Yoga

Breathe in
Slowly exhale
Breathe in hope for this day
Exhale yesterday’s lost moments
Breathing

Child’s pose
Kneel – stretch – relax
Childlike falling asleep
Gentle drift into surrender
Child’s play

Tree pose
Balanced, focused
Tree branches reaching up
Standing tall on one foot, grounded
Tree roots

Yoga
Outer/inner
Yoga – yuj – means unite
Inner/outer join together
Yoga

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This week’s W3 prompt from PoW Khadija is to write a cinquain, a five-line poem, using repetition to give one word or phrase new meaning as the poem unfolds. She further challenges us to “begin at least three lines with the same word or short phrase. This is called anaphora.”

Five lines: Use this syllable pattern: 2–4–6–8–2. That means two syllables in the first line, four in the second, six in the third, eight in the fourth, and two in the last.

A repeated beginning: Start at least three of those lines with the same word or short phrase.

Any subject: a feeling, a place, a memory, or an ordinary moment.

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I do NOT claim to be a yoga expert.

Several years ago I took my first yoga class. Once I got over the awkwardness of my inability to hold poses the way some of the others in the class did — and being reminded repeatedly that yoga is NOT a competition — I found great value in simple poses.

Last week, when I was traveling, I found myself at times focusing on my breathing (see Aggressive Driving) and at other times doing Child’s Pose on the floor to stretch out my achy back. When I got back to work on Monday, I needed a little time for Tree Pose, which requires focus, and somehow makes me more inwardly balanced as I outwardly balance.