Milan Vohra - The Love Asana

His voice had a beautiful deep timbre to it and just the low caressing sound of it sent a delicious shiver down Pari’s arms and neck. She shook off the feeling and focused on the problem at hand.

‘Is this the first time you’re trying yoga?’ The man obviously had a genuine issue with his back and here she had been less than helpful getting him started. It was the late entrance that had thrown her off kilter. Usually she made sure she knew if her new students had any specific concerns that needed attention. Pari couldn’t bear the idea of a student in any kind of pain.

‘Why don’t you come on up here?’ She managed a tight smile. ‘That way I can keep a closer eye on you and make sure you don’t do anything you shouldn’t.’

The twinkle in the man’s eye gave Pari a sense that there was a retort that he would have liked to have made but hadn’t.

He carried his mat with him and laid it out way too close to hers at the front of the class. Her eyes registered the black ganjee that left his arms gloriously exposed.

‘You may well be right. Maybe that’s how I got the catch in the first place. This woman I met on the flight—’ he continued.

‘I don’t need unnecessary details,’ Pari interrupted primly, disconcerted by his audacity.

‘—asked me to help her lift a heavy piece of her luggage onto her cart … I probably jacked it then,’ he finished smoothly.

‘Oh!’

Pari felt immediately contrite.

‘Could you show me where it hurts?’ she asked softly.

‘Somewhere in this area.’ Vivan twisted his body a little to show her but Pari thought she saw him wince a bit as he did so. Later she wondered if she had imagined it.

‘No, no, don’t stretch till I know exactly how bad it is. Roughly about here?’ she asked, waving her palm over the middle of his back.

‘A little lower actually.’ Before she knew it, the man had touched her hand lightly to press it onto the spot on his back just above the waistband of his linen pants. What she felt was pure taut muscle. He was obviously in very good shape.

Pari hurriedly pulled back her hand. The brief contact with his body had been like touching an exposed wire. She wondered if she looked as flushed as she felt. As a trainer it wasn’t as if she had never had any contact with a male student—to help someone correct their posture, for example—but never had anyone had this kind of ridiculous effect on her.

Turning to the rest of her students, Pari instructed, ‘You all know the warm-up routine. Finish up with the neck exercises and stretches while I help, er …’

‘Vivan,’ he prompted in his low sexy voice.

‘While I help Vivan with some basics,’ Pari completed hurriedly.

The class was soon engrossed in completing the neck and arm rotations she’d asked them to do.

‘Maybe I can start you on something like Ardh Kati Chakrasana … ’ Pari said thoughtfully, more to herself.

‘Sorry?’

‘It’s a kind of side bend. Given that you’re a learner and you’ve got this catch too, I don’t want you doing any forward bends for now.’ She showed him the asana in a few simple movements and indicated that he do it along with her. Her head barely came up to his chest as he mirrored her movements.

‘Does this seem fine to you?’ Vivan asked, his eyes not leaving hers as he extended himself to the side with the ease of a large graceful cat.

Pari licked her lower lip nervously. She ran her eyes over the studio again, sensing the spell he seemed to have cast over everyone. Many of her students were again watching him riveted. Granted, he was a fine specimen, but it was obvious from the casual way he dipped his long torso, blithely unaware of the silky fall of his hair, that he was used to being the centre of attention. There was nothing out of line in anything he had said to her but just his presence was unnerving. She could swear she sensed the hint of an amused twitch to his lips. She moved on to Parighasana , the gate pose, which she knew was another great asana to strengthen the back. He seemed to do that too with amazing ease, completing the movements and coming back to the starting position, kneeling on the yoga mat with his hands on the top of his firm thighs.

‘So would you say, then, as a learner I’m not doing too badly?’

‘Let’s not jump the gun. We haven’t got to the tougher asanas yet.’

‘And these were?’ he asked, his voice equally low. As long as the conversation was about yoga, she supposed she couldn’t really ignore his questions.

‘Relatively simpler. More to test what your body can take,’ Pari snapped. She didn’t know why, but everything he said threw her off balance. It was as if she just couldn’t focus. She was barely aware of what he was asking and what she was jabbering in response. Her senses were screaming high alert and there was no real reason for her to feel that way. He seemed to know where her thoughts were going. At the moment they were running wild wondering how it would feel to run her fingers down his toned tanned cheek and feel the depression that those dimples made.

‘Ideally you should have warmed up properly before even starting any asana. But now I must get back to every one. Maybe you should wait the next one out. It can be a bit tricky.

‘All of you,’ Pari directed the rest of the class. ‘You know the vrikshasana . It’s the tree posture, remember?’

The class hmmed in unison. ‘Hold the position as long as you comfortably can, OK? I don’t want anyone to keep repeating it either. Just do it once, hold it and then relax. Then balance it out by repeating it with the other leg. Clear?’ Pari swung into automatic teaching mode, walking around the studio, checking that each one was able to follow, and even the slowest learners had stretched themselves beyond their normal comfort zones. Yet all the while she was unbearably aware of Vivan as he stood leaning a little against the wall at the back of the room, his gaze wandering appreciatively over her body.

Turning to Vivan again a short while later, Pari said briefly, ‘What you could also try to do is an adhu mokha svanasana .’ Indicating he first watch while she demonstrated, Pari gracefully went down on all fours on her yoga mat.

She raised herself off the mat until she was supported by her hands and legs equally off the ground. ‘ Svan , if you remember your Sanskrit from school, means a dog.’ Pari smiled just a little; if his Sanskrit was anything like hers it was unlikely. ‘And adhu mokha means facing down.’ She turned to see if Vivan was following the sequence. This was what was so good about teaching yoga. The way you could help people so constructively.

‘This posture will really help you strengthen your back. And it actually also helps calm the heart rate and BP and brings down breathlessness.’

‘Hmm …’ Vivan said thoughtfully, looking at his animated and petite teacher with the sliver of silky skin showing on her back where the tee shirt had risen a little.

‘Hmm … as in yes, you get it and are ready to try it now?’

‘Actually, hmm as in I have a question.’

Pari raised an eyebrow.

‘This adhumokha … or downward dog asana, if I may,’ he began.

‘Go on …’

‘Isn’t it a lot more likely to increase breathlessness than lower it?’ His lips curved the slightest bit and this time Pari knew she hadn’t imagined it.

She turned her back to him so he couldn’t see her suppressed smile as she said, ‘You know what? Why don’t you try it at home and let me know?’

He’d baited her twice too many. ‘But since you are such an enthusiastic learner, let me see how well you’ve absorbed what I’ve been teaching so far,’ Pari said. She was so going to enjoy this. From the way he had done the other asanas without any discomfort with the catch on his back, Pari was confident she could put him to the test. His supreme self-confidence needed to come down a notch or two.