Kundalini (The coiled serpent)

Yatsuhashi smiles as the room's attention centres on him following the sounding of his gong.

The yoga society's first class had 21 people in attendance (not including Yatsuhashi). Their mats were arranged in three rows of seven. Every mat in each row was a different colour of the rainbow. Coco, Fox and Velvet sat on the red yoga mats at the start of each row to welcome newcomers. Yatsuhashi sat in front on white yoga mat for everyone to see. Yang and Ren were positioned with a near-centre view of Yatsuhashi in the second row.

"Welcome everyone to the yoga society! Let's start our first class with something simple. Can anyone tell me what yoga is?" Yastuhashi says confidently.

"Depends on who you ask," Yang answers jokingly.

"I like that answer! In today's world where yoga has been popularised globally, various people have different interpretations of what yoga is. I want to hear some of your perspectives. Let's rapid fire some answers on differing viewpoints!" Yatsuhashi says.

"Yoga is a form of meditation?" Fox answers, unsure of himself.

"Okay. Let's keep the answers coming. What else do people think?" Yastuhashi replies.

"Yoga is a stretching routine to relieve stress from the body," Coco answers.

"Alright. Anything else?" Yastuhashi replies.

"Yoga is a spiritual exercise," Ren answers.

"My favourite answer so far! Would anyone else like to add to the pot?" Yatsuhashi replies.

There is a brief period of murmuring among the yoga class which Yatsuhashi allows. His team helped to keep the energy in the room flowing by offering their answers first. He senses the room may be short on responses.

"No? I think we have a good pool of answers, so I'll stop there. The literal definition of yoga is 'yoke', or ‘union’. It is in reference to bonding with the divine. Yoga is all the above! It is physical, it is mental, and it is spiritual. Does anyone know about the origins of yoga in Remnant?" Yatsuhashi says.

"Yoga was created by Kundalini monks from Mistral," Yang answers.

"Correct! In the Kundalini religion, they believe that the dragon gods left a spark of their divinity in every person. They called this power the 'coiled snake'. Kundalini monks believed that through spiritual exercises the divine spark can 'uncoil' and awaken power within us. However, you all may be more familiar with another phrase used for this divine spark- aura...” Yastuhashi responds.

Yatsuhashi's pauses as he activates his aura. His aura appears to expand and contract with his breath. The colour of his aura also fluctuates. The main colour emerging from his core is an earthen brown. However, the edges of Yatsuhashi's aura ripple with the colours of the rainbow.

"As the world leans more towards becoming irreligious, the influence of Kundalini has waned. Despite that, I believe the benefits of yoga should not be discarded by those who are irreligious. It can help you to evolve your semblance, strengthen your aura, heal your body and much more..." Yatsuhashi continues.

The results of Yatsuhashi's yoga speaks for itself- he managed to visibly expand the thickness of his aura just through breathing exercises. Yatsuhashi deactivates his aura then points towards a diagram on a standing board next to him. The diagram shows seven coloured circles on the human body with a coiled snake at the base of the spine.

"In today's lesson we are going to practice asanas, aka 'yoga positions', that are correlated to the seven chakras. Your chakras are focal points on the body where your aura emanates from. But first, we must perform some breathing exercises!” Yastuhashi announces.

Yatsuhashi plays a hymn-like melody on his scroll as he guides the class through a series of meditative breathing exercises. His voice swims through the melody like an eel wandering downstream. He encourages them to exhale their burdens. To think less on what brought them here and more on the experience of being. Tomorrow will concern itself. Yesterday is a relic. Today is all that matters.

Once Yastuhashi is confident that his class is in the right state of mind, he tells the yoga class to stand with him. He explains where the seven chakras are on the body and which asanas can "uncoil" them.

The first chakra, represented by the colour red, is located in the base of your spine. Yatsuhashi instructs the class to squat down into the Garland pose (aka Malasana). While positioned in a deep squat, Yatsuhashi encourages his class to activate their aura- doing so at any point while performing an asana may draw out emotions from the depth of their soul. This exercise will help the class to understand and explore themselves.

Ren and Yang decide to activate their auras. At the core of their being lies the two most basic human instincts- fear and the will to survive. Painful memories erupt to the surface of their psyches. Ren’s encounter with the Nucklavee. Yang's narrow escape from a pack of Grimm when she was a child thanks to Qrow. So on, so forth.

The suffering we fear is mankind's fuel for progress and often our pitfall. What we fear defines us, as does how we find the strength to carry on in spite of it. Life is a battlefield where we must consider when to fight or flee carefully.

The second chakra, represented by the colour orange, is located in your sacrum. However, it is also deeply connected with your sexual organs! The yoga class bursts out laughing upon learning this! Yatsuhashi adds that no one should feel ashamed if they suddenly become aroused while performing the next asana. Sexual desire is essential to the human experience, not a transgression that must be purged out. Condemning eroticism is a condemnation of humanity for merely existing. The desire to mate is as natural as the desire to eat! Yatsuhashi instructs the class to make the Crescent Lunge pose (aka Anjaneyasana).

Something clicks for Ren and Yang once they assume the position. Erotic fantasies bubble to the surface of their psyches. Like a wet dream, memories of Yang’s first crush, her first kiss, her first time, and her best time can be retraced vividly. Her erogenous zones tense. Yang drifts between thoughts of things she has done and deeds she intends to do! Meanwhile, Ren's mind cleaves to images of people he has desired. Ren is surprised at how many people he has felt sexual attraction towards! Could this be a sign of repression or a lack of exploration?

Both Ren and Yang can feel their trouser snake rising in their pants! They struggle to get it down for the rest of class!

The third chakra, represented by the colour yellow, is located in your solar plexus. This is where our ego, personal ambitions and sense of self emerges from. As the old saying goes, no guts no glory! Yatsuhashi instructs the class to make the Bow pose (aka Dhanurasana).

Yang’s sense of self is defined predominantly by her three parents: Taiyang, Raven and Summer. Without all three of their contributions, Yang’s goal of becoming a huntress to explore the world would be incoherent. Yang wanted to enjoy life beyond the small island of Patch, find Raven and live up to Summer’s legacy as a huntress.

Ren’s sense of self is defined by the culture of Mistral, specifically Kuroyuri. Despite his village being left in ruins, he still wears the traditional colours and clothing of his hometown. Ren has the obvious goal of finishing his studies at Beacon academy, but has not thought much further than that… Where was his hunger? What was his ambition beyond becoming a huntsman? Ren has much thinking to do on what he wants out of life.

The fourth chakra, represented by the colour green, is located in your heart. Your heart stores feelings that are higher than fear, eroticism and egoism. The heart allows you to look beyond yourself. To feel compassion for others. This is a greater form of love to self-interest or lust. Yatsuhashi instructs the class to make the Cobra pose (aka Bhujangasana).

Yang feels the sincerity of familial love and friendship glowing in her chest. Her love for Ruby burns brightest, being both her sister and teammate. Weiss and Blake are like two newly blossomed flowers in Yang's heart. Her old friends and neighbours are also in her heart, but she has kept them at a distance. Curiously, not a single person Yang has slept with is any closer to her than an old friend. Yang slowly realises how shallow her promiscuous love life is...

Ren feels Nora at the centre of his world- a ball of joy that kept him going through the darkest of times! However, Ren cannot shake the feeling that her presence is overbearing. Even Ren's love for his deceased parents felt overshadowed by Nora. Is Nora the only thing Ren cares about? What would happen to Ren's heart if she were gone? Could he continue living? Ren feels like he must work on building relationships with more people like Jaune and Pyrrha. There may be some space for the likes of Yang too...

The fifth chakra, represented by the colour blue, is located in your throat. How you externalise what you feel on the inside, verbally or non-verbally, establishes how others will perceive us. The arts, song, dance, language, tone, volume, honesty and authenticity are all filters of expression. What we feel and what we communicate can end up being mismatched for a variety of reasons. Therefore, you must practice communication as much as possible. Yatsuhashi instructs the class to make the Fish pose (aka Matsyasana).

Yang's extroverted personality comes across loud and proud! She is willing to be more physical when she communicates than most. Whether that be through a hug or a fist to the face! At times, this can make people scared of her (especially those who are very protective of their personal space). Other times, it can draw people to her. What you see is what you get- which also explains why Yang isn't afraid to dress provocatively. Yang is open about her sexual availability and advertises it with confidence! Yang has a craving for attention that tends to go unnoticed because she's very good at getting what she wants. Her affection is directly proportional to her explosive fury.

Ren's introverted personality has several layers that need to be dug through to understand him. Ren rarely displays or elaborates on his feelings for fear they will garner backlash. He prefers to present himself as tranquil at all times. Ren considers bottling his emotions rather than expressing them to be optimal. Unfortunately, this practice is unhealthy. Under pressure, Ren's strong emotions break through the cracks of his stiff lips in ways that are harmful to himself and others. It would be better for him to release some pressure from his emotion value periodically rather than letting his pipes burst.

The sixth chakra, represented by the colour indigo, is located on the forehead between the eyebrows. It is also known as the third eye chakra. The gifts of extrasensory perception, clairvoyance, intuition and lucid dreams manifest from the third eye chakra. Those who can master the mind's eye will have full command over their reality through visualising the world which you desire. Yatsuhashi instructs the class to make the Downward-Facing Dog pose (aka Adho Mukha Svanasana).

Yang recalls when Taiyang unlocked her aura at a young age. At the time, Raven had walked out on them and Summer filled the void she left. Yang has thought long and hard on how she will go about asking Raven why they abandoned her. If Raven does not have a good enough excuse, Yang will move on with her life as if she never knew them. If she had a good reason, Yang would attempt to integrate them into her life. After venturing across Remnant and meeting Raven, Yang envisioned starting a family of her own.

Ren experiences déjà vu when he glances over at Yang while performing the asana. Something felt familiar about Yang... it has something to do with her hair. Did Ren encounter someone similar to her before? Subconsciously, Ren fixates on Yang describing her mother being from "somewhere in the north". What did she mean by that? It was so vague that it reminded Ren of when he asked Nora where she came from. Are Ren, Nora and Yang connected in some way? Ren needs to learn more about Yang to explore this hunch...

The seventh chakra, represented by the colour violet, is located on the crown of your head. When the coiled snake reaches the crown chakra, your soul will manifest into the physical world. Which is another way of saying your aura activates!

But there are levels to understanding the world. The macrocosm of the universe and microcosm of man are reflections of one another. We do not exist in a vacuum. We are connected to and shaped by a greater cosmic order. Do not deny your oneness with nature and your neighbours. Embrace the cosmic whole as you would embrace yourself. You are part of the universe, and the universe is part of you. Yatsuhashi instructs the class to make the Tree pose (aka Vrikshasana).

The yoga class begins to perceive the flow of energy throughout the room as if it were their own breath. Then the whole of Beacon academy, then all of Vale, then all of Remnant. Ascending beyond their planetary confines, their collective conscience reaches towards the Great Tree at the root of all creation. All of life's troubles seem insignificant to the magnitude of existence. There is peace in knowing we are not alone.

A mysterious **** navigates their astral projection. They witness an entity at the root of all creation- its golden locks draw them in closer. Could this be a dragon god from the Kundalini pantheon or something else? The entity's infinite size and countless faces are too much for mortal comprehension... with the exception of Yang. As her soul gazes upon Golden Locks, she sees a reflection of herself.

Yang returns to her body first from the astral projection with a gasp. The rest of the yoga class swiftly follows. Everyone looks around knowing that they shared the same revelatory experience. There was a sense of indescribable liberation and release from worry in the room!

This concludes the yoga society's first class.