Jackson had greeted the professors and found a well-positioned (sure?) yoga mat. He did a neck stretch while Professor Davis told the class about the tea. He was right, there had been no note to take any… but the rules could still be considered fresh enough that those who had been attending Hogwarts for a while would still be used to being able to grab a cup. It was TEA for Merlin’s sake, but rules were rules and Jackson wasn’t about to try and break them. Speaking of which, he appreciated Professor Sabra’s answer about changing clothes because he didn’t need the Headmaster seeing this and disapproving. When instructed, Jackson flopped down on his yoga mat and sat with his legs crossed for now. Ah, a lesson about getting rid of anxiety and stress? That was perfect for this Fifth Year,

let’s. be. honest.

Jackson closed his eyes to begin his rounds, and began. 1…2…3…4… Okay, aaaand 1…2…3…4…5…6…7… oh, yea! Stop there… and out 1…2…3…4…5…oh… crap… he had already run out of oxygen! Uhm… 6…7…8… It was easy to get the hang of, but he found himself feeling like a man without rhythm trying to dance. He had to remember to slow down his breath. To have more control and pay attention to it. But wasn’t it cool that you just normally breath and don’t have to remember to keep yourself alive so much?? Okay, okay, topic for another time. At her say so, he stood up on his mat and soon he was trying out the Fehu pose. It was too bad that Halloween had passed, because this was a good Frankenstein monster pose.
He decided to try Mannaz… which promptly cracked his back in three spots as he lifted his arms. Man that was a good one. He would need to do that one on his own time too.

This was seriously an interesting way to combine Ancient Runes and yoga. He would neeeverrrr have thought of it, but looking at the runes now would only remind him of yoga poses. Next, Jackson had decided on Sowilo and promptly squatted down a bit to match the position. Perth was his fourth choice, as it had seemed like the easiest transition. He was probably right about that, but his execution could have been better. He had basically rolled off of his feet and onto his mat to get into the next pose. Okay and last one! 1…2…3…4…1…2…3…4…5…6…7…1…2…3..4…5…6…7…8…

Derf did not see Skyler's look, not that it would have mattered if he had, and instead his sole focus was on the two professors in the inside while he continued to linger outside. Though Archer's pat on the shoulder DID cause him to nearly jump out of his skin, managing to offering a bit of a sheepish smile afterwards and his brain had registered her arrival.

One word, it was all he needed to hear. One single word that would be all the confirmation he would need and not make that soul sucking creature of obligation give his skin goosebumps as though there were a dementor lingering nearby. After what had happened with with the Astronomy professor and what the headmaster had said specifically to him because of it all, Derf had been on edge every lesson.

So please, professors, just one word. All he needed was a 'yes' and all the anxiety causing his palms to sweat and the obsessive need to rub them on his trousers. But it didn't come. Nothing even close to it came. Instead his question was greeted with the same kind of words the now former Hogwarts faulty had offered.

It'll be okay.

No. It won't. No one who had ever said that to him since he started Hogwarts had been right.

Was how he wanted to reply, because their words made it abundantly clear that no, they had not sought permission and now everyone was in a compromising situation. The Arithmancy professor seemed to be addressing the Hufflepuff's concerns to Jessa - to whom he had simply returned her shrug - who had remained silent....and while the sixth year felt pity for the man being sick, he really REALLY did not think that illness would be viewed as an valid reason and more as a feeble excuse by the man. And if the tea cart was empty, then why the need to Disillusion it? Not to mention...Disillusioning it didn't mean it wasn't still THERE.

Just because you closed your eyes when an inferius was charging at you didn't mean it was just going to disappear and not try and kill you.

Opting to stay in his uniform as he finally entered the room, though he did give the changing area a bit of a run through and removed his outermost robes only, he found himself a spot and tried giving this breathing and whooshing sound a go...but his mind was far too loud for any of this. Four rounds? He was going to be lucky if he got even one done. Closing his eyes and relaxing his face, ISH, he opened and closed his mouth like a trout on land and breathed through his nose while counting to...er...well...he sorta got to seven before holding his breath for four seconds and then exhaling- sans any whooooooosh sound - and felt more like a deflating balloon than at peace or anywhere near finding his center.

There was no relaxation to be had by the Hufflepuff, not under these circumstances and not when breathing the wrong way seemed to almost be reason enough to throw one in detention. Contrary to the reputation he had somehow earned, Derf did not have a cacoethes for troublemaking...but more and more he felt like there just was no winning this term in any respect. Only losing.

And his fingers continued to want to twitch towards his little black journal, not wanting to be a hypocrite again but also...wanting very much to be one.

Lost in thought, he missed everyone moving to stand and take on the first position of, well, many it seemed by the woman's instruction. Now he was even LESS likely to be able to relax since he was going to have to crane his neck a bit to look at the poses and then strike them. So...sticking with Fehu for now, he stood with his arms up and tried to breathe. So...did this mean that he was supposed to feel the energy of the rune by standing like this?It felt like a rather intangible practice of runes rather than something useful like being able to speak to animals and without any chants to be had...Derf wasn't sure WHAT he was supposed to feel right now, but he was giving this his best effort.

Relaxed? Ha. Haha. Ha. Ha ........

Holding the Fehu position long enough, Derf brought his feet together and then dropped his arms to his sides while checking out the chart again. Since, well, he was thinking about winged horses and that activity...he was going to shift to Ehwaz next. Which was simply enough and he sorta felt like a confused scarecrow standing there with his arms making a stiff diagonal line through his body - fingers on his right hand extended towards the ceiling and fingers on his left to the mat.

And...breathing...yes...he was trying to do that. Trying being the key word.

Be the rune. Be the rune.

Since Juniper was still setting on the floor she figured that she may as well stay close to the floor. The pose for Sowilo looked like it was crouching down on the balls of your feet. The Sixth year pushed herself up and crouched down flat on her feet. Then she shifted to standing on the balls of her feet. Trying her best to keep her balance in this pose. Which was slightly hard to do. But she she was getting the hang out it now. When she finally got the complete balance of the pose she started counting to thirty.

After that she closed her eyes and exhaled out of the mouth. Then she closed her mouth and inhaled through the mouth and counted to four. Counting to seven as she counted her breath, and exhaling slowly to a count of eight. Returning back to a crossed legged position.

Now she had one more pose to do and she was sure that it was nowhere near the fifthteen minutes being up yet. So she relaxed just the way she was for a moment.

Getting to her feet she picked the pose for Mannaz. It was pretty simple, she raised her arms over her head and crossed them behind her head. Juni found this runic yoga fun. As a rune obsessed student and athlete, she enjoyed the union of two of her favorite things. She had many favorite things. Holding this pose for thirty seconds, then she went into the 4 7 8 breathing one last time.

After that all was over she laid back on the yoga mat, hands folded over on top of her stomach, staring out at the ceiling. Waiting for the next part of the lesson.

Oh.

This was actually class and NOT an impromptu yoga session he'd accidentally wandered in on? Max was still very much confused and he shook his head at the question about athletic gear. He must've missed that memo so uniform it was.

And he actually had a choice about whether or not he wanted detention??? Ummmm, no thank you.

"I'll uhhh..... I'll help clean up after class, Sir." Max mumbled quietly, shuffling awkwardly on the spot. At least everyone seemed busy with whatever exercise it was they were doing so there was no staring.

Still super embarrassed about the whole thing, and still blushing profusely, Max shuffled into the room and scanned the place for a free mat. Luck clearly wasn't on his side as it seemed the only free mat was slap bang right in the middle of everyone. Awesome.

"Sorry.... coming through... 'scuse me.... sorry...."

This was the WORST.

Lucas was very much glad that they were going to come to a stop with the breathing exercises. It wasn’t....... bad but he couldn’t help but feel...... not calm. It was supposed to help him feel relaxed but it didn’t look like that was going to happen.

So, he was glad that they were moving on.......

......... uh, to more breathing exercises, it seemed.

His shoulders drooped slightly. What was worse was that they were going to do poses this time? Yeah....... not his cup of got chocolate. He got up to his feet and tried to do the Fehu pose which, well, wasn’t that bad. In fact, most of them weren’t that bad. Like Berkana, for example. He placed a hand on his hip and bent his knee and just...... stood there. Like that.

This was very....... uh, sassy, was it? Yeah. It was sassy.

Or like he was about to take a picture.

The thought made him smile as he closed his eyes and tried to do the breathing exercises again. He was just taking a picture with his eyes closed. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing...... bad about that. He even tilted his head slightly when he was holding his breath for seven seconds, trying to keep his thoughts on breathing and pictures and pictures in the snow with his family and how close the holidays were and......

..............

He opened his eyes again.

Yeah...... he was moving on.

Lucas shook his head and scanned the list again. Uh...... Laguz? Yeah? That seemed simple enough. He turned to the side and held his arms out at a downwards angle, only really checking to see if he was doing this correctly. It wasn’t hard to get wrong, luckily, but it was hard to keep his thoughts on anything that was....... nice. And not scary.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to force himself to....... relax? Yeah. How did anyone do this? People looked so calm when they were doing yoga but he just........ wasn’t feeling it. At all. He was sure he looked like he was about to cry or had smelt something funny and, from what he knew, that wasn’t part of yoga.

When he was done breathing out for eight seconds - which was also a long time - he glanced at the list again. Uh........ maybe he should change his tactic? Not..... that he really had one but whatever it was hadn’t been working. So he should choose something very different, yeah? Like...... oh! Hagalaz. That looked fun.

Lucas stood there, feet next to each other and arms out wide. Then, he had to...... what was that? He squinted at the chart. Move his arms around in four positions, it looked like. Right. He moved his arm up and then up until they were together at the very top and then down again. This...... seemed like a bad idea. He tried it again, this time while he was breathing but this led to even more problems. He was worried that he was going to hit someone closest to him - not that he had very long arms - and then he was worried that he was going to look stupid and people would SEE this - even if most people also had their eyes closed - and THEN he was even more worried about things he was worrying about before.

This was a bad bad idea.

Was it time to move on? Was this lesson over?

Slate was honestly REALLY glad to be out of his uniform, even if that meant yoga. He wasn't a big fan of all this weird stretching and posing, it felt like fake exercise, but, at the moment, it was different and different was good.

After the breathing exercise, he did as instructed and held his arms out. The okayness he was feeling just a few seconds was once again replaced with how he felt about yoga. It. Was. Not. His. Thing.

But here he was. WHOOOSH! Inhaaaale. Hooooooold. Moooooooore whoosh.

Pose numba one. He crossed his arms over his chest while standing straight. Dagaz. That was pretty easy. Now back to breathing.

Whoosh. While inhaling, he thought about how it would be much easier to not have to keep count of where he was. Four wasn't too bad but holding for seven was very specific. In fact, while he was thinking, his mind wandered enough to completely lose track.

That was fine right?

Probably.

Where was he now? He exhaled in something more of a puff rather than a whoosh. He next moved into a squatting position. Sowilo. (Which was really fun to say.)

Just one more now. He exhaled completely.
InhaleInhaleInhaleInhale. HoldHoldHoldHoldHoldHoldHold.
ExhaleWhooshExhaleWhooshExhaleWhooshExhaleWhoosh.

(Why did they have to breathe in a particular way again?)

He was back in his standing straight position. He then lifted one hand, bending it at the elbow, and placed it on his head. Wunjo.

Foster nodded at Maxton’s response and watched him make his way to an open yoga mat. Once that situation was taken care of, and thankful to have a clean up helper after class, he slowly made his way back towards the front of the room. Although the atmosphere wasn’t as serene as he had hoped, he could tell the students were trying. Whooshing sounds were coming from Derf, Patrick, Kaitlynn, Dorian, and Sterling, while Jackson, Lucas, Christopher, Slate, and Juni were mid yoga pose. He let a small smile creep across his lips when he noticed even Jessa had her eyes closed. Even though a few had chosen to remain in school uniform, not one of them was refusing to be part of the class.

“Okay, everyone, let’s all have a seat for a moment.” Foster folded himself into a cross-legged sitting position on his yoga mat. “I bet you are wondering what yoga has to do with Arithmancy. Professor Sabra gave you a little sneak peak of how it’s related to Ancient Runes, now it’s my turn.” He sat up straighter, moving his spine into proper alignment. “Has anyone here heard of Chakras? There are 8 Chakras used with Arithmancy. If you can, please name one of the 8 Chakras, where in your body it is located, and what it is associated with.”


OOC: First question is a three part question. Name a Chakra, where it’s found in the body, and what it’s associated with. Correct, incorrect, and creative answers are all accepted. Feel free to jump in and catch up at any time. Just pretend your charrie has been here all along, unless your charrie wants IC consequences. Class will move on in about 24 hours. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to PM/Skype me or Jess.

Derf was going to multitask, he decided, since he hadn't entirely finished his third position yet. Thankfully there was one seated position, for Perthro, so his knees folded up a bit towards his chest and he rested his elbows on his knees as the Arithmancy professor moved things along slightly. A sneak peek though...did that mean there would be more soon? Settling into his position a bit, Derf tried not to think about runes for a moment so he could focus on the topic of chakras.

Eight? He knew of seven for sure because mum and dad had talked about them from time to time while performing earth magic at home. Seven chakras along the human spine. Mostly topics of conversation revolved around what kind of edible plants and stuff they would grow in their garden. Like...when mum was having some serious lower back problems she had them growing beets and rutabaga.Or when his third chakra was apparently out of alignment his dad was always passing him a banana. Supposedly it was meant to help with his confidence and want to procrastinate?

Timidly raising his hand, Derf waited to be called upon before speaking. "I know of...seven..." he began, voice somewhat unsure. "And...um...most of them have foods...like fruits and vegetables...associated with them. So, uh, like if you had an issue with your heart chakra, which is...I think the fourth chakra, it was out of alignment or something, so you had some physical ailments or...er...fear of intimacy...then you could eat broccoli or kale or some other sort of leafy greens to feed and fuel that chakra."

Max honestly had no idea what was going on thanks to him being late and missing the instructions. And sure, Professor Davis had said he had plenty of time to catch up, but catch up with what exactly? So as everyone else...... did whatever it was they were doing, he stayed cross-legged on his mat.

He did however, know what chakras were and raised an arm in the air.

"Professor, I read this comic book once.... and there was this dude, yeah? And he had this suit that kinda channelled all kinds of super cool powers from the chakras in his body." It was AWESOME. "I dunno what it's called or what it does, but I think there's one in your head."

And that was his input.

Bettie being one of the few students still in uniform sat back down waiting for the next part of the joint lessons when professor Davis started talking about 8 Chakras and Arithmancy. Eight charkas? There are only seven Bettie thought or is there one she did not know about that deals with Arithmancy. She was sure she would find out soon enough.With that though in the back of her head Bettie raised her hand. "There is the Throat Chakra. It dials with voice, thyroid and other stuff I can not think of."

Professor Sabra had settled into the Perthro yoga position herself, while simultaneously watching the students engaging in the different poses. She was well aware that the Hufflepuff Prefect was having a difficult time relaxing, but only hoped that as the lesson continued on and the Headmaster's lack of appearance would be reassuring. Because she wasn't oblivious to the fact that the other fired professors had the Headmaster sitting in on their lessons. As far as she and Davis, well, they were both new and while that might not have meant anything, it also simultaneously meant they hadn't the established ... roots. Which may or may not have been a good thing.

And there was Prefect Carden ... She recalled both his parents, having been only a few years younger than them and given his father was head boy. She was about to make some comment about his tardiness, but Professor Davis handled it. Yes, cleaning up after the lesson would suffice. Back to concentrating on her breathing; Merlin, was that what her fingernails looked like?

Listening to Davis speak of Chakras, she nodded subtly from her Perthro position, before standing up gently.

"Professor Davis will continue in a moment about Chakras, but for the first part of today's activity, you can work with a partner or independently, but it is to create a routine that can be completed daily of five different yoga poses... using your runes textbook, try to select ones that might help in engaging in a more focused and less stressful day."

ooc: posting a little early, but Jamie will followup to the chakras question in a bit. Here's part one of the main activity ... !! Questions, just ask! Catchup posts are allowed!

Juni had been done her three poses for what seemed like forever that she had been waiting for the lesson to continue, but she was pretty relaxed and hoped that she wouldn’t end up falling asleep. Not like she would let that happen. She was still laying back staring up at the ceiling.

When Professor Davis spoke she set up and listen to him. Chakas? She didn’t know too much about that but she had read something about them and she tried to remember what she had read before. She listened to the others, then she raised her hand. ”There’s one that’s called the third eye, it’s located at the centre of the forehead, and it’s associated with perception, intuition, and wisdom.” At least that’s what she remembered reading about it.

Then Professor Sabra mentioned something about partners and she was excited, for the first time in a while when having to (or not having too to have) partners. Normally she would already be complaining about this but she waved over to Slate and beamed. Pointing at him and mouthing me and you and giving a thumbs up.

All the drama over the single cup of tea was exactly the reason why Stasya was looking forward to getting away from the castle for a bit, once the holiday break happened. Since she was absolutely not going to consider the idea that the holidays were going to be taken away from them along with everything else that had already been restricted. Nobody could be that evil, not even the headmaster. Of course, that didn’t mean she wasn’t hyper-aware of the fact that neither Professor Sabra nor Professor Davis were sanctioned by the headmaster and therefore it was just as possible that they could be punished for this lesson, whether or not tea had been offered to them all. It was even less likely that she could have used tasseomancy as an excuse in Arithmancy or Runes than it had been in Astronomy, but it wasn’t necessary anyway since she’d already decided that she wasn’t going to accept any if it had been offered.

Although the response to Derf’s concerns was hardly good either, she chose to stay quiet. She’d worn her uniform to class, and she’d wear it out as well, so she wasn’t going to consider the interim and if it was technically breaking rules. Doing yoga in their uniforms would lead to them not looking perfectly put together too, so either way it was probably bending rules at least. The conflict in her head was already at the max, so she was choosing to try and ignore anything that might make it get even worse. Plus, the breathing exercises, while not really Arithmancy in the specific sense, was hopefully going to relax her.

exhale…inhale one two three four…hold one two three four five six seven…exhale one two three four five six seven eight… Now she just had to repeat it another three times, except Professor Sabra had moved them on before she’d really even managed a second round. Maybe she really wasn’t meant to relax fully. Merlin knew it was impossible to relax at any other point of the day, given everything else happening. Namely, her conflict over the black prefect notebook and the obligations it held. Sometimes she wondered if it knew about her other notebook...

Either way, she’d tried continuing to repeat the breathing technique, scrambling to her feet well after the mini activity had been explained and into the Fehu pose, still trying to focus on her breathing. The connections to either of the two subjects was still unclear to her, aside from the fact they were supposed to think of three runes. Except, they weren’t supposed to consider the runes’ meanings or anything and it only confused her more. Hence her staying in the Fehu position probably longer than they were supposed to before she finally shifted into Laguz. It was practically an infinitesimal change of position, but that was all she could do. Plus, uncertainty was practically her main condition lately, even if they weren’t supposed to be thinking about the meanings. She was trying to concentrate on the breathing anyway and eventually Laguz shifted into her fallback rune of Ehwaz and she’d glanced over in Derf’s direction for a moment before she’d gone back to trying to continue the breathing exercise. Their extracurricular Runes project was definitely harder with the rules against trips outside without an escort.

Somehow, she’d shifted into the Algiz position moments before Professor Davis had requested they all have a seat again, and she intentionally held her position for a few more seconds before she allowed herself to sink down into a cross-legged position on her mat. She’d been listening either way. Listening and going through the breathing exercise which was hardly helping her relax. Neither did the fact she knew absolutely nothing about Chakras, and there had been another glance over in Derf’s direction as he’d answered the question, in way more detail than most of the others had.

Oh, now they were going back to the Runes practice. Sort of. She was assuming Professor Sabra meant the Runic poses from the chart, even before the mention of using their textbooks came into the picture, and she’d already gone back to thinking about meanings and everything. It was kind of like last term and their project of coming up with their own bind runes except with yoga positions and there was still the question of if the yoga poses actually had any runic connections and influences. Maybe a partner would be nice for this?

"There were some great answers given. There was one chakra that wasn't mentioned, that is less known. The 8th chakra , or Aura, is located about a hand's width above the crown chakra, outside of the body." He held his hand above his head to show where it was located. "It combines the effects of all the other chakras and is thought to be the connection between us and our higher selves."

"As I said before, each chakra is associated with something different. If there is a difficulty in your life, you can focus on the associating chakra through yoga and meditation." He flicked his wand and a stack of books floated through the room, one gently landing next to each group or solo working student. "The Cultural Arithmancy textbook can help you choose which area of the body you want to focus on for the activity Professor Sabra presented."

With one more flick of his wand, a chart appeared on the blackboard with the eight chakras listed. "I realize that most of you aren't familiar with using runic poses while focusing on chakras. I'm not looking for perfection or for a specific routine. It will look different for everyone, and that's fine. Design your routine around what feels right for you and your group."


OOC- Keep working either solo or with a group on creating a 5 pose routine. All catch up posts still more than welcome. If you have any questions, please PM/VM/Skype me (Jamie) or Jess. I believe Jess will pop by in about 24ish hours.

Dorian placed down his quill after copying the text that had appeared on the blackboard. He had heard of chakras before, obviously had come across the term when he had been looking up how to meditate himself, but he had never really thought of using them.

"Can you see chakras with your own eyes?" he asked after raising his hand in the air. He was curious about this because he had read that colors were assigned to certain chakra points.

Now, which chakras would he use to make a five pose routine. The thought of doing Yoga poses made him slightly uncomfortable because he wasn't someone who could be still. He always had to move at least one part of his body be it a foot or bouncing his knee. Even when he meditated he would sway in tiny circles sometimes, though he wondered if that was because he was in deep meditation or if he was falling asleep...

Since he prefered to work alone, Dorian flipped the pages of the text books and thought about which chakras he could use right now. The throat chakra was one, he definitely needed to communicate more. Though he thought he had made a first step already by asking for extra lessons on how to defend himself. He also thought the tailbone would be a good one because who did not want security and survival in their lives?

How did he made them in to a yoga pose routine though? Did it matter which runes he used for which chakras? Or did he have to match the runes with the chakras? He figured it was the latter option cause why else would they have combined the two lessons right?

Picking up his quill, Dorian bit on the feather absentmindedly as he began to search for the runes he could use and if they were part of the yoga poses. After a pretty quick search, the Ravenclaw realised that all of the chakras could be combined with a rune. Dipping the quill in the ink, the fourth year began to write down notes first before trying out the poses.

Those three were the most important to him right now but he knew he had to pick a five pose routine. With a small sigh, the Ravenclaw continued to search for the perfect runes. "These yoga routines...do we have to actually do them or is writing down the routine fine as well?" he asked after raising his hand up a second time. Cause Yoga was kinda embarrassing...especially when others were watching or was that just him?

The chakra suit he’d read about WAS really neat. Max wasn’t sure he wanted to tell Professor Davis more about it though. After all, non-educational reading was against the rules now so maybe this was some sort of trap to get him into more trouble than he already was for his lateness.

He’d cross that bridge when he got to it though because now was the time for more yoga poses apparently.

A daily yoga routine to eliminate stress? Ummmmm. He’d rather start the day with extra sleep and not a yoga routine to be honest. Max flicked uninterestingly through his textbook and looked for the poses that looked easiest.

He figured he’d start with Perthro because at least that runic pose was a sitting down one.

Professor Sabra listened to Foster explaining about the different Chakras and hoped this wasn't too confusing and they could see the overlap but this and stadhagaldr. Or well, if they couldn't they'd be able to soon, in that by focusing on certain positions, you were channeling certain chakras and feeling the energy from them.

She observed casually the couple students working, seemingly independent was the way to go for majority of students. That was when she saw the hand raise from one Ravenclaw and she hesitated a moment before responding. "Ah, but you're getting ahead of us, Mr Katharos. For now, I've asked you to design the yoga routine, but in a few moments, yes I was going to ask for you to demonstrate the routine to the class." Did that answer the question? Hopefully. "But for now, just focus on writing down the routine. One step at a time."

And actually, she should probably start talking more about stadhagaldr or they'd run out of time. "Runic Yoga, these poses that represent certain runes from the Elder Futhark, is also known as Stadhagaldr. It is an an ancient and active magic system that assumes runic postures for magical effect. These gestures, as I alluded to before, are helpful in anxiety and stress management, but they're also integrated into the daily routines of most magical schools. Something as simple as folding hands in prayer. It's a great way to balance the mind. To get in touch with your inner chakras. And while it seems like some of the poses require extensive training and effort, they don't."

"There are six key goals that stadhagaldr aims to achieve. Does anyone have any ideas about these goals of Runic Yoga?"

Derf was going to keep holding the Perthro position for now, it was kinda comfy anyway, though he still wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to be getting out of it other than...maybe relaxing? Though one needed to clear their mind for that and the Hufflepuff was entirely incapable of doing that these days.

Even more difficult to focus when they were being told to think, sorta, in two different directions. First with the chakras and what they knew and then those thoughts being interrupted with the pending task of making up a yoga routine of sorts. As Professor Davis spoke, Derf was reminded of something else his dad had mentioned once or twice - he really needed to start paying attention to the man....so his hand went back up while he finally broke position to get his Arithmancy textbook. Only he brought it back down almost immediately because...maybe it was best to just stick to these eight and not bring up the mention of some saying there were 12. Maybe it only had to do with Earth magic and that was an entirely different subject.

So...he needed to pick five chakras he wanted to focus on...which he supposed he could sort out easily considering the turmoil he found himself in on almost a daily basis, so he quickly scribbled on to his parchment.

Quote:

CHAKRAS OF FOCUS

1. Muladhara - tailbone - security and survival
2. Manipura - solar plexus or navel point - action and balance
3. Heart Chakra- middle of the chest - love and compassion
4. Visshuda - Throat Chakra - expression and communication
5. Aura- located above the body - connection between us and our higher selves

Tickling his nose with his quill, and glancing around to see if anyone shared similiar chakras of focus so maybe they could work together, his attention was drawn back to Professor Sabra who was FINALLY explaining more what these runic positions were. And, er, he was going to need his Ancient Runes textbook open too to cross reference things, clearly. And they were integrated into the daily routines of most magical schools? That was kind of neat...so why weren't they doing this at Hogwarts? Especially with this emphasis on them all having sharp and alert minds - which daily S.O.R.E's were supposed to help with. And, well, they did for him...but he had always run in the morning anyway so now it was just a little bit of upped intensity wise. He reckoned he could get an evening yoga routine in though, maybe before bed.

As to the professor's question....Derf figured it couldn't be all that far off from what yoga itself was meant to do. So....up his hand went while he continued to try and cross reference things - because surely there was a RIGHT way to match a rune with a chakra, you know? Runes had rules and stuff, certain traits and elements they represented, so he couldn't just assign things willy nilly. "Posture...like correct posture and having control over strengthening your bones and muscles."

Okay so...Muladhara...survival and security. Uruz was a rune that meant endurance which meant survival in a way...and it had the energy that transmitted survival...so since this was going to be an active harnessing of runic power that meant using its energy, right? But then there was Othala that GOVERNED security, safety, protection, the walls of Asgard....so maybe that was the more fitting one? Derf opted to just scribble down both options next to his first chakra for the time being.

Quote:

CHAKRAS OF FOCUS

1. Muladhara - tailbone - security and survival
   
   URUZ... OTHALA
2. Manipura - solar plexus or navel point - action and balance
3. Heart Chakra- middle of the chest - love and compassion
4. Visshuda - Throat Chakra - expression and communication
5. Aura- located above the body - connection between us and our higher selves

Was it obvious yet that this topic was thoroughly confusing Archer? Because it was. Though Professor Sabra's explanation actually helped to connect it to Ancient Runes anyway. And a quick glance around the room actually gave her some idea on what to do. So, she did some quick reflection and came up with a list of chakras she felt she needed to focus on.

Quote:

1- Visshuda - Throat Chakra - expression and communication
2- Heart Chakra- middle of the chest - love and compassion
3- Manipura - solar plexus or navel point - action and balance
4- Muladhara - tailbone - security and survival

She had trouble deciding on the final chakra, though. And even more trouble connecting them to specific runes. She decided to take a peak around at the papers of those around her until she got a good idea, then went scribbling again.

Quote:

1- Visshuda - Throat Chakra - expression and communication
2- Heart Chakra- middle of the chest - love and compassion
3- Manipura - solar plexus or navel point - action and balance
4- Muladhara - tailbone - security and survival; rune: othala

And some then came some shuffling through her Ancient Runes book....

He was trying to pay attention, he really was. But did he know what he was doing? Not the foggiest. Max wasn’t about to make that obvious by asking for help though. Nope, the plan was just to struggle on through and make stuff up as he went along. He’d already been late to class, he wasn’t about to draw even more attention to himself.

He listened as Professor Sabra offered more explanations but it all sounded like gibberish to him. He was going to need anxiety and stress management to help him through this lesson.

Brow furrowed with confusion, Max continued to flick through his textbooks. He was already regretting the decision to start with Perthro because words like ‘fertility’ and ‘fruitfulness’ kept cropping up which was only leaving him even more confused and flustered.

He had to start writing down something though. Anything.

Choosing the runic poses wasn’t so tricky…. He simply stuck with the theme of choosing the runic poses that looked easiest. How was he going to choose which chakra to pair it up with? The age old method of closing one’s eyes and randomly pointing at a page in the textbook would do the trick.

Juni just stared at the front of the room for about what felt like forever. For whatever reason she just had zoned out for a bit. It took her a few minutes to recover and get focused on the new task.

The sixth year looked down at both her arithmancy book and her ancient runes book open and sitting next to each other. She was starting to get flashbacks of last term about a week before exams. This lesson was making her feel overwhelmed again like she did then.

Her eyes moved from one book to the other and to the chart of poses. She was basing her answers on either runic poses associated with the area of the chakra or the meaning of the rune. Which resulted in giving two runic poses for a few of the chakras. It took her awhile figure out things because of her moving back and forth through all of the information.

Looking up at professor Sabra as she had asked them a question. Goals of runic yoga? Did she know that? She was sure she had seen something about it. Thinking about other things that she knew of with normal yoga and what she thought she remembered about reading about stadhagaldr. She raised her hand after she came up with a conclusion. ”Isn’t one self control or wait no… isn’t it something like control of emotion?” Well she kind didn’t have the answer together. But she got it out and to the point.

Quote:

Aura- located above the body - connection between us and our higher selves <<<>>> Hagalaz
Heart Chakra- middle of the chest - love and compassion <<<>>> Dagaz, Mannaz
Manipura - solar plexus or navel point - action and balance <<<>>> Gebo, Sowilo
Swadisthan - pelvis - creativity <<<>>> Kenaz
Muladhara - tailbone - security and survival <<<>>> Thurisaz, Perthro

He resumed his walk around the room as Professor Sabra continued with the lesson and asked the class another question. It was all a lot to bring together in such a short class period.

As the students worked on their routines, Dorian asked a question. “That’s an excellent question, Mr. Katharos. The average witch or wizard would not be able to see the chakras on the body with the naked eye. I do, however, believe that there are some with higher powers that are more in tune with the mind body connection that are able to see each chakra color.”

Foster made his way back to the front of the room, but remained standing. “The final part of your task is to write down your 5 pose routine and demonstrate it to the class. On your parchment, be sure to include why you chose the poses. You may place the parchment on the stack by the purple yoga mat at the front of the room after you demonstrate your routine.” He scanned the room and felt an aching in his stomach by the confused looks on some of their faces. “Remember, there isn’t one perfect way to choose a routine. I start most of my days with meditative breathing, then focus on yoga poses to awaken my desired chakra. This morning, my focus was on chakras one and three. Tomorrow it may be different depending on what feels out of alignment.” He hoped that would relieve some of the pressure and allow them to more freely complete the assigned task.

He glanced over to Professor Sabra to signal he was finished so she would be able to respond to the answers to her question and add anything he may have left out.


OOC: We are starting to wrap things up. The final part of the activity is to demonstrate the routine created and “turn in” a sheet of parchment with the routine and reason for each pose chosen. There is still time to catch up, just pretend your charrie has been in class the entire time or IC consequences will apply.

His eyes kept glancing around trying to peer at other parchments to see if anyone was on the same page as him or even anywhere close. He wasn't overwhelmed, per say, but he was struggling a bit with matching. He also wasn't entirely sure what the connection was between the two subjects at the moment other than...yoga being a bridge. Which maybe was why he was so frustrated as he flipped through his textbooks and continued to cross reference. Arithmancy had never been one of his stronger subjects - the calculations often never held his attention long enough and he was always making small errors in them - while Ancient Runes had been one of his favorites. So he SHOULD be able to meet somewhere in the middle, his own bridge, to get this done.

Manipura could have two runes also, from what he was reading into things...though he was personally leaning a bit more towards Sowilo because of its connection to the central nervous system. But he kept both as options for now. Though Gebo could also work for the heart chakra too...maybe more so than it would for Manipura? Wunjo seemed fitting too....OH, thankfully Visshuda was an easy one as there was one rune that quite literally meant communication and was the messanger rune, so that one only had one rune listed under it. The last chakra, the one for Aura, was a bit more difficult for him to sort through. First rune his eyes laid on was Hagalaz because of its energy with power beyond human ability to harness...but it was also SUCH a destructive rune that it seemed a bit...counterproductive to everything? Or maybe...Inguz? Everything it governed seemed on brand and how this rune could also represent the energy in which one isolates themselves, as they do while performing yoga, to create a space where transformation into a high state occurs...seemed the perfect fit for a final position in a yoga routine. Taking in everything gathered from the previous positions and stuff? Yeah, that seemed better...so he crossed out Hagalaz and stuck with just Inguz there.

Quote:

CHAKRAS OF FOCUS

1. Muladhara - tailbone - security and survival
   
   URUZ... OTHALA
2. Manipura - solar plexus or navel point - action and balance
   
   GEBO...SOWILO
3. Heart Chakra- middle of the chest - love and compassion
   
   GEBO....WUNJO
4. Visshuda - Throat Chakra - expression and communication
   
   ANSUZ
5. Aura- located above the body - connection between us and our higher selves
   .....
   HAGALAZ.... INGUZ

Okay. Was he done now?

Rubbing his face while he considered everything, Derf looked up as Professor Davis began to speak again....and mentioned they had to write down their reasons.

DOH!

Nope, not done at all.

Say what?

Max fidgeted anxiously. He was an anxious fidget most of the time anyway, but this was there was extra anxious fidgeting going on now.

They had to write down the reasoning behind the poses they'd chosen? WHY? He very much doubted 'I just closed my eyes and picked them at random' would be sufficient. Not only that, but he was not down for demonstrating his routine in front of the entire class and two professors.

Nope.

No thank you.

He raised an arm in the air and looked at both Professors with a panicked expression. "Do we have to demonstrate them.......?"

Arthuria was enjoying this lesson as she followed the breathing and then choose her runes. She was a little uncomfortable, feeling as though she needed to work out more but was determined to succeed. She liked meditating and found her energy was a little knotted up today as she tumbled sideways trying to do the Anszu causing her connection to her energy being disconnected as Professor Sabrapassed by her and her cheeks burned red, though its seemed to warm her slightly cold body. "I am sorry Professor" Arthuria said quietly not to disturb the others concentration.