My...what big eyes you have!!

Bringing back a memory can be many things, depending upon the nature of the memory. I highly recommend revisiting the good ones and the funny ones. So when I saw a cartoon in the newspaper about a yoga class, I cut it out and taped it on the inside of a card. I included a little tin of mints that had a woman cross-legged, eyes closed, and her hands were in an 'ohm' mind- calming session. The tin said, "Yoga Girl." I put it in the mail.
Closing my eyes, I could see the future...I could envision the yoga card being opened by my high school/college/taught together in the same school building friend...that would be Janet[ alias:'Hey, wanna go horse back riding?].
And I could see the past.
We were trying to recover from the after effects of a very momentous day. We were driving to the school where I taught kindergarten, and Janet taught 4th grade. Off in the distance we could see smoke rising into the sky, and jokingly we laughed about, 'Wouldn't it be something if the school was on fire!' As we got closer, traffic was being detoured off the main street, because...the flippin' school was on fire!! We stared at each other wide eyed! Oh my God!! An electrical fire had started in the middle of the night[whew!], and hence... the school was history. All of the displaced classrooms were bused to many other schools in the district where any possible space or closet[!] was found for each classroom to finish the year. Needless to say, we were 'transplants' and not exactly welcomed with open arms. And, Janet and I were in different buildings. It was a long, hot, stressful end of a school year.
Janet says, "Hey! What do you think about signing up for the yoga class that is being offered by the town's adult ed? It would be a good stress reducer. It's only once a week. Let's do it."
" OK. Sure! What the heck? "
Alrighty then.
When we arrived at the high school, we were directed to the gymnasium for the yoga class. There were quite a few people there, and the yogi called out [in a soft voice!] to find a spot on the gym floor and sit comfortably. After about 5 minutes, the class began. I remember learning some stretching exercises and yoga positions. The second half of the session was a mental exercise to clear your mind and get in touch with your inner spirit. The gym was filled with people resting quietly and following the directions of our yogi. He was excellent. With calm and simple conversation, we were directed to 'let go' of all of the little annoyances of the day. For the moment, we were to pay no attention to money and paying bills, forget making appointments, abandon the scheduling of everyone's day...just put it all aside for the moment. No worrying about health issues...just listen to the sound of your heart beating, and feel the rythmic rise and fall of your chest as your breathing brings oxygen to all the parts of your body.
All of a sudden, out of the 'hear a pin drop' silence came a loud and rhythmic "ZZZZ ZZZZZ ZZZZZ".
Snoring. Altered states snoring. Down for the count snoring!
I rolled my head to the right, and Janet rolled her head to the left. Our wide eyes locked in, and the laughter came out!! We immediately stopped looking at each other. We tried so hard to get the muffled merriment under control. My face hurt. The rise and fall of my chest had more than rhythmic breathing going on. And the more I tried to stop laughing, the more evident it became that it was clearly out of my control.
And then the soft, but stern voice said, " We need to have more seriousness of mind at this time."
Absolutely! No problem! ZZ ZZZ ZZZZ ZZZ
This was stress reduction at its best!! Unplanned. Unscripted. Heavenly. Never to be forgotten. And the mere thought of it still brings a smile to my face.
So, how would we rate the overall calming effect of our yoga class on a scale of 1-10:
...ohm. ..a zen!