I was just as tense as the first day when I walked up the porch steps and knocked on the door. Natalie opened it and beamed at me.
“Hey, McKenna. Good morning. Come on in.” She had a pretty yellow dress on and brown sandals.
“Do you want some water or something?” I held up my bottle.
“Piper is already down in the gym waiting for you. It’s this way,” Natalie said, taking me through the living room and down the hall to a part of the house I hadn’t seen. From the outside, I knew it was massive, but once you were inside it seemed like it was even bigger. I saw an office, a guest room, a massive bathroom and then there was the gym, which made me say “wow” out loud.
Piper was already there, sitting on her mat. A wall of mirrors lined one wall, and there was no shortage of gym equipment, including a bike, a treadmill, and a whole rack of weights. The place was immaculate and smelled completely clean. No stinky sweats here.
Piper turned and looked at me and I instantly saw the dark circles under her eyes. She looked wiped out.
“Hey, how are you?” I asked, putting my bag down on the bench next to the door and walking toward her.
“It’s been a day already,” she said. “I’m sorry, I might not be very nice today.”
“That’s okay. I’m not very nice every day either.”
I sat next to her on the floor. “If you’re not up for yoga today, that’s fine.”
“No, no, I need to move. I need to think about something else.”
She closed her eyes and then opened them again. Even with the dark circles, she was still stunningly beautiful. Now she just looked a little haunted, which honed her beauty into something sharper. I swallowed.
“What are those little energy things that are different colors called?” Piper asked, and it took me a second to realize she was speaking about chakras.
“You mean your chakras?” I asked.
“Yes, those. I think my chakras are out of alignment or something.”
“Your chakras can definitely get blocked,” I said. “We could do a class focused on one, if you wanted to. Which one did you want to work on?”
She pointed to her heart. “This one.”
Her heart chakra. That made sense.
“You ready to get started?” I asked.
She stood up and faced me.
“We’re actually going to start sitting on the mat today,” I said, and she sat back down. In the matter of a few seconds, I scrapped both plans I had and worked up a class focused on heart chakra opening. She was advanced enough to handle some of the more difficult heart-opening poses, so I hoped she found what she was looking for as I took her through a short meditation and then through an opening Child’s Pose sequence before moving into a standard flow with some extra back-bending. I was relieved that my teacher brain clicked into focus and I found my confidence as Piper moved through to the standing sequence and then to Camel Pose and finishing with full Wheel before Savasana.
“Now focus on your heart space. Picture a warm green light filling up that space and radiating out through the rest of your body,” I said while she was in Savasana. I figured an extra little heart chakra focus couldn’t hurt.
We finished facing each other, with me sitting at the edge of the mat.
Her eyes opened and she smiled.
“Thank you. That was great,” she said. She still looked tired, but a little bit brighter.
I’d refrained from touching her in this class too. I just didn’t think putting my hands on her, even for adjustments, was a good idea, so I ignored it.
Piper wiped her face and downed some water.
“It feels weird to just kick you out. Would you like some tea?”
I really should go. Keeping a barrier between myself and Piper was paramount.
“Sure,” I said.
Piper heated some water in her electric kettle and set out a selection of tea.
“I have loose leaf tea as well,” she said.
“This is fine,” I told her, selecting a bag of rooibos.
Natalie came in and smiled at me.
“So sorry to interrupt,” she said.
“It’s fine, we were just having a little post-class tea. You want some?” Piper said.
“Sure,” Natalie said. She impressed me as someone who took her job very seriously and put everything she had into it. So did Piper.
Of course, I’d looked her up online when she’d first contacted me. From looking at her website, she did a lot of high-level work with brands helping with their messaging and social media. Her client list was impressive and extensive. Totally intimidating.
Piper poured the tea and we took it to the living room to drink. I was hesitant to sit on the white couch with my sweaty self, so I just kind of perched on it, hoping my butt didn’t leave a mark and that I didn’t spill on anything.
Piper’s phone went off and she looked at it, frowning.
“Shit,” she said under her breath. “Looks like they didn’t like the direction of that social package, so we’re back to the drawing board.”
Natalie groaned. “I don’t know what they want from you. That rebranding was gorgeous and completely in line with who their target customer is.” She shook her head, her curls bouncing.
I felt like I was intruding and kind of wished I could slip away without them noticing.
“Sorry, we shouldn’t talk shop when we’re on our break,” Piper said, putting her phone away.
“Oh no, it’s fine,” I said, feeling my cheeks blushing. One of the major challenges with teaching private yoga was the fact that you were going into people’s homes, and sometimes becoming a part of their lives. It was harder to keep that barrier up when you got closer. It was one of the reasons I liked moving around so much. All my teaching positions were temporary.
“Do you have any chakras that need unblocking?” Piper asked Natalie.
“I don’t think so? But you never know,” Natalie said with a laugh.
“Well, McKenna can help you,” Piper said, stretching her neck from side to side. “She’s the chakra master.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I said, blushing violently.
“Don’t downplay your skills,” Piper said, and it was almost a command. “Sorry, that came out harsh. But you shouldn’t.”
“I’ll work on that,” I said. I didn’t exactly have a problem with confidence, but that little voice that said I didn’t know what I was doing did come out every now and then.
We finished our tea and I knew it was time to leave. Piper’s phone was blowing up and it was obvious she needed to get back to her non-yoga life.
“Thanks for the tea,” I said. Accepting things from clients, even tea, was always a slippery slope.
“Of course. Thank you for the class,” she said. “Oh, and have a good weekend. I’m sure you’ve got lots of plans.”
“Not exactly,” I said.
“She’s finally agreed to hang out with us,” Natalie said, taking the cups to the kitchen.
“Why finally?” Piper asked.
“Uhhh,” I said, glaring at Natalie. Piper didn’t need to know about my personal life. It was too personal.
“Oh, I’m just teasing,” Natalie said, stacking the cups in the dishwasher.