“This Morning’s Yoga”

September 24, 2010

by Caciques Jackson Rafter and Megan Osborn

We were lined up on top of the dinning hall deck looking out over the turquoise water, our eyes were drooping and our yawns were contagious.  Hannah and Brady got us started by motioning to the group to get into child’s pose.  Moving into a sun salutation we stretched our arms up to the orange sky, taking deep slow breathes was a relaxing way to start the day.  The sun was rising behind spectacularly graying clouds and the wind was swirling around us.  There was a full moon low in the morning sky.  The waves were lapping against the rocky shore, calming the atmosphere around our bodies in downward dog.  The pace was slow so that everyone could be in the same mindset.  Every movement was lead with an inhale through the nose and it was ended with an exile through the mouth.  I felt like we were welcoming the sun as a community, as we woke up our bodies with rhythmic stretching.  By the end of our morning exercise everyone was fully awake and feeling refreshed. We now felt ready for the long day of classes in front of us and our limbs and joints felt better then they ever had before.

After morning classes the community split up into research groups.  The wind was strong, so instead of going on an adventure on the boat, patch reef snorkeled around the beautiful reefs of Fourth Hole.  Hundreds of French Grunt and a Green Moray eel swam around us.  The water was so shallow that our stomachs almost touched the sea urchins, but thanks my newly loosened muscles from this morning’s yoga, I was able to swiftly maneuver myself around them.