Karin felt no self consciousness in obeying, no shame in letting herself go. She lay back, feeling the warm embrace of the sand at her back, its heat pulsing, alive, through her thin yoga mat. She stretched her arms above her head, her spine bowing as she stretched, until the small of her back arched up from the ground. With her next exhalation she felt herself sink deeper still, her softly splayed legs and upraised arms feeling beautifully, deliciously heavy. In. Out. In. Out. She was aware, it seemed; more aware than ever before. One with the sky, with the sand, with the water beyond. Her next exhalation took every breath from her body, and with it, the last of her woes. She might have fallen asleep there; she might have died. She felt only tenuously tied to her body, ready to flee its grasp at any moment.
"Thank you," she breathed, not knowing to whom she ascribed that sentiment.