through a phase--and she knows how it works.

But she'd have surely dressed differently if she'd known! At least they're given the opportunity to change clothes.

She works through the sun salutation a couple of times, then ponders. Why is this teacher asking kids who have probably never done yoga before to make up sequences of their own? She's never done that.

Okay, well, it must be possible.

She goes back into upward dog and from there into downward dog before stretching her way through the hare and the cat poses, then rolls over onto her back to begin with a knee press, then stretches into the plow pose and from there into a supported shoulder stand, and...crap, she's rusty, she doesn't hold that one long before rolling back into the plow and the knee press.

Ouch. She glances around for a half second before she reverses the sequence to end up where she began.

Callista Zabini, Slytherin

[img align=left]https://i.imgur.com/z3daAzs.png[/img]Ezekiel have seen Yoga on his father's TV before, it never looked interesting, and his mother would agree with this thought. And he can't help thinking how loud his father would laugh at him watching this class. He's just thankful he isn't here, but upset at the same time cause it would be fun. With too many thoughts on his head, he throws his hair back and tries to focus on the professor; the lesson he chooses is very basic yet functional, years of candy eating + playing video-games didn't do wonders to his flexibility.

"Uh so... Hello!" pulls hair back "As this is my first time actually practicing Yoga, let's begin with something very basic - Let's strengthen our hands, so we get ready to more advanced poses in the future". stretches

"The first pose we will do is the Salutation Seal, it is an excellent way to induce a meditative state of awareness. Just sit comfortably with your legs crossed, bow your head down, inhale calmly and press your hands together. Let's remain in silence like this for 2 minutes."

After two minutes of silence and deep breathing, Ezekiel gets up and asks everyone to get up too.

"Our next pose is the Eagle Seal, for this we will need to stand up. Please turn your hands so that the palms face up and cross your right hand over your left, clasping your thumbs." Ezekiel raises his hands really high so everyone can see what he is doing. "Press your thumbs together as hard as you can, this will help you release any tension from your mussels and tendons." He takes a deep breath, again, in and out.

After 2 more minutes of silence, Ezekiel puts his hands down and starts speaking again. "Our next pose is a bit more adventurous! Please stretch your backs first, to avoid any accidents" stretches back "This pose is the Extended Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose, and to start bring your left knee toward your belly. Reach your left arm inside the thigh, cross it over the front ankle, and hold the outside of your left foot." Ezekiel struggles a bit to talk as he executes the steps, and for one second it looks like he will fall on his face. "tight voice maintaining solid grounding through the standing foot helps keep you steady, don't fall kids! Let's try to stay in this pose as long as possible, whenever you feel uncomfortable just sit and relax a bit."

Another 2 minutes of holding the pose and breathing, Ezekiel decides is enough, he really doesn't wanna fall flat on the floor in his first class.

"Very good guys! Swing the leg back to center with an inhale, and lower the foot to the floor with an exhale."

He sits on his yellow Yoga match and repeats the Salutation Seal: "Thank you Professor Cassandra for this reviving, interesting and completely different class! Let's all relax to the Salutation Seal pose and hope to take a nap before class ends." Ezekiel finished with a silly smirk.

[small]pose sequence pictures || Ezekiel - Hufflepuff[/small]

When it was Magnus’ turn the first thing he did was to summon his own mat. No way was he going to sit on a mat where other sweaty bodies had been. He wasn’t keen on doing this in front of so many people but he had had practice. When Magus was in Japan, the Buddhist monks taught him several things to help calm him during the full moon. Though, Magnus did not know the names of the poses, he knew what kind of workout he could do.

He started with the Consciousness Seal where he breathed in and out. Focusing on the breath and feeling his body, he let his mind go—became one with his body until he was relaxed. Next, he moved slowly into to the Standing Forward Bend. He could feel his hamstrings pull as his head was bent forward. Unlike the yoga pose, Magnus didn’t put his hands on his ankles, instead they were in front him. Keeping his mind clear by focusing on his body’s feelings helped to keep him relaxed—despite the blood rushing in his head. He knew from experience to move slowly to his next pose, so as not to faint or get a headache. Carefully he moved into the Dolphin Plank Pose, which he called the “I’m about to do pushups, but not really pose.” Since that’s what it looked like to him. With his body straight, he used his elbows and feet to keep him balanced. This helped to strengthen his core (which it didn’t really need) and with the strengthening comes releasing the stress. This pose was also to help create a more positive mood. His next pose, the Feathered Peacock Pose was another one to help combat depression and negative thoughts. Magnus was not able to bend his arms like the official pose, so it was more in line with a headstand, but the results were similar. Staying relaxed he felt his body as it released endorphins and helped to keep his head clear of negative thoughts. Now it was time to bring him back towards the calming side again, so he went to the Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose. Lying flat near the wall, he put his legs up and his arms down towards his legs. The restfulness of the pose was perfect to him as he shifted to the Corpse Pose which was the pose of total relaxation. Finally he went back to the Consciousness Seal where he breathed in and out, letting himself feel the movement of his chest. He stood and gave a bow, like he would to the monks and picked up his mat.

Magnus Lee, Ravenclaw

The sequence

Consciousness Seal

Standing Forward Bend

Dolphin Plank Pose

Feathered Peacock Pose https://www.yogajournal.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_80%2Cw_800/MTQ2MTgwNjczMDI4NzYxMDIx/forearm-balance-clio-manuelian.webp">

Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose

Corpse Pose

Outfit Not Found Nicola nervously, but determinedly, steps up for the presentation. She knows a little about yoga and had even tried some of the poses with her mom and dad while watching you-tube videos at home, but this was completely different, and in front of people.

After watching some videos I thought to try this sequence. Hope it is okay they are all standing.
Starting with the greeting pose we stand, center, and breathe. Hands pressed together over the center of your chest, greeting heart to heart. Move into the mountain pose reaching up to the ceiling and stretching your whole self. Should feel good, not painful. Continue to breathe, steadily. Reaching up again join your hand and bend to the side for half-moon left, then half-moon right. Now that we have stretched nicely we can try to balance for the tree pose. This is a little harder so if you fall out of it, that's okay. I do all the time. With your left foot firmly on the floor place your right foot against your left thigh and try to find your balance, when you do move your hands to the center of your chest like in the greeting pose. Now the same thing for the other side. Oops. A little wobble there by me, almost fell. Now another nice mountain pose stretch to the ceiling and all done. Thanks for letting me try this out.

Nicola Stromwing- Hufflepuff

((OOC: The list for the yoga poses is not working, can we just use any pose we find?))