The Bloomer Legacy: 9.53 Peace of Mind

Ever since Sera embarked on the professional athlete career path, the Garden of Eden Gym and Spa had become her second home. From swimming to weights, from the treadmills to crunches, it was safe to say she’d become a bit of a regular.

Gone were the days when she’d only throw punches in her own back yard.

Not that she’d abandoned boxing altogether. The punching bag at the gym was very much her favourite piece of workout equipment. She tried to make a point of varying her routine as per her trainer’s recommendation, but she found herself gravitating to it anyway.

There was just something irreplaceable about letting her emotions run raw and using all of her strength to channel them…

“Ow!” She heard a voice behind her, forcing her mind to come back to the real world. Did she lean back a bit too much in preparation for her last punch? She turned around.

The first thing she noticed about the guy were his unusual eyes. One green, one a blueish grey colour. She’d never seen anything quite like that.

Before she could ponder it more, her attention turned to the scars spread all across his face. Where did they come from? He probably had an interesting story to tell…

It occurred to her that she was already thinking about this dude way too much. Hadn’t she promised herself that she’d lay off being boy-crazy? Besides, his braid was stupid. It wasn’t much unlike her own, in fact. What a ridiculous hairstyle for a man, she thought.

You’ve just punched accidentally punched this guy, she reminded herself, snap out of it!

“I’m so sorry!” She apologised. “I didn’t see you there, I was sort of… in the zone.”

He didn’t seem angry. He even almost smiled, in spite of just having been hit.

“It’s alright, I assumed it wasn’t on purpose.” He shrugged.

“Well, I’m sorry nonetheless.” Sera reiterated. “I hope it didn’t hurt too much…”

“I’ve experienced worse,” he smirked. Sera was trying hard not to look at his scars. Of course he would have. What a silly thing of her to say.

“I space out too much when I’m boxing,” she smiled awkwardly, trying to change the subject.

He gave her a brief pensive look. “You seem to be in a lot of pain, but are only relieving it temporarily. It will only stop if you let go of your anger for good.”

Sera stared at him blankly. Where did that come from? He seemed like the quiet type at first… and now he was psychoanalysing her?

“You know what could help you?” The man continued. “Yoga. Would you like to join me for a class?”

Ah. So that’s what it was, Sera realised. He wasn’t trying to be her pretend therapist. He was asking her out. Well, he was good-looking… No. She stopped herself in her tracks. Not this again.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m not really looking to date at the moment.” She said politely.

“Neither am I.” He shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to hit on you. I just thought you could benefit from meditation, so I thought I’d invite you to my class. I teach yoga here, you see.”

Sera blinked. This was awkward. Turns out she was being boy-crazy yet again… in her attempt not to be boy crazy.

“Oh. I’ll think about it.” She said.

“No worries if it’s not your thing.” He told her. “It was just a suggestion.”

He wandered off without saying anything else.

Was yoga her thing or not? She hadn’t done much of it since her teen years, though she did remember how peaceful the meditation with aunt Yenn made her feel. But it was just so slow. Boxing gave her much more instant gratification.

Then again, it probably couldn’t hurt.

***

The class had already started when Sera walked in.

This man was way too flexible. She shook her head and tiptoed to the nearest available mat.

She slipped into the Tadasana pose. It surprised her she still remembered the name of it. Her mind trailed back to the time when aunt Yenn first started teaching her how to meditate. And thinking of past memories was not the way to do it, she reminded herself.

So she focused at the present, admiring the serenity of the instructor. He looked so calm and composed. She wondered what that felt like.

Obviously not like this. She was still getting distracted. What had aunt Yenn said about meditation back when they did this? Thoughts will enter your mind like a stream, so let them flow down the stream and release them. Don’t scold yourself for thinking, just let go, again and again, until you find peace.

Slowly but surely, Sera stopped gawking at the instructor and pondering her life and shifted her focus to performing every pose to the best of her abilities. Trying to pay attention to nothing but the movement.

It was an odd sensation, as once all the thoughts have left, she became overwhelmed with emotion. A strange mixture of sadness and sense of relief. And she let herself feel, not scrutinising where the emotions came from. She may have cried.

And then it was time for the final meditation. Energy was pulsing through her body. It was quiet. And she was complete. For the first time ever.

When the class was over and she sat up, she wasn’t quite sure what she’d just experienced. She just knew she felt good.

And looking around the happy faces of the others in the room, she wasn’t the only one who the class had this effect on. Beaming, she decided to go talk to the instructor.

“Hi,” she gave him a small wave. “I wanted to thank you for the session, and for inviting me. It was amazing. I feel like I could do anything!”

She let out a carefree laugh.

“I don’t see why you couldn’t.” He told her.

“Me?” Sera took a step back. “But you don’t even know me.”

“No, I don’t.” he agreed. “But does that matter? We’re all capable of much more than we think we are. And that includes you.”

Sera looked into his eyes. He looked sincere. He must get a lot of women, she thought.

“Well, thank you.” She smiled.

“No need to thank me,” he shook his head. “I was just stating a fact. In any case, you’re welcome to come to the next class if you enjoyed this one.”

“I might,” she nodded. “See you around.”

She’d already decided that she wouldn’t attend this particular class again. She found the instructor distractingly attractive and she’d only just decided to swear off men for a good while recently.

But what mattered more, she now finally knew what she wanted to build for Newcrest.

Author’s note: Shoutout to Pammiechick and Marialein for letting me use a doppelganger of their sim – if you’re interested in seeing the yoga instructor in alternate realities, make sure to check out their stories on the sims forums.