Page 12 of The Love Position

Sophia managed a smile. ‘She came to the house to see how Mum was doing after Dad… She’s really lovely.’

‘That she is. I only have nice friends, and now you’re one of them, whether you like it or not. Now fill that in and I’ll get us set up.’

After putting in her contact details and answering the health questionnaire, Sophia sat on a yoga mat next to Estelle as people arrived. The other students were mainly women and were of all ages. Even though many were young and dressed in tight Lycra, there were plenty in their fifties and sixties, and one or two did indeed seem to be wearing pyjamas.

Sophia watched Isaac interacting with each person as they came in. He was friendly and clearly well-liked.

‘He seems really nice,’ she whispered to Estelle. ‘Does he have any faults?’

‘Yes, one massive one.’

He does? ‘What?’

‘He won’t shag me.’

Someone cleared their throat loudly next to them, and Sophia stifled a giggle.

‘Okay, everyone,’ Isaac said, sitting cross-legged on a mat at the front of the room. ‘Let’s start in easy pose. Make sure you’re sitting on at least one block. Crossing the legs at the mid-calf point, extend the heels away. Now lift the flesh of the buttocks out and apart so you’re on your sit-bones.’

Sophia followed his directions.

‘Closing the eyes, bring your awareness to the lower abdomen…’

Sophia’s eyes didn’t want to close. Everything was new and her subconscious didn’t trust a roomful of strangers.

‘Bringing the hands into prayer position, let’s begin with three oms and the opening chant.’

Isaac took in a deep breath, his chest expanding, then sang a deep om that resounded through the wooden floor. Everyone else apart from Sophia joined in.

After the oms, he began a chant in Sanskrit that those around her seemed to know off by heart. It was a beautiful sound, but anxiety was shifting around inside her stomach. Was this what yoga was all about?

Isaac’s eyes flicked open and found hers. As he sang, he smiled as if to reassure her and she smiled back. She knew she should make more of an effort to close her eyes, but he was so gorgeous her eyelids refused to shut. The chant continued, filling the air around them, and everything else about the room slipped away. There was just her and him.

Something shifted in his expression, and heat pulsed between her thighs. She was suddenly aware of what Estelle had meant by a ‘lady boner’. Sophia hadn’t felt this level of sexual desire before. Ever.

As the chant finished, Isaac’s gaze moved away, and he dropped his hands into his lap.

‘I wanted to begin by speaking a little about the Yamas and Niyamas, the first two limbs of Raja yoga, so we can start to think about how we might use them in our practice. But before I do that, let’s change the cross of our legs.’

Sophia followed his lead.

‘Yamas and Niyamas can be thought of as precepts, or ways to live in yoga, and the first of the Yamas is ahimsa, the principle of non-violence. So, when you’re in a pose, be gentle with yourself. Yoga is a path of internal discovery, not an exercise system to endure. If you need to come out of a posture before anyone else, then please do so.’

A wave of relief flooded through Sophia.

‘The second Yama is satya, which translates as truthfulness. So, whilst you should respect the principle of ahimsa in your body, also employ satya. Ask yourself if you’re being truthful to the pose, or simply going through the motions. Then take what you learn about your own inner truth out of the class and into your life.’

Despite the grief at the end of her relationship with Marcus, Sophia knew she’d been true to herself by leaving him. She was lucky to have grown up with parents who loved and respected each other, and she knew in her guts she could never take Marcus back after his betrayal, no matter how much she’d loved him.

‘The third Yama is brahmacharya, which is traditionally thought of as the sublimation of sexual energy, or chastity.’

Sophia was suddenly far too hot. Isaac seemed to be the embodiment of sexual energy. The women in front of her sat up straighter as they listened.

‘Sometimes brahmacharya can mean sexual abstinence. In my case, I took a vow of chastity twelve years ago—’

‘Fucking knew it,’ Estelle hissed under her breath.

‘But if you think of it as the “right use of energy”, then you can use the concept to think about where you put your focus and attention. In yoga, we direct our energy from external satisfaction, to instead finding peace and contentment within ourselves.’

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